ANR Award to Smt. Anjali Devi

The prestigious Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao Award for the year 2007 will be conferred on famed actress of yesteryears Smt. P. Anjali Devi. Akkineni Venkat and Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao jointly addressed a press meet at Annapoorna Studios today. The Award constituted by ANR himself a couple of years ago assumed international recognition. Smt. Anjali Devi would receive the Award at a function slated to take place at Ravindra Bharati, Hyderabad, on January 13 th evening. Venkat Akkineni said: "We (me and Smt. Anjali Devi) were neighbors. She had acted with my father in a number of films. I am at joy that she is getting this ANR Award." The Award would carry a cash prize of Rs. 4 Lakh.

ANR said: "In order to get international recognition, we first gave the Award to Devanand and Shabana Azmi, who richly deserve the same. This time, we decided to give the Award to Smt. Anjali Devi. Of the 254 movies I had done, Anjali Devi acted in about 50 movies. I also produced several films with her. We were good neighbors. She didn't limit herself to any particular character, but proved her versatility. At a time when she got recognition as a good heroine, she dared to do the demon's role in Keelugurram."

Chief Minister Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy would be the chief guest at the function. Former Governor of Karnataka Smt. VS Rama Devi would be the special guest. Union Minister Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy would preside over the function.

Anjali Devi debuted with the film Gollabhama directed by P. Pullaiah. She played the role of a divine lady. Her journey continued by leaps and bounds and she acted in over 400 movies so far, besides producing acclaimed movies.