
Senior actresses meet CM Siddaramaiah, demand Karnataka Ratna award for late Vishnuvardhan
Sep 02, 2025
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 2 : Renowned actresses Jayamala, Shruti and Malavika Avinash on Tuesday met with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
During the meeting, the actresses submitted a request to posthumously confer the Karnataka Ratna award on the late Vishnuvardhan.
They also requested that the Chief Minister name the road in Malleshwaram after the recently deceased multilingual actress B. Saroja Devi.
Saroja Devi passed away in July this year at the age of 87.
Saroja Devi got her big break with her Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955). She made her Telugu film debut with Pandurang Mahathyam (1957) and acted in several successful films until the late 1970s.
The Tamil film Nadodi Mannan (1958) established her as one of the top actresses in Tamil cinema. After her marriage in 1967, she remained the second most sought-after actress in Tamil films until 1974, while she continued to be a top actress in Telugu and Kannada cinema from 1958 to 1980.
She also acted in Hindi films, starting with Paigham (1959) until the mid-1960s.She acted in 161 consecutive films as the female lead between 1955 and 1984. Sarojadevi was awarded the Padma Shri in 1969 and the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1992.
She also received an honorary doctorate from Bangalore University and the Kalaimamani Award of Tamil Nadu. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Known for her work in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films, Saroja Devi's demise has left the industry in shock.