Kishwar Desai’s meticulously researched The Longest Kiss: The Life and Times of Devika Rani is a double-weave of scenes from a marriage that transformed Hindi cinema as well as a woman’s lonely struggle to assert herself in a world run by men.
The biography traces the relationship between Himansu Rai, the actor and filmmaker who was among the early adventurers of Indian cinema, and his wife Devika Rani, who starred in Rai’s productions as well as became a founding partner of their studio Bombay Talkies in 1934.
The marriage lasted until Rai’s death in 1940 at the age of 48. Devika Rani spent the early part of her widowhood battling for control of Bombay Talkies. In 1945, she left Bombay Talkies and cinema and married the Russian artist Svetoslav Roerich, eventually settling down with him in Bengaluru. She died on March 9, 1994, at the age of 85.
In her introduction to The Longest Kiss (Westland Books), Kishwar Desai describes Devika Rani as “a rebellious and…