In an era when men ruled the box office and industry pay scales, there emerged one young actress and singer who broke all norms.
At a time when male actors were the highest earners, she shocked the industry by charging Rs 1–2 lakh per film, a fee that made her the highest-paid actress in the 1940s. She charged higher than what Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar earned.
Curious? Let us break the name for you. It was none other than Suraiya, one of Hindi cinema’s most influential icons of the pre-independence era.
Her journey began when she was just 12. She used to accompany her maternal uncle to film studios. Later, she was cast as young Mumtaz Mahal in Taj Mahal.
Composer Naushad discovered her singing talent when she was performing for All India Radio. He gave her a playback debut in Sharda (1942). Suraiya went on to sing 338 songs, a rare feat for any actress at that time.
Alongside fame, her off-screen life attracted national attention. Her deeply emotional and much-talked-about love story with Dev Anand remains one of Bollywood’s most poignant chapters.
Suraiya and Dev Anand starred in seven films together. Such was Dev Anand’s affection that he even borrowed money from friends to buy her a Rs 3,000 diamond ring, reported Times Of India.
Their relationship faced opposition from Suraiya’s conservative family due to religious differences. When her grandmother found the ring, she pulled it off Suraiya’s finger and prohibited her from meeting Dev again, the report added.
Though he proposed to her again years later, Suraiya refused, choosing her family over love. She remained unmarried forever.
Her career, too, faced a downturn for a while after the heartbreak with many of her films failing at the box office in the 1950s.
But she made a stunning comeback with Mirza Ghalib (1954) which was both critical and commercial success.
Today, Suraiya is remembered as an extraordinary actress-singer whose voice defined an era, and legacy continues to shine as one of the most flourishing chapters in Indian cinema.
