Devyani Chaubal Biography 
Devyani Chaubal was a leading journalist and columnist of late 1960s and 1970s, best remembered to be the first journalist to refer to Rajesh Khanna as a superstar, in her Star & Style column. It was for the first time in Indian cinema, a super star was born, and it happened in the year1969 when Rajesh Khanna mesmerized film fans across the country with the release of Aradhana, and a series of consecutive hits, which enabled him the title. Devyani remained the leading film columnist of 1970s and held a celebrity status, an era when online news portals or social media never came into being. She was one among the early film journalists who popularized film news among masses and also started the trend of gossiping.
Though Indian cinema had many male and female stars earlier, who were often referred to as super stars, it’s the accepted fact by the media that Rajesh Khanna is the first super star of Indian cinema, and he was given that designation for the first time by none other than Devyani Chaubal who popularized the star through a series of columns she wrote about. Known as the author of two widely read weekly columns in Eve's Weekly and Star and Style, her writing style attracted huge folk.
She was born into a rich family in Maharashtra in 1942. The wealthy clan had squandered its fortunes on horse racing and high living. Her father worked as a barrister in Mumbai. She wrote filmy gossips for Star & Style, and was a trendsetter to gossip about celebrities. Until her arrival, Indian film journalism had been largely free of accusation and gossip, and her writing style has been referred to as "Frankly Speaking". Her works had credible sources and was always researched. She was the first writer to use Hinglish (a language of combining Hindi and English) in her English works. She suffered a paralytic stroke in 1985 and was almost bedridden and used wheel chair till her death in 1995, at age of only 53.
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Updated: June 07, 2018
