Devika

Devika Biography

Devika, also known by the name Prameela Devi was a versatile and graceful actress of Telugu and Tamil cinema during the era of 1950’s-1970’s. Though listed in the group of tear jerking and traditional heroines, she is always regarded as a talented actress of old generation of south Indian cinema. She has also acted in a couple of Hindi movies – Izzat and Naya din nayi raat and a few noted Malayalam movies like Pullimaan, Kaattupukkal and Karuna. She worked predominantly for Telugu cinema.  

Devika is the granddaughter of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, popularly known as ‘Father of Telugu Cinema’, a film maker who has witnessed both silent era and era of talkies. Kanaka – popular actress of 1990’s is her daughter. Devika was married to Devadas, but divorced during 1990’s. C.Basudev Naidu, Ex-Mayor of Chennai was her paternal uncle. As a Tamil actress, she has been successfully paired with Sivaji Ganesan for the movies like Karnan, Bale Pandiya, Aandavan Kattalai, Kulamagal Radhai, Neelavanam, Annai Illam and Pavamanippu. In fact Neela Vanam is regarded as her outstanding performance in Tamil. She has acted in a single movie opposite M.G.Ramachandran in Aananthajothi in 1963. Nenjil Oru Aalayam is another memorable movie where she was paired opposite R. Muthuraman. Vanambadi, Vazhkai Padagu and Nenjam Marappadhillai also need special mention.

Devika was born as Prameela Devi on 25 April 1943 in Chennai. She changed her name to Devika and it proved lucky too. In 1958 she debut big screen with the Telugu movie, Mudhalali paired with veteran film actor S. S. Rajendran. The movie was a Block Buster and provided her big break to cinema world. Later the versatile actress acted in about 150 films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. She died on 25 April 2002 at Chennai.

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Updated: April 03, 2014