Meet actress who worked as silent actor, became Bollywood superstar, didn’t know Hindi, had her movie banned due to…
GH News September 29, 2024 09:07 PM
Bollywood is a diverse place where many actors try their luck all dreaming of becoming superstars. While most of these actors are Indian some hail from different countries. The actress we discuss today has Jewish ancestry. Despite her roots in another country she proved her mettle in the Bollywood industry and was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award Indias highest honour in cinema for lifetime achievement in 1973. We are talking about none other than Ruby Myers. Many believed that the title of Best Actress should go to Sridevi Vyjanthimala Naseem Banu or Devika Rani. However Myers proved everyone wrong and emerged as a significant star in early Indian cinema. Ruby was a Jewish actress though she was born in India. She is better known by her stage name Sulochana. She was the first Eurasian actress in Indian cinema. In the 1920s while working as a teenage telephone operator in Calcutta Myers was approached by Mohan Bhavnani of the Kohinoor Film Company to act in films. Initially she declined the offer but Bhavnanis persistence paid off and she eventually entered the film industry making her debut in Cinema Queen in 1926 at the age of 19. Over the next few years Ruby became the biggest face in Bollywood. She delivered several hits including Typist Girl Balidaan Madhuri Anarkali and Bombay Ki Billi. At the pinnacle of her success Ruby was regarded as a superstar. Did you know that Ruby started her career as a silent film artist? Yes you read that right! Despite knowing languages including English Yiddish Hindi and Urdu Ruby became a silent actor which helped her gain fame. Later in 1931 when talkies arrived with Alam Ara Ruby aka Sulochana took a year to learn Hindustani. She made a successful comeback with films such as Madhuri and Anarkali earning over Rs 60000 annually in the 1930s—one of the highest salaries for any actor in India during that period. In the 1940s Ruby continued to work as the lead actress in several films. However her popularity began to decline slowly due to a series of flops. Her last major film Jugnu released in 1947 was banned by the Bombay State’s Home Minister Morarji Desai for showing morally inappropriate scenes. The film created controversy even in the 1940s. Following her decline Ruby began to work as a supporting actress in movies.
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