When MGR scolded a Tamil actor for providing liquor to Saroja Devi

Saroja Devi was MGR’s main woman in 25 movies, of which 23 had been field workplace hits, lengthy earlier than a youthful Jayalalithaa — who would additionally go on to grow to be Tamil Nadu Chief Minister — entered the scene and finally changed her as MGR’s on-screen heroine. In Arasa Kattalai, certainly one of MGR’s notable movies, each Saroja Devi and Jayalalithaa shared display house.

Recalling a second throughout a movie shoot in Ooty (Udhagamandalam), Saroja Devi as soon as narrated how a co-actor supplied her a drink to assist deal with the chilly climate. MGR, recognized for his disciplined way of life and powerful values, overheard the alternate and was infuriated.

“He (MGR) was a teetotaller and would by no means take part in playing, dancing, or watch scenes he thought of obscene,” Saroja Devi informed Frontline journal, a sister publication of The Hindu, in an interview after MGR’s dying in December 1987. “We had been taking pictures in Ooty. It was extraordinarily chilly and one other girl artiste supplied me a drink, saying it could maintain me heat. MGR overheard the dialog, took that actress apart and apparently gave her a dressing down. She got here again sweating in that chill climate,” she recalled.

Although MGR and Saroja Devi parted methods in 1967 resulting from a misunderstanding and by no means acted collectively once more, their private respect endured. Saroja Devi, who later settled in Bengaluru, recalled that MGR visited her after her husband handed away and in addition attended her adopted daughter’s wedding ceremony. Every 12 months on January 7 — a date he thought of fortunate — MGR would name to want her a completely satisfied birthday

She credited MGR for giving her a significant break in cinema and for instilling in her the self-discipline that helped her maintain a protracted and profitable profession.