Veteran actress Saroja Devi dies at 87

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, July 14, 2025: Veteran actress Saroja Devi passed away on Monday in Bengaluru. She was 87.

The Padma awardee acted in over 200 films across four languages—Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. She was popularly known by the sobriquet ’Abhinaya Saraswathi’.

Introduced to Tamil cinema in 1957 by B R Panthulu, Saroja Devi ruled the Tamil cinema world by pairing with legendary M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, and Gemini Ganesan.

MGR saw Saroja Devi as his lucky mascot other than J Jayalalithaa and paired with her in 26 films.

The veteran actress holds a distinction of having been a lead actress for 29 years and has starred along Kalyan Kumar in Amarashilpi Jakanachari (1964), the first colour film in Sandalwood. Some of her notable Kannada films include Mallammana Pavada (1969), Nyayave Devaru (1971).