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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}
{{Cleanup|date=April 2011}}
{{infobox person
|name =Saraswati Devi
|image =Saraswati Devi Music Director.jpg
|occupation =Music Director
|birth_name =Khurshid Mankesha Minocher-Homji
|birth_date ={{birth year|df=year|1912}}
|birth_place =
|death_date ={{death date and age|df=yes|1980|8|9|1912}}
|death_place =
|years_active=1935–1961
}}

'''Saraswati Devi''', born '''Khorshed Minocher-Homji'''<ref name=bstd10/> (1912 – 9 August 1980), was an [[India]]n director of music and score composer who worked in [[Hindi cinema]] in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyo.in/arts/usha-khanna-women-hindi-film-music-indian-cinema-bollywood/story/1/19941.html|title=Dil Deke Dekho: To Usha Khanna, the unsung woman who broke film records in a man's world|website=www.dailyo.in|access-date=2018-04-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/reel/867853/picture-the-song-devika-is-a-free-spirited-bird-in-main-ban-ki-chidiya|title=Picture the song: Devika Rani is a free-spirited bird in 'Main Ban Ki Chidiya'|last=Nathan|first=Archana|work=Scroll.in|access-date=2018-04-28|language=en-US}}</ref> She is most noted for her score, ''Mein Ban ki Chiriyra Banke Bun Bun Bolun Re'' in Bombay Talkies's ''[[Achut Kanya]]'' (1936). She along with [[Nargis]]' mother & [[Sanjay Dutt]]'s grandmother [[Jaddanbai]] is considered to be one of the first female music composers in Indian cinema.

==Early life and education==
Born in a [[Parsi people|Parsi]] family, she had a love for music. Realizing this her father made her study [[Hindustani classical music]] under [[Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande]] who was specialized in [[Dhrupad]] and [[Dhamar (music)|Dhamar]] style of singing. Later she joined [[Bhatkhande Music Institute|Marris College]] (later [[Bhatkhande Music Institute]]) at [[Lucknow]] and studied music.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://feminisminindia.com/2018/03/29/saraswati-devi-singer-music-director/|title=Saraswati Devi: One Of The First Music Directors In Indian Cinema {{!}} #IndianWomenInHistory|date=2018-03-29|work=Feminism in India|access-date=2018-04-28|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Career==
With the setting up of an [[All India Radio]] station at [[Mumbai]] in the late 1920s she, along with her sister Manek, gave musical performances regularly. The programme, known as the Homji Sisters, was very popular with the listeners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.millenniumpost.in/sundaypost/inland/saraswati-devi-indias-maiden-female-composer-294362|title=Saraswati Devi: India's Maiden Female Composer|last=Dutt|first=Sharad|date=14 April 2018|work=www.millenniumpost.in}}</ref> The founder of [[Bombay Talkies]], [[Himanshu Rai]] who was looking for a good classicalist for his movies, heard them on radio, got in touch with her, and invited her to visit the studio where she was shown the music room. He wanted her to take care of the music department and score music for his movies and Homji accepted the offer and took it as a challenge. Her first assignment was for the movie, ''[[Jawani Ki Hawa]]'' in 1935, starring Himanshu Rai's actress wife [[Devika Rani]]. She had a difficult time making the actors sing and had to simplify the tunes and cover some areas with music instead of song as they were no singers and play back was still not introduced.{{Sfn|Ranade|2006|p=113}}

"Jawani Ki Hawa" was followed by her first hit movie ''[[Achut Kanya]]'' (1936). [[Ashok Kumar]], along with Devika Rani, where she spent several hours a day for day rehearsing for a song before it was filmed. Also in 1936, she gave the music for the film, ''[[Janmabhoomi (1936 film)|Janmabhoomi]]'', it was released during the [[Indian independence movement]], and featured one of the first explicit nationalistic songs of Hindi cinema, "Jai Jai Janani Janmabhoomi" (Hail the land of our birth) written by J. S. Kashyap. {{Sfn|Pauwels|2007|p=207}} Subsequently, a tune from the chorus of this song was used by the [[BBC]] as a signature tune for its Indian News Service.{{Sfn|Ranchan|2014|p=40}}

There was a big uproar and a series of protests in the Parsi community. The board of directors of Bombay Talkies included some members from the Parsi community who objected to girls from their community being in the talkies. Rai defended them and Homji's identity was concealed by giving her the name Saraswati Devi. Her sister, who acted roles for the company, was given the name Chandraprabha. Devi is the first female music director in Hindi films.{{Sfn|Ranchan|2014|p=38-39}}{{Sfn|Gulzar|Chatterjee|2003|p=50}}

Devi continued composing film music until 1961. She composed the song ''Koi Humdum Na Raha'' originally sung by Ashok Kumar in the film ''[[Jeevan Naiya]]'' (1936) and later sung by [[Kishore Kumar]] in ''[[Jhumroo]]'' (1961).<ref name=bstd10>{{cite news |title='This Kishore lad is no singer, I tell you'|url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news//this-kishore-lad-is-no-singer-i-tell-you//411659/ |newspaper=[[Business Standard]] |date=16 October 2010 }}</ref> She is also the original composer of famous song ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtthfgNa7YY Ek Chatur Naar Kar Ke Shringar]'' originally sung by Ashok Kumar in film Jhoola (1941) later sung by Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar in film Padosan.

==Death==
She never married and lived alone in her apartment. One day she fell down from a bus and fractured her hip bone. None of the film personalities ever came for her help. The only help she got was from her neighbours. Saraswati Devi died on August 9 in 1980 at the age of 68 leaving behind unforgettable memories of an era of which she was a golden link.

==Filmography==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Film
! scope="col" | Note(s)
|-

|1935
|Jawani Ki Hawa
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |1936
|Achut Kanya
|
|-
|Janmabhoomi
|
|-
|Jeevan Naiya
|
|-
|Mamta
|
|-
|Miya Biwi
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |1937
|Izzat
|
|-
|Jeevan Prabhat
|
|-
|Prem Kahani
|
|-
|Savitri
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1938
|Bhabhi
|
|-
|Nirmala
|
|-
|Vachan
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1939
|Durga
|
|-
|Kangan
|with RC Pal
|-
|Navjeewan
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1940
|Azad
|with RC Pal
|-
|Bandhan both
|with RC Pal
|-
|Prithvi Vallabh
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1941
|Jhoola
|
|-
|Naya Sansar
|with RC Pal
|-
| rowspan="2" |1943
|Bhakt Raidas
|
|-
|Prarthana
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1944
|Dr Kumar
|
|-
|Parakh Khursheed Anwar
|
|-
|1945
|Aamrapali
|
|-
|1946
|Maharani Mrinal Devi
|
|-
|1947
|Khandani
|
|-
|1948
|Naqli Heera
|
|-
|1949
|Usha Haran
|
|-
|1950
|Bachelor Husband
|with Muhammed Ibrahim
|-
|1955
|Inaam
|with SN Tripathi
|-
|1961
|Babasa Ri Laadi (Rajasthani)
|
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Gulzar|first1=Govind Nihalani|last2=Chatterjee|first2=Saibal|title=Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8y8vN9A14nkC&pg=PT74|year=2003|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7991-066-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Morcom|first=Anna|title=Hindi Film Songs and the Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfVdxiSm-aYC&pg=PA29|year=2007|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-5198-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Ranade|first=Ashok Da.|title=Hindi Film Song: Music Beyond Boundaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZI1wqkWsIjYC&pg=PA113|year= 2006|publisher=Bibliophile South Asia|isbn=978-81-85002-64-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Ranchan|first=Vijay|title=Story of a Bollywood Song|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3h2AgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Abhinav Publications|id=GGKEY:9E306RZQTQ7}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0222487}}
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtthfgNa7YY Original Ek Chatur Naar Kar Kar Shringar

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Saraswati}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian music arrangers]]
[[Category:Indian film score composers]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Hindi film score composers]]
[[Category:Female film score composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian composers]]
[[Category:Indian female composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian singers]]
[[Category:20th-century women composers]]

Saraswati Devi (music director) - Revision history

>Citation bot: Alter: title. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:20th-century Indian singers | #UCB_Category 293/736