Remembering Himanshu Roy (1892-1940) who alongwith his wife Devika Rani established Bombay Talkies in 1934

Born: 1892, Cuttack
Died: 16 May 1940, Mumbai
Himanshu Roy was born in an aristocratic family, and spent several years in Santiniketan for his schooling. After obtaining a law-degree from Kolkata, he went to London to become a barrister. There he met a playwright and screenwriter Niranjan Pal. That association led to making of a film The Light of Asia, which he co-directed with Franz Osten. Rai was also one of the main actors in this film. 

Devika Rani's childhood was mostly spent in England; at the age of nine she moved to the country where she was enrolled in a boarding school. After completing her schooling in the early 1920s, she got an admission from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the Royal Academy of Music in London to study acting and music. She followed that with a course in architecture, textile and decor design, and apprenticed under Elizabeth Arden. Upon completion, Devika Rani started her career as textile engineer.

In 1928 Devika Rani first met her future husband, Himanshu Rai. Rai was in London preparing to shoot his forthcoming film A Throw of Dice. Rai was impressed with Devika's "exceptional skills" and invited her to join the production team of the film, although not as an actress. When she met Rai she was already earning an income from textile design.

 Devika joined films and began her career as an assistant set designer under Promode Roy for A Throw of Dice in 1929. After the film A Throw of Dice, Rai asked Devika to marry him. She agreed. But as she said, ‘he was really like my father – much older than me.’ Rai, as she said, was like a school teacher and she used to be frightened of him, he was also ethical in his dealings, believing in the Indian ethos. He would approve of her dress, her hair and she could not put on any lipstick. Rai addressed Devika as ‘Moni’ (Jewel).

After Himanshu married Devika Rani in 1929, they went to Germany and worked in the UFA studio in Germany. But as the sound film arrived, UFA was completely reorganized and as a result many a staff member had to leave the studios and the German career of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani ended abruptly. It was also combined with the worldwide economic depression that sounded the death knell for joint ventures, but with Rani, Rai made his first sound film Karma in 1933. 

Karma, an "Indo-German-British" collaboration, was released two years after the Alam Ara (1931), the first Indian talkie. Karma was made targeting the international audience. The film was entirely shot in India while the post-production process was carried out in Stoll Studios, London. The film was the first talkie produced by Rai.

The film initially premiered in London in May 1933. Devika Rani's performance was lauded by the critics in London. However, when the film was released later in Hindi as Naagan Ki Raagini, it failed to impress the Indian audience.

The film was among the first in India to feature an on-screen kiss. The four-minute long scene between Devika Rani and Rai, her husband in real life, is also known to being the longest such scene in Indian cinema. Upon release, the film became controversial in the then "orthodox India" for featuring a kissing scene.

Though largely ignored in India during its release, Karma is considered a landmark in Indian cinema due to its unprecedented kissing scene. In 2012, The Times of India described it as the "first Indian talkie with English dialogue which set all London talking".

Returning to India, the couple established their production studio Bombay Talkies in 1934. They produced many women-centric films throughout the decade, with Devika Rani portraying lead roles in most of them. Her on-screen pairing with Ashok Kumar became popular in India.

Around this time, the WWII was unsettling the world and the Germans (Franz Osten) had to leave Bombay Talkies / India. But Bombay Talkies was flourishing nonetheless. 1940 was the year of the hit film Bandhan. Prior to that, in 1939, Kangan had already gripped the popular imagination and was a big box-office success.

Himanshu Rai died in 1940 at the age of 48. Apparently he had a nervous breakdown. Was running Bombay Talkies becoming very difficult for him by then? The precise reason for his premature demise is not known but the plausible reason could be mental stress as is mentioned everywhere. The exit of the Germans (particularly Franz Osten) might have affected Himanshu Rai emotionally but otherwise there were no apparent reasons for mental stress or nervous breakdown. 

After Rai's death, there was a struggle for studio control. His widow Devika Rani was in conflict with Sashadhar Mukherjee. Eventually there was dual control and alternate production of films by the two camps. During this era Mukherjee produced the studio's biggest hit Kismet in 1943. Then Mukherjee broke away to form Filmistan Studio in partnership, and Devika Rani, fully in charge of the studio, did not have as much success.

In 1945 Devika Rani married Svetoslav Roerich and moved away from Bombay and films. Ashok Kumar and Mukherjee made a bid to revive Bombay talkies and produced one big hit in Mahal. Eventually the studio shut down and is now a decrepit property in Malad.

Devika Rani was highly influenced by the German cinema by virtue of her training at the UFA Studios; although she was influenced by German actress Marlene Dietrich, her acting style was compared to Greta Garbo, thus leading to Devika Rani being named the "Indian Garbo". Devika Rani's attire, both in films and sometimes in real life, was considered "risqué" at that time. 

In 1958, the Government of India honored Devika Rani with a Padma Shri, the country's fourth highest civilian honor. She became the first ever recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the country's highest award for films, when it was instituted in 1969. In 1990, Soviet Russia honored her with the "Soviet Land Nehru Award".

 She died of bronchitis on 9 March 1994—a year after Roerich died—in Bangalore. At her funeral, Devika Rani was given full state honors.

A postage stamp commemorating her was released by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in February 2011.