Legendary South Indian actor B Saroja Devi passes away at 87 in Bengaluru

The actor, who got her first break when she was 17 years old in Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955)', is also known as the first female superstar of Kannada cinema

B saroja devi
She went on to win a National Award for her performance in her debut film | Image: IMDb
Press Trust of India Bengaluru
1 min read Last Updated : Jul 14 2025 | 11:13 AM IST

Veteran South Indian Actor B Saroja Devi died here on Monday, film industry sources said. She was 87 years old.

She died due to age-related ailments at her residence in Malleswaram, Bengaluru, according to sources.

She was fondly called 'Kannadathu Paingili' (Kannada's parrot) in Tamil.

ALSO READ: Veteran Telugu actor, former BJP MLA Kota Srinivasa Rao passes away at 83

The actor, who got her first break when she was 17 years old in Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955)', is also known as the first female superstar of Kannada cinema.

The actor went on to win a National Award for her performance in her debut film.

Her Tamil film with another legendary actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M G Ramachandran, Nadodi Mannan (1958)' made her one of the top actresses of Tamil cinema.

Although she married in 1967, Saroja Devi continued to be in demand, especially in the Tamil film industry. She was also called Abhinaya Saraswathi'.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Topics :south indiaIndian film industryfilm industry

First Published: Jul 14 2025 | 11:13 AM IST

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