Anjali Devi

Anjali Devi Biography

Anjali Devi is a veteran actress of Tamil and Telugu cinema, most active in the era of 1940’s and 1950’s. She is also known as a film and television serial producer. She won Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for times during 1950’s which includes one hat-trick as well. Thus she has been one of the leading ladies of Telugu cinema during the golden era of 1950’s. She won Filmfare awards for best actress for her roles in the movies - Anarkali (1955), Suvarna Sundari (1957), Chenchu Lakshmi (1958) and Jayabheri (1959). She was honoured with Raghupathi Venkaiah Award in 2005 and prestigious ANR National Award in 2008 for her lifetime service to the Telugu film industry. She was conferred the Ramineni Award in 2006 in the fine arts category. Her role as Sita in Lava Kusha (first colour movie of Telugu cinema – 1953) and Suvarna Sundari and Anarkali are her golden roles.

Anjali was born Anjanamma in Peddapuram of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. She was active in theatre before entering movies. Director C. Pullaiah changed her name to Anjali Devi. Her film debut was as Lohitasya in Raja Harishchandra in 1936. Later she appeared in a few movies in minor and supporting roles till she debut as heroine in the 1940 movie - Kashtajeevi by L. V. Prasad. But the movie was not released. Gollabhama released in 1947 thus marked her debut as lead heroine. The movie’s success gave her stardom overnight and after that she didn’t turn back. She became one of the most wanted heroines during 1950’s.

She married music director P. Adinarayana Rao in 1940. Under the banner of Anjali Pictures they produced several films. In 1955 she produced the film Anarkali. She played the lead heroine’s role as well and the movie was a commercial hit. As a producer she has produced 27 films and television serial, Shirdi Sai Sathya Sai Divya Katha. 'Devta' opposite Gemini Ganeshan and 'Sati Savitri' opposite Mahipal and 'Bhakta Prahlad' are her Bollywood movies.

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Updated: March 26, 2014