Saroja Devi, star of 4 languages, passes on
Saroja Devi began her acting career at 17 with Kannada film 'Mahakavi Kalidasa' as a co-star of cinema pioneer Honnappa Bhagavathar in 1955.
She quickly rose to fame with performances in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films, starring alongside legends Dr Rajkumar, MG Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan, Sivaji Ganesan, NT Rama Rao, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Shammi Kapoor.
She earned the epithet, 'Chaturbhasha Taare' (a star of four languages).
The third daughter of Bhairappa, a police officer, and Rudramma, the girl from Channapatna (a town 60km from Bengaluru) would carve a larger-than-life image in the film industry for many decades.
She would eventually be crowned "the first female superstar of Kannada cinema".
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In Kannada, her portrayal of 'Kittooru Rani Chennamma' was widely acclaimed. It was a film with MGR -- 'Nadodi Mannan' (1958), the first film for the duo -- that catapulted Saroja Devi to superstardom in Tamil film industry.
The actress is survived by son Gautam Ramachandra (named after MGR) and daughter Indira (named after Indira Gandhi).
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