Devika Rani Net Worth in 2023 (Bio, Career, Net Worth, Personal Life, Early Life, Age, etc.)

Devika Rani Net Worth. Devika Rani Chaudhuri, better known by her stage name Devika Rani, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.

Devika Rani was widely regarded as India’s first lady of cinema, with a ten-year career in the industry. Devika Rani’s Net Worth is estimated to be approximately $5 million.

Devika Rani Net worth and profile in one glance

Biography of Devika Rani

Background and education

Devika Rani Choudhary was born on March 30, 1908, in Waltair, near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to a wealthy and educated Bengali family. She was the daughter of Col. Dr Manmathnath Choudhary and his wife Leela Devi Choudhary.

Colonel Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri, a scion of a prominent landowning zamindari family, was Madras Presidency’s first Indian Surgeon-General. Durgadas Choudhary, Devika’s paternal grandfather, was the Zamindar (landlord) of Chatmohar Upazila in Pabna district, Bangladesh.

Sukumari Devi (wife of Durgadas), her paternal grandmother, was a sister of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Devika’s father had five brothers, each of which excelled in their respective disciplines, primarily law, medicine, and literature.

Sir Ashutosh Chaudhuri, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court during the British Raj; Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri and Kumudnath Chaudhuri, both prominent Kolkata-based barristers; Pramathanath Choudhary, a well-known Bengali writer; and Dr Suhridnath Chaudhuri, a well-known medical practitioner were among them. Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, the future Chief of Army Staff, was Devika’s first cousin; their fathers were brothers.

Stepping stone into Devika Rani Net Worth (Career)

Devika Rani met her future husband, Himanshu Rai, an Indian barrister-turned-film director, in London in 1928, while he was preparing to film his upcoming film A Throw of Dice. Devika’s “extraordinary skills” intrigued Rai, who invited her to join the film’s production team, though not as an actress.

She gladly agreed to help him with things like costume design and art direction. They also travelled to Germany for post-production work, where she got the opportunity to see German filmmaking processes, particularly those of G. W. Pabst and Fritz Lang.

She enrolled in a short film-making school at the Universum Film AG studio in Berlin, inspired by their ways of filmmaking. Devika Rani studied many facets of filmmaking and also did a film acting course.

They both acted in a play together around this period, for which they garnered a lot of praise in Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries. She was also trained in the production unit of Max Reinhardt, an Austrian theatre director, during this time.

Primary source of Devika Rani Net worth (Acting)

Himanshu Rai made a film called Karma after Devika and Himanshu Rai returned to India (1933). It was his first talkie, and it was co-produced by persons from India, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as with his earlier films. Rai, who played the lead, chose Devika Rani to portray the female lead, which was her first acting job.

Karma is touted as being the first Indian-made English-language talkie. It was one of the first Bollywood films to have a kissing scene. The kissing scene between Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani lasted nearly four minutes, and it still holds the record for the longest kissing scene in Indian cinema today, eighty years later.

Devika Rani also performed in the film and sang a song in both English and Hindi. According to legend, this is Bollywood’s first English song.

Bombay Talkies

In 1934, the couple returned to India after the critical success of Karma. Despite the fact that the Hindi version of the film flopped in India in 1934, Himanshu Rai had established the necessary networks in Europe and was able to form Bombay Talkies with Niranjan Pal, a Bengali playwright and screenwriter whom he had met previously in London, and Franz Osten, who directed several of Rai’s films.

Bombay Talkies was one of the “best-equipped” film studios in the country when it opened. Future stars such as Dilip Kumar, Leela Chitnis, Madhubala, Raj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, and Mumtaz will be able to use the studio as a launchpad.

The studio’s debut film, Jawani Ki Hawa (1935), was shot entirely aboard a train and starred Devika Rani and Najm-ul-Hassan.

Elopement

Devika’s co-star in the studio’s next film, Jeevan Naiya, was Najm-ul-Hassan. Devika eloped with Hassan during the filming of Jeevan Naiya, and the two co-stars established a romantic relationship. Himanshu was outraged and distraught at the same time. Production was halted due to the absence of the leading couple.

A considerable amount of the film had been shot, and a big number of money had been spent on credit from financiers. As a result, the studio incurred significant financial losses and a loss of credit among city bankers, while the runaway couple had a good time.

Roerich, retirement and death

Devika Rani married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich, son of Russian artist Nicholas Roerich, in 1945 after retiring from cinema. Following their marriage, the pair relocated to Manali, Himachal Pradesh, where they met the Nehru family.

Devika Rani produced a few wildlife videos during her time in Manali. After a few years in Manali, they relocated to Bangalore, Karnataka, and established themselves as managers of an export company.

The couple bought a 450-acre (1,800,000-square-meter) estate on the outskirts of town and lived alone for the rest of their lives. She died of bronchitis in Bangalore on March 9, 1994, a year after Roerich. Devika Rani was given full state honours at her funeral.

Devika Rani was childless throughout her life, and her inheritance was in litigation for many years after her death because the couple had no legitimate claims.

The estate was purchased by the Karnataka government in August 2011 when the Supreme Court of India ruled in their favour.

Personal life and legacy

Devika Rani was dubbed “India’s First Lady of Cinema.” She is acknowledged as being one of the first people to raise the profile of Indian cinema to international levels. Her films primarily consisted of tragic love dramas with societal elements.

Her parts in Bombay Talkies movies frequently entailed love relationships with guys who were odd for the societal norms of the period, primarily because of their caste origin or community identity. Because of her schooling at the UFA Studios, Rani was heavily affected by German cinema.

Conclusion

Devika Rani is a well-known and accomplished actress in the Bollywood film industry. Devika Rani Net Worth serves as a source of inspiration and motivation. You should also check out – Zohra Sehgal Net Worth.