Last year you had carried an interesting article on the Vajifdar sisters and their skill in classical Indian dancing ("Dared to dance,” Parsiana, March 7-20, 2021). Equally talented were the Homji Sisters who were well known for their musical talent and performances (see "Minocher-Homji melodies,” Parsiana, August 7, 2015).
Khorshed (l) and Manek Minocher- Homji
On October 5, 2022, the evening of Dussehra, radio Vividh Bharati Akashvani broadcast an illuminating program on Saraswati Devi (originally Khorshed Minocher-Homji) — the very first female music composer in the Indian film industry. She and her sister Manek sang on All India Radio. This came to the attention of well-known film producer Himanshu Roy, husband of the popular actress Devika Rani. He introduced Khorshed to music direction for Hindi films.
This did not go down well with the Parsi community and Khorshed had to change her name to Saraswati Devi. Likewise, Manek, who had acted in a few films, had to adopt the screen name Chandraprabha. Khorshed’s venture into the film world as a music composer was a great success as films like Achut Kanya, Jhoola, Bandhan, Janmabhoomi and Prithvi Vallabh among others proved big hits for their songs and music composed by Saraswati Devi.