The year was 2008. I had gone to a quaint pocket of Chennai’s T Nagar to meet a superstar heroine from the black-and-white era. Having watched most of her films and knowing many of her songs by heart, I was quite excited. Veteran actor Saroja Devi, who lived in Bengaluru, was visiting Chennai. Even more excited than me was my mother, who sent her love to her matinee idol through me.
I remember Saroja Devi as a woman with a lovely laugh and a sharp memory, effortlessly recalling on-set anecdotes with candour. I thought that she had a youthful heart too. She maintained a strict diet and practised yoga, which she said kept her physically active enough to travel and meet colleagues from different film industries occasionally. She also said that she kept up with world events at the time.
Though she was doing a few films, by the mid-2000s, she had mostly stopped working because the roles were getting predictable. Saroja Devi was warm, friendly and real. She was happy to know that her songs and films still had an audience who remembered her fondly.
In 2025, as I face the news of her demise with stoicism and bid her a well-deserved farewell, I am sure her work is remembered with equal fondness even today.
Now, Saroja Devi joins the eternal hall of fame alongside other Tamil cinema greats of her era who have also passed away, such as MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Savithri, Padmini, Nagesh, Manorama, SV Rangarao, TS Baliah, MR Radha, Gemini Ganesan, MS Vishwanathan, TM Sounderrajan, Kannadasan, Vaali and PB Srinivas.
The special tributes to Saroja Devi that will be aired on television today will be a joy to tune into. Her films and songs are always a delight.
Stardom in Kollywood
Saroja Devi’s track record in Tamil and Telugu cinema remains unmatched. Most of her films achieved silver, gold or platinum jubilee status. She was considered a lucky casting choice opposite both Tamil and Telugu heroes.
She debuted in Tamil in Nadodi Mannan (1958), starring and directed by MGR. Saroja Devi played the second lead but quickly grew to star status and went on to play the main heroine in nearly 30 of MGR’s films.
The pair’s romantic film together was AVM’s blockbuster hit Anbe Vaa (1966). Anbe Vaa remains the only non-political MGR film to enjoy major success at the box office. The film was instead focused on its heroine as the central character.
Saroja Devi is seen as the original ‘bubbly girl’ of Tamil cinema, but there was another angle to her onscreen persona when she took up such roles. She could play the roles of a graduate working woman—an endearing feminist image, if it can be described as such today. In commercial films like the MGR-starrer Enga Veettu Pillai (1965) or in Anbe Vaa, her characters did not have to be ‘tamed’ by the hero to make them likeable to audiences.
Her characters were women with a mind of their own. In most of these films, SV Ranga Rao would play her progressive father who was mindful of his daughter’s wishes, especially her choice of groom.
Saroja Devi went on to embody the role of independent-minded heroines even in rural films like Bhaaga Pirivinai (1959), in which she played an agricultural worker alongside a stalwart like Sivaji Ganesan.
She starred in many successful films with Sivaji Ganesan, just as she did with MGR. Starting with Kalyana Parisu (1959), Saroja Devi also saw huge box-office success with the third popular hero of the time, Gemini Ganesan.
Her Kannada-accented, chirpy dialogue delivery in Tamil was lovingly accepted by audiences who gave her the epithet of ‘Kannadathu Payinkili’ (parrot from Karnataka). In fact, she turned this accent into an asset as she sashayed into modern, urban, romantic lead roles in film after film.
Some of Saroja Devi’s stellar skills were overshadowed by her star status. However, she did have a fair share of notable ‘acting roles’. These roles were often alongside Sivaji Ganesan in films such as Iruvar Ullam (1963), Parthaal Pasi Theerum (1962) and Aalayamani (1962).
Her lip-syncing skills made her movie songs popular inside the theatre as much as they were on the radio.
While she was known for her social dramas and romantic roles in Tamil, in Telugu, she starred in mythological films with superstars NT Rama Rao and A Nageshwara Rao.
It can be said that after Savithri, it was Saroja Devi who accomplished the status of a star heroine with a cult following in both Tamil and Telugu. Her fandom also included college students who immensely liked her fashionably urban roles.
She was also considered a fashion icon. More so than seasoned actors like Savitri and Padmini, with whom she often shared the screen. To her female fans, her dangling earrings, chiffon sarees, ornate blouses, broad bindis and wearing a watch were iconic.
Changes in the movie industry, brought on by directors like K Balachander and KS Gopalakrishnan, ushered in an era of women-centric films. Saroja Devi shone in such roles, including in K Balachander’s Thamarai Nenjam (1968).
Saroja Devi’s legacy
Saroja Devi played only lead heroines after she entered the spotlight with Nadodi Mannan. Her star status peaked with Anbe Vaa, in which a mass hero like MGR was seen pining for her. She became as important as the hero in Iruvar Ullam, a film that spoke on women’s marital consent and influenced Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Raagam (1986).
Saroja Devi’s was a legacy that set a benchmark for future heroines. She had a long and extremely successful career. She starred in 161 consecutive films between 1955 and 1984. In her own words, this was possible only because of her “discipline, dedication and commitment to the movies and roles she took up”.
I recall a magazine cover that had Saroja Devi, Khushbu and Trisha as heroines from three different generations who ruled the box office. It was a wonderful photograph to indicate how it was Saroja Devi who first set the template of a long-standing star heroine.
She was also the first heroine to have LP records released dedicated to songs from her films. Even now popular music apps have playlists dedicated to her. Most of the songs were performed by playback singer P Suseela. While each song outdoes the other in its beauty, they also bring to mind the way Saroja Devi carried herself on screen. The image of her face, her crepe saree paired with a full-length tight blouse, her long earrings, and her hair covering her ears is like an artist’s painting.
This piece is a heartfelt farewell to one of the most charming and beautiful women to have graced the silver screen. Saroja Devi, like the other cinema greats who are listed in this piece, will live on through her films and songs. Her fame will be an eternal torch for younger heroines to look back at and learn from.
Farewell, Sweet Lady of Celluloid.
Sujatha Narayanan is a film columnist, content producer, and artist.