Veteran actress B. Saroja Devi, dubbed by the Tamil cine industry as 'Kannadathu Paingili', passed away at the age of 87 on July 14, 2025. The actor, who breathed her last on Monday, reportedly was suffering from age-related illness. She was found unconscious at her Malleswaram residence in Bengaluru this morning, and the hospital pronounced her dead before arrival there. Several celebrities from the Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada film industry have been paying their last respect to the actress, both in person, and on social media. 

Saroja Devi was the first Superstar of Karnataka, and the actress made her Tamil debut with Thirumanam, a film with Gemini Ganesan and Savitri that was made in 1956, and released in 1958. Thirumanam is now a lost film as no print of the movie is known to survive. Saroja Devi's first official release in Tamil was Thangamalai Ragasiyam with Sivaji Ganesan and TR Rajakumari in 1957. 

Manamulla Maruthaaram (1957) opposite actor K Balaji was Saroja Devi's first female lead role Kollywood. However it was Nadodi Manan (1958) opposite MGR that popularized Saroja Devi, and the actress went on to have an extremely busy career in Tamil doing 10 films since Nadodi Mannan within just a year. She ruled the South regional cinema in the 1960s, doing predominantly Tamil films, and mixing it up with Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films as well. 

With Saroja Devi's marriage in 1967, her Tamil offers started slowing down, and she became more active in the Kannada film industry starting the 1970s. Saroja Devi's acting career further slowed down in the 1980s with the demise of her husband Sri Harsha, and the actress started making sporadic appearances in films doing character roles. 

Saroja Devi was one of the highest paid actresses of South cinema during her prime. She has shared screen space with stalwarts like NT Rama Rao in Telugu cinema, and Dilip Kumar (Paigham), Rajendra Kumar (Sasural) and Sunil Dutt (Beti Bete) in Hindi film industry aka Bollywood. 

India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri was conferred on Saroja Devi when she was just 31. Saroja Devi got India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan, aged 52, in 1992. In 2008, the Government of India, as part of the celebrations of India's 60th independence day, conferred Saroja Devi with a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for her contributions to Indian cinema. 

Saroja Devi's last known appearance in the Tamil movie Aadhavan (2009), was her 186th film outing.