Saroja Devi B.

Bangalore Saroja Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films over seven decades. She is known by the epithets "Abhinaya Saraswathi" (Saraswathi of acting) in Kannada and "Kannadathu Paingili" (Kannada's Parrot) in Tamil. She is one of the most successful actresses in the history of Indian cinema. She is also known as first female superstar of Kannada cinema. At the age of 17, Saroja Devi got her big break with her movie, the Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955). In Telugu cinema, she made her debut with Panduranga Mahatyam (1957), and starred in a number of successful films until the late 1970s. The Tamil film Nadodi Mannan (1958) made her one of the top actresses in Tamil cinema. After her marriage in 1967, she continued to be the second in demand actress in Tamil films till 1974, but she continued to be one of the top actresses in Telugu and Kannada cinema from 1958 until the 1980s, she also starred in Hindi films until the mid-1960s, starting with Paigham (1959). She is the only Indian actress to play lead heroine in 161 consecutive films in 29 years between 1955 and 1984. Saroja Devi received the Padma Sri, the fourth-highest civilian honour, in 1969 and Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian award, in 1992 from the Government of India, honorary doctorate from Bangalore University and Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu.