Anjali Devi was born on August 24th 1927 in Peddapuram, British India and passed away on January 13th 2014. Her birthname is Anjamma but throughout her career it has changed to Anjani Kumari when she was acting in dramas and Anjali Devi which was given when she worked with director, C. Pullaiah. She married in 1948 to a music director, P. Adinarayana Rao and settled in Chennai. They have two sons together and as a couple they produced many Telegu films under their banner, Anjali Pictures. Anjali was an actress, model and producer who mostly did Telegu and Tamil films. Anjali started as an actress doing theatrical plays. She eventually had the opportunity to venture into films with her debut film, “Raja Harishchandra” in 1936. Her first heroine role was suppose to be “Kashtajeevi” in 1940 but was abandoned after three shoots. Thereafter she met C. Pullaiah and together they did the film, “Gollabhama” which earned her recognition and more challenging roles in 1947. She followed up with another successful film, “Balaraju” which made her famous and one of the top actresses leading into the 1950s. During the 1950s, she ventured into being a producer/actress as she and her husband open a production company, Anjali Pictures. She was the producer for some films like, “Anarkali”, “Bhakta Tukaram”, and “Chandipriya”. Anjali also starred in the first color film in the Telegu film industry in 1963 with “Lava Kusa”. Her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Telugu film was “Anarkali”. Shortly after she had a winning streak in the same category with the films, “Suvarna Sundaru” in 1957, “Chenchu Lakshmi” in 1958, and “Jayabheri” in 1959. Her acting career consist of 350 films mostly in Telegu but also did films in Hindi, Tamil, and Kannada. As a producer, she has produced 27 films in which two earned her half of the Filmfare Award for Best Actress she has won. In addition, she has played in a diverse roles like damsel, angel, dancer, demon, goddess, traditional woman, and mother as she grew older. Anjali Devi was an inspiration as she accomplish so much in her careers. She was known as one of the top and beautiful actresses in her time and won four prestigious awards. She has ventured into modeling and producer while simultaneously doing acting. She was able to co-own her production company that produced two films that won her Best Actress. She was a talented actress who can play a variety of roles and settings as she started as a play actress.

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