Sabita Devi

Sabita Devi (1914–1965) was a Hindi film actress in Indian cinema. She is stated to be one of the prominent leading ladies of the pioneering era of Indian cinema along with Mehtab, Bibbo, Durga Khote, Gohar , Devika Rani and Seeta Devi. A Jew by birth, she changed her name to find acceptability in Hindi cinema like the other Anglo-Indian and Jewish actresses of her time, Sulochana (Ruby Myers), Seeta Devi (Renee Smith), Madhuri (Beryl Claessen), and Manorama (Winnie Stewart). After initially working with British Dominion Films Ltd., Calcutta, she shifted to Bombay and performed mainly in films produced by Sagar Movietone with her co-star in most films being Motilal. Some of the popular films with Motilal were Dr. Madhurika (1935) and Kulvadhu (1937) directed by Sarvottam Badami. Their first film together was Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934), which was also Motilals debut film, and then Lagna Bandhan (1936) both directed by Kaliprasad Ghosh. She acted in Silver King (1935) with Motilal. It was an action film directed by C. M. Luhar, which became a huge success.Counted as one of the top three female artistes of her time, in 1938 she was the third highest paid actress after Sulochana (Ruby Myers) and Gohar, drawing a salary of Rs. 3000 per month. Classic writers like K. M. Munshi and Ramanlal Vasantlal were commissioned to write stories for her films, with elaborate sets and special rehearsals provided along with an overwhelming pre-release publicity. One of the top directors of the time she worked with doing social genre films was Sarvottam Badami. She formed her own production company, Sudama Pictures, in collaboration with Sarvottam Badami along with the assistance of Ranjit Studios. From 1935–1943 Sabita acted in fifteen films, all directed by Badami. Some of the comedy films she acted in like Aap Ki Marzi (1939) and Ladies Only (1939), turned out to be big box-office successes.

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