Ruby Myers (1907 – 10 October 1983), better known by her stage name Sulochana, was an Indian silent film actress of Jewish descent, from the community of

Baghdadi Jews Baghdadi Jews (; ) or Iraqi Jews are historic terms for the former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the In ...

in India. In her heyday she was one of the highest paid actresses of her time, when she was paired with Dinshaw Bilimoria in Imperial Studios films. In the mid-1930 she opened Rubi Pics, a film production house. Myers was awarded the 1973 Dada Saheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema for lifetime achievement. She adopted a girl and named her Sarah Myers who after marriage was called Vijaylaxmi Shreshtha. Myers died in Mumbai in 1983.

Early life

Ruby Myers was born in 1907 in

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

into an Baghdadi Jewish family.

Film career

The self-named Sulochana was among the early Eurasian female stars of Indian Cinema. She was working as a telephone operator when she was approached by Mohan Bhavnani of Kohinoor Film Company to work in films. She initially turned him down as acting was regarded as quite a dubious profession for women those days. However Bhavnani persisted and she finally agreed, despite having no knowledge of acting. She became a star under Bhavnani's direction at Kohinoor before moving on to the Imperial Film Company where she became the highest paid movie star in the country. Among her popular films were ''Typist Girl'' (1926), '' Balidaan'' (1927) and ''Wildcat of Bombay'' (1927). Three romantic films in 1928-29 with director R.S. Chaudhari - ''Madhuri'' (1928), ''Anarkali'' (1928) and ''Indira B.A.'' (1929) saw her at her peak of fame in the silent film era. When a short film on

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

inaugurating a

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

exhibition was shown, alongside it was added a popular dance of Sulochana's from ''Madhuri'', synchronised with sound effects. With the coming of sound, Sulochana found a lull in her career, as it now required an actor to be proficient in Hindustani. Taking a year off to learn the language, she made a comeback with the talkie version of ''Madhuri'' (1932). Further talkie versions of her silent hits followed, with ''Indira (now an) M.A.'' (1934), ''Anarkali'' (1935) and ''Bombay ki Billi'' (1936). Sulochana was back with a bang. She was drawing a salary of Rs 5000 per month, she had the sleekest of cars (Chevrolet 1935) and one of the biggest heroes of the silent era, D. Billimoria, as her lover with whom she worked exclusively between 1933 and 1939. They were an extremely popular pair - his John Barrymore-style opposite her Oriental 'Queen of Romance' But once their love story ended so did their careers. Sulochana left Imperial to find few offers forthcoming. She tried making a comeback with character roles but even these were few. However, she still had the power to excite controversy. In 1947,

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

banned '' Jugnu'', because it showed the "morally reprehensible" act of an aging fellow professor falling for Sulochana's vintage charms. In 1953, she acted in her third ''Anarkali'', but this time in a supporting role as Salim's mother. Her films include ''Cinema Queen'' (1926), ''Typist Girl'' (1926), ''Balidaan'' (1927), ''Wild Cat of Bombay'', in which she played eight different characters, which was remade as ''Bambai Ki Billi'' (1936); ''Madhuri'' (1928), which was re-released with sound in 1932; ''Anarkali'' (1928), remade in 1945; ''Indira BA'' (1929); ''Heer Ranjah'' (1929), and many others, such as ''Baaz'' (1953). Sulochana established her own film studio, Rubi Pics, in the mid-1930s. She received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1973 for her lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. Ismail Merchant paid homage to her in ''Mahatma and the Bad Boy'' (1974). Ruby Myers 2013 stamp of India

Death

She died in 1983 in her flat in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Selected filmography

* ''Cinema Queen'' (1926) * ''Typist Girl'' (1926) * '' Balidan'' (1927) * ''Wildcat of Bombay'' (1927) * ''Anarkali'' (1928) * ''Heer Ranjah'' (1929) * ''Indira BA'' (1929) * ''Noor-E-Alam / Queen of Love'' (1931) * ''Daku Ki Ladki'' (1933) * ''Saubhagya Sundari'' (1933) * ''Sulochana'' (1933) * ''Gul Sanobar'' (1934) * ''Indira M.A'' (1934) * ''Prem Ki Jyot'' (1939) * '' Shair'' (1949) * ''

The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...

'' (1952) * '' Baaz'' (1953) * '' Kadu Makrani'' (1960, Gujarati) * '' Amrapali'' (1966) * '' Neel Kamal'' (1968) * '' Mere Humdum Mere Dost'' (1968) * '' Julie'' (1975) * '' Khatta Meetha'' (1978)

References

External links

*

''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

''. * Rare Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rashid_ashraf/31671546322/in/dateposted/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Ruby 1907 births 1983 deaths Indian people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Indian silent film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian Jews Jewish actresses Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipients Actresses from Pune 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses from Mumbai 20th-century Indian Jews Baghdadi Jews