Background
Anjali Devi was born in Peddapuram, East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, India, as Anjamma.
Anjali Devi was born in Peddapuram, East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, India, as Anjamma.
She was well known for her role as the mythological Sita in Lava Kusha as well as for the titular roles in movies like and Anarkali. She changed her name to Anjani Kumari when acting in dramas. Later, director C. Pullaiah changed her name to Anjali Devi.
As actress She was a theatre artiste before venturing into movies.
Her debut film role was as Lohitasya in Raja Harishchandra in 1936. Her first movie as a heroine was Kashtajeevi by L. V. Prasad in 1940, but that movie was abandoned after three reels shooting.
Later, C.Pullayya discovered her and gave her the opportunity to star as Mohini in Gollabhama. Based on her acting ability and looks, she became a star overnight in 1947.
She eventually acted in more than 350 Telugu films and a few Tamil and Kannada films as the heroine.
She acted in Lava Kusha, a milestone film and the first color film in the Telugu film industry in 1963. She is well known for playing Sita in Lava Kusha and her performances in films like and Anarkali were also appreciated. She has acted in nearly 500 films.
Brundavanam (1992), Anna Vadina (1993) and Police Alludu (1994) were the last few films of her career.
In Balaiah"s Police Alludu and Anna Vadina she appeared alongside Brahmanandam. She acted in various roles, such as a damsel, an angel, a dancer, a demon, a goddess, a traditional woman and later in mother roles.
As producer In 1955 she produced the film Anarkali, in which she herself played the titular role, with Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Prince Salim. Then she produced V. Madhusudan Rao"s Bhakta Tukaram and Chandipriya.
Bollywood and Tollywood actress Jayapradha played the lead role in the latter alongside Shobhan Babu and Chiranjeevi.
As a producer she has produced 27 films. She was an ardent devotee of Sathyasai Baba and produced a tele-serial on Sathyasai. She died at the age of 86 on 13 January 2014 at Vijaya Hospital, in Chennai, with her organs donated to Ramachandra Medical College.
Filmfare South Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu – Anarkali (1955) Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu – Suvarna Sundari (1957) Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu – Chenchu Lakshmi (1958) Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu – Jayabheri (1959) Honorary doctorate from Nagarjuna University, Guntur. She received the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award in 1994 for her lifetime service to the Telugu film industry. She was conferred the Ramineni Award in 2006 in the fine arts category. She received the prestigious French National Research Agency National Award in 2008.
