Suraiya: The 50s superstar who demanded higher fee than Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand, was praised by Jawaharlal Nehru
Written by on June 15, 2023
Wonder Woman Gal Gadot fought for equal pay. Desi girl Priyanka Chopra managed to achieve pay parity after spending two decades in the film industry. Oprah Winfrey also championed the cause of equal pay for women. But when the history of female actors who earned at par with their male co-stars, or more, is written, legendary Bollywood star Suraiya is likely to have a chapter devoted to her.
More than half a century ago, Suraiya was the highest-paid actor in India at the age of 20, leaving behind the likes of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar.
Suraiya’s success was no luck. It was not the doing of any godfather. It was pure hard work and gallons of talent. Indian audiences of a certain vintage will remember Suraiya as a mesmerising face, a soulful voice and a graceful performer during 1940-1950s. The first role with which she left an impression on the audience and also on people in the film industry was in the film Omar Khayyam (1946), as the lover of the Persian poet (played by KL Saigal). With films like Pyar ki Jeet (1948), Badi Behan (1949) and Dillagi (1949) she reached the peak of her career and became the highest-paid artist of her time.
But like many leading ladies of her time, Suraiya’s entry into the world of cinema happened by chance. Born in Lahore on June 15, 1929, she moved to Mumbai and lived with her uncle Zahur who was working for Kardar Films. She started frequenting film sets with him. In 1941, a 12-year-old Suraiya went to Mohan Studios to see the shooting of the film Taj Mahal. There, a child was needed to play the young Mumtaz Mahal and Suraiya got a chance. She went on to star in a few children’s programmes for All India Radio at the insistence of her close friend Raj Kapoor.
At 13, Suraiya’s singing talent was discovered by music director Nuashad. He recognised her soul-stirring voice and gave her the chance to playback for Mehtab, the famous star of those days, for the song “Panchhi Jaa, peechhe raha hai bachpan mera” in the film Sharda (1942). Funnily, Suraiya was so petite at the time that she had to stand on a stool to reach the microphone. In no time, she became a “sensational singing star” and since those were the times when playback singing was not introduced in films, film producers swarmed her with acting offers.
She got recognised as an actor-singer in Bombay Talkies’ Hamari Baat (1943). Then came DRD Productions’ Ishara and Suraiya had a chance to act opposite old friend Raj Kapoor’s father — Prithviraj. Soon, Suraiya became synonymous with musicals like Phool, Samarat Chandragupta, Aaj Ki Raat, Dard, Dillagi, Natak, Afsar, Kajal, Dastan, Sanam and Char Din. Dharmendra was such a huge fan of hers that he watched the romantic drama Dillagi 40 times. Such was the charm of Suraiya. People often addressed her as the “chocolate charmer”.
Speaking of her heydays, Suraiya had reminisced in an interview with Stardust in 1972, “I came under good banners with able directors, top actors and I was particularly lucky in getting meaty and selected roles.” She ruled the mid-1940s as a singer-actor along with Noor Jehan, the legendary Pakistani singer who left India after the Partition. Pran Nevile in the book, KL Saigal: The Definite Biography, wrote about Suraiya, “No one could imagine that this simple young girl, without any training in classical music, would one day emerge as the leading singing superstar.”
But Suraiya was not the master of her life. It was her maternal grandmother who controlled her life and career. Suraiya had once spoken about her, “She was the dominating figure of our household. She controlled all of us. I was shy, timid, obedient and very, very frightened (of her).”
The high point of Suraiya’s career was working with the legendary KL Saigal, of whom she claimed to be a die-hard fan. It was Saigal who recommended filmmaker Jayant Desai for their then-upcoming film Tadbir (1945). Desai, who was already in awe of her performance in the historical drama Samrat Chandragupta, made no delays and cast her opposite Saigal. Tadbir was KL Saigal and Suraiya’s first of three films together. They went on to star in Omar Khayyam and Parwana.
While she was at her peak professionally, Suraiya’s personal life flourished as well with the entry of a young, brooding man, Dev Anand. They fell in love. He used to call her ‘Nosey’ as he liked her nose and she used to call him ‘Steve’, a character from her favourite novel. He wrote love letters to her and got them delivered by his co-stars, cameramen or directors. They did seven films together and managed to hide their romance for the first three films. Their love story is nothing short of the twists and turns of Bollywood romance.
In a bizarre turn of events, the young lovers were discovered by her granny soon after he presented Suraiya with a diamond ring. She mistakenly wore it in front of her strict grandmother who threw it into the sea. “Dev had borrowed money to buy that expensive ring for me. I cried and cried that night,” Suraiya remembered. After the incident, the grandmother made sure the lovebirds do not get intimate even during the shoot and instructed film producers and directors to do away with romantic scenes between them.
Suraiya’s grandmother was against her relationship with Dev since he was a Hindu and also less popular than her granddaughter at the time. So, Dev insisted that they get married in court as he believed, “Love is the only religion, love is everything.” But he also wanted Suraiya to give up her career after marriage. That went against what Suraiya, the reigning superstar, wanted. Despite persuasion from Guru Dutt for Dev’s marriage proposal, she turned it down.
“When I refused to marry Dev, he called me a coward. Maybe I was one. I admit I didn’t have the courage to take a step I was not absolutely sure of. Perhaps it was a folly, perhaps a mistake or perhaps destiny?” Suraiya told Stardust. However, she also chose a lonely life after her breakup with Dev Anand. She denied all the marriage proposals and chose to never marry. Dev Anand, meanwhile, married Kalpana Kartik in 1954.
This blow on the personal front somewhere took away the zeal Suraiya had for life and her work. In the early 1950s, her films stopped creating magic. In 1954, she briefly tasted success again with the biographical drama Mirza Ghalib. She got praised by Jawahar Lal Nehru for the film, who told her, ‘Tumne Mirza Ghalib kii ruuh ko zindaa kar diyaa (You brought Mirza Ghalib’s soul alive)’. Her last film, Rustam Sohrab, came in 1963 with Prithviraj Kapoor, but it tanked at the box office. However, she sang her swan song “Ye kaisi ajab dastan ho gayi hai” in the film which was a superhit among the fans. She counted Hollywood star Grgory Peck among her admirers, who made it a point to meet her at her residence during a visit to India.
In 1963, at the age of 34, Suraiya retired. The golden name which once caught the fancy of filmgoers disappeared from the silver screen. She denied offers for playback singing and got lost in oblivion until she passed away in 2004 due to health-related issues.
She preferred her fans to remember her as a vibrant young girl, who ruled the Hindi cinema with her acting prowess and her soulful voice.
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