Roopa, known as Roopa Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

films. She is the daughter of

Kalyanam Raghuramaiah Kalyanam Raghuramayya (1901–1975), popularly known as Eelapata Raghuramayya, was an Indian actor, and thespian known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theatre. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Padmashri, He was k ...

and veteran actress

Advani Lakshmi Devi Advani Lakshmi Devi is a retired Indian actress known for her work in Kannada cinema. She has played a variety of roles such as heroine, vamp, mother, grandmother in hundreds of Kannada movies over the last 50 years. Her role in films ''Gandha ...

. She became famous as the debutante heroine of the tragic romantic film ''

Oru Thalai Ragam ''Oru Thalai Ragam'' () is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film written by Rajendar and produced by E. M. Ibrahim who is credited for direction. The film stars Shankar and Roopa, with Raveendar, Chandrasekhar, Kailashnath, Kum ...

'' in Tamil that ran for 365 days in which she was paired with newcomer

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

. For her performance in the movie

Avala Antharanga ''Avala Antharanga'' is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language film directed by R. N. Jayagopal. It stars Kalyan Kumar, Aarathi and Roopa Devi in lead roles. The music of the film was composed by M. Ranga Rao. Roopa Devi ( as Lead Actress ) and Shy ...

, Roopa won the

Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress The Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress is a state film award of the Indian state of Karnataka given during the annual Karnataka State Film Awards. The award honours Kannada language film actresses. Since its inception, the award was wo ...

in 1984–85.

Career

Devi mainly worked in Kannada movies during the 1980s. She debuted in the experimental film ''

Kamala Kamala refers to: People * Kamala (name), given name and surname, includes list of people and characters with the name ** Kamala Harris, the 49th and current Vice President of the United States * Kamala (wrestler) (1950–2020), American profess ...

'' in 1979 and her role of a prostitute brought her wide critical appreciation. She entered commercial cinema in 1980 with ''

Simha Jodi ''Simha Jodi'' is a 1980 Indian Kannada-language film, directed by Joe Simon and produced by A. R. Raju. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Manjula, Halam and Roopadevi in lead roles. Actress Roopadevi made her Kannada debut in this movie in whic ...

'' in which she played the role of Vishnuvardhan's sister. She was the first choice for second lead and supporting roles in Kannada movies during 1983–87. Her prominent Kannada movies include ''

Haalu Jenu ''Haalu Jenu'' () is a 1982 Indian Kannada-language tragicomedy film directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, starring Rajkumar, Madhavi and Roopa Devi. The movie is famous for its evergreen songs, which were composed by G. K. Venkatesh. The mo ...

'', ''

Mullina Gulabi ''Mullina Gulabi'' () is a 1982 Kannada-language film directed and produced by Vijay. The story was written by M. D. Sundar. The film stars Ananth Nag and Aarathi. The film has musical score by Satyam, whilst the lyrics and dialogues were wri ...

'', ''

Bandhana ''Bandhana'' is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by Rajendra Singh Babu from a screenplay by H. V. Subba Rao and Rajendra Singh Babu, based on a novel of the same name by Usha Navaratnanram. The film revolves around t ...

'', ''

Marali Goodige ''Marali Goodige'' is a 1984 Indian Kannada film directed by K. R. Shantharam. It stars Kalyan Kumar, Jai Jagadeesh, Roopa and Poornima in the lead roles. The music of the film was composed by Rajan–Nagendra Rajan–Nagendra were a ...

'', ''Trishoola'', ''Aahuthi'', ''Dharma'' and ''Bala Nouke''. She has won the

(1984–85) for her performance in ''

''. She has worked with almost all leading Kannada actors of her time including

Dr.Rajkumar Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Cinema of ...

Kalyan Kumar Kalyan Kumar (7 June 1928 – 1 August 1999) was an Indian actor, and an occasional film director and producer who worked primarily in Kannada cinema, Kannada and Tamil cinema. Making his acting debut in the mythological drama ''Natashekara'' (19 ...

, Vishnuvardhan, Srinath,

Ambarish In Hindu mythology, Ambarisha ( sa, अम्बरीषः, ) is an Ikshvaku king, and the son of Mandhata.Pargiter, F.E. (1972) 922 ''Ancient Indian Historical Tradition'', Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.92. He is believed to have conquered t ...

Anant Nag Dr Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 200 Kannada films as well as Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and En ...

Shankar Nag Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...

and

Lokesh Lokesh (; 19 May 1947 – 14 October 2004) was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada plays and films. His wife Girija Lokesh is an actress and film director. His father was Subbaiah Naidu, who is credited to be first hero of Kannada silent mo ...

. She was paired with matinee idol Dr.Rajkumar in

Samayada Gombe ''Samayada Gombe'' () is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed and co-produced by Dorai–Bhagavan. The film stars Rajkumar, Srinath, Roopa Devi and Menaka. It is based on the novel of same name written by Chitralekha. This is the ...

and

Yarivanu ''Yaarivanu'' () is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language thriller film, directed by Dorai–Bhagavan and produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar. The film stars Rajkumar, Srinath, B. Saroja Devi, Roopa Devi, Hema Choudhary and Puneeth Rajkumar. The screen ...

which were all huge successes critically and commercially. She stopped acting after 1989. Almost twenty years later she returned to the silver screen with Ganga Kaveri in 2008. In 2011 she acted in ''

Jarasandha Jarasandha was a powerful king of Magadha, a minor antagonist in Mahabharata. He was the son of king Brihadratha, the founder of the Barhadratha dynasty of Magadha. According to popular lore, the descendants of Brihadratha ruled Magadha for 260 ...

a''s the mother of hero

Duniya Vijay B R Vijay Kumar, who is professionally known as Duniya Vijay and Duniya Viji, is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. He began his career playing small roles until he got his big break in '' Duniya'' (2007). He is noted for his perform ...

holds the distinction of having played the hero to both Roopa Devi and her mother

(in '' Sri Ramanjaneya Yuddha'').

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roopa Living people Indian film actresses Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema 20th-century Indian actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses in Telugu cinema