Veteran South Indian actor B. Saroja Devi, who breathed her final on the age of 87 on Monday (July 14, 2025), was as soon as provided liquor by a co-artiste on the units of a Tamil movie, which had angered M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), the favored yesteryear actor-turned-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1977-87).
Saroja Devi was MGR’s main girl in 25 movies, of which 23 had been field workplace hits, lengthy earlier than a youthful Jayalalithaa — who would additionally go on to turn out to be Tamil Nadu Chief Minister — entered the scene and finally changed her as MGR’s on-screen heroine. In Arasa Kattalai, certainly one of MGR’s notable movies, each Saroja Devi and Jayalalithaa shared display house.
Recalling a second throughout a movie shoot in Ooty (Udhagamandalam), Saroja Devi as soon as narrated how a co-actor provided her a drink to assist deal with the chilly climate. MGR, recognized for his disciplined life-style and robust values, overheard the change and was infuriated.
Actors Saroja Devi and M.G. Ramachandran within the Tamil film ‘Parakkum Paavai’
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
“He (MGR) was a teetotaller and would never participate in gambling, dancing, or watch scenes he considered obscene,” Saroja Devi advised Frontline journal, a sister publication of The Hindu, in an interview after MGR’s loss of life in December 1987. “We were shooting in Ooty. It was extremely cold and another woman artiste offered me a drink, saying it would keep me warm. MGR overheard the conversation, took that actress aside and apparently gave her a dressing down. She came back sweating in that chill weather,” she recalled.
Although MGR and Saroja Devi parted methods in 1967 due to a misunderstanding and by no means acted collectively once more, their private respect endured. Saroja Devi, who later settled in Bengaluru, recalled that MGR visited her after her husband handed away and likewise attended her adopted daughter’s marriage ceremony. Every yr on January 7 — a date he thought of fortunate — MGR would name to want her a joyful birthday
She credited MGR for giving her a main break in cinema and for instilling in her the self-discipline that helped her maintain a lengthy and profitable profession.
