Seeta Devi

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Seeta Devi in The Light of Asia

Seeta Devi ( Hindi : सीता देवी , Sītā Devī ; real name: Renee Smith ; * 1912 ; † unknown) was an Indian silent film actress .

Life

Seeta Devi is of Anglo-Indian origin. She started out as a stage actress for Dhiren Ganguly . She got the stage name Seeta Devi from Himansu Rai , who cast her as Gopa (wife and later a follower of Buddha) in 1925 in Die Lampen Asiens , a German-Indian co-production about the life of Gautama Buddha . The German director Franz Osten shot two other silent films - Shiraz and Prapancha Pash - in India, in which Seeta Devi also played leading roles. In Charu Roy's film adaptation of a popular legend The Loves of a Mughal Prince (1928), she took on the role of courtesan Anarkali. Under the director Priyanath Ganguly she played most often in the 1920s and was cast several times alongside Durgadas Bannerjee and Patience Cooper .

It is believed that both Renee Smith and her sister Percy Smith performed under the stage name "Seeta Devi".

Filmography

  • 1925: The lamp of Asia (Prem Sanyas)
  • 1926: Krishnakanter Will
  • 1927: Durgesh Nandini
  • 1928: Sarala
  • 1928: Shiraz
  • 1928: The Loves of a Mughal Prince
  • 1929: Kapal Kundala
  • 1929: Cube of Fate (Prapancha Pash)
  • 1930: Naseeh Ni Balihari
  • 1930: Kal Parinaya
  • 1930: Bharat Ramani
  • 1931: Kashmir Nu Gulab
  • 1932: Shikari

Web links

Commons : Seeta Devi  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BD Garga quotes in his book Silent Cinema in India (2012), p. 211 there, an interview with Sita Devi (sic) from April 1930 with the magazine Moving Picture Monthly about the film Light of Asia, filmed from May 1925, as follows : “They advertised in the Calcutta newspapers for a beautiful girl with olive complexion and black eyes, to act for the film. I was then at school and had just completed my thirteenth year, and out of sheer curiosity I applied to the company. "
  2. ↑ Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 88
    (1983, which is often found elsewhere, has not yet been verified by reputable sources)
  3. ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 88
personal data
SURNAME Devi, Seeta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Renee (real name); देवी, सीता; Devī, Sītā
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian silent film actress
DATE OF BIRTH 1912
DATE OF DEATH after 1932