सरिता देवी

Sarita Devi was a singing actress of the late 1930s associated with Wadia Movietone, the Bombay studio famous for its Fearless Nadia stunt films. In an era before playback singing became the norm, actors sang their own songs on screen, and Sarita Devi carried much of the musical weight of the action pictures she appeared in. In Lutaru Lalna (1938), directed by Homi Wadia, she played Vimala and sang several numbers set to Master Mohammed's music, including the duet 'Jagat Hai Sapna Koi Na Apna' and the patriotic songs 'Jhanda Ooncha Rahe Hamaara' and 'Jug Jug Chamke Hind Ka Tara' — nationalist sentiments smuggled into a popular stunt film under British rule. The following year she sang in Punjab Mail (1939), another Homi Wadia and Fearless Nadia vehicle, performing songs such as 'Chal Mori Naiya Nadi Kinare' and 'Qaid Mein Aaye Nand Dulare' (with Sardar Mansoor) to Madhavlal Damodar Master's compositions. Little else is reliably documented about her life; she should not be confused with the later character actress Sarita Devi (born 1925, Jodhpur), whose screen career began in the late 1940s.