100 years of Indian Cinema: When PM Nehru wrote love letters to Devika Rani

It has been a century since the first film was released in India. Over the past 100 years, Indian cinema has come a long way and today it is one of the biggest film industries in the world with over 1200 films produced every year.

In the initial years, Bollywood saw many ups and downs but never paused. Contribution of the talented artists, filmmakers and musicians kept it alive. As the films went colourful, the artists became a part of everyone’s life.

First lady of Indian screen Devika Rani, who debuted with ‘Achhut Kanya’, is still remembered for her song  Main ban ke chidiya banke. She saw a huge fan following in the black and white era that many Bollywood actresses can only dream of. Even first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru was among her fans. In fact, he used to write love letters to the actress.

Read the entire journey of Indian cinema which took off without a heroine.

There were times when Father of Indian cinema Dadashaheb Phalke ran pillar to post to search his heroine for ‘Raja Harishchandra’. He even approached prostitutes but in vain as working in a film was looked down upon by women who considered it worse than prostitution. Finally he convinced a delicate-looking waiter Anna Salunke for the role of Taramati. It was not a surprise in those times when Salunke played the role of both Rama and Sita in Phalke's ‘Lanka Dahan’ and become the most popular actor and actress of his time.
  

Anna Salunke as Taramati in 'Raja Harishchandra'

  

Finally, Dadasaheb Phalke managed to find a woman Kamla Bai for ‘Mohini Bhasmasur’ in 1913. She agreed to work in the film for financial reasons and later attracted many nautch girls to the cinema with her prosperity and popularity.
  

The trend was carried forward by Anglo-Indian girls like Patience Kapoor, Susan Soloma who grew up in modern families and changed their names to work in Bollywood. While Rochelle Chauhan became Ramla Devi, Asdhar Abraham turned Pramila to become a film heroine.
  

The heroines of the silent era like Taarak Bala, Sita Devi, Sultana, Zubeida lost their stature with the arrival of the talking movies but Ruby Myers known as Sulochana went on to become today’s Katrina Kaif. Even with her struggling Hindi, she wooed the crowds with her mystic beauty. 

Sulochana even overshadowed the silent era superstar Gauhar whose picture on a matchbox took the company to the top. 

  

The one who turned the image of the Bollywood heroine upside down was Devika Rani. Well educated and hailing from a high status family, Devika Rani inspired many good family girls to the film industry from Vyjayanthimala, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini to Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Kajol, Kareena kapoor and now Sonakshi Sinha.