page_title: Suryakumari
section_title: Career in the West
hierarchical_section_title: Suryakumari / Career in the West
caption_attribution_description: English: XPDEAM/April.52,A57hA large number of spectators assembled at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, in the first week of April, 1952 to witness an impressive and colourful Beauty Parade when “Miss India” was selected by a panel of six judges. Mrs. Indrani Rehman of Calcutta, was adjudged the most beautiful in India’s first Beauty Contest. She was crowned “Miss India” amidst the cheerings of vast crowds.Photo shows all the participants of the Beauty Contest. “Miss India” – Mrs. Indrani Rehman appears third from left and the runner-up Miss Suryakumari of Madras is seen sixth from left.
context_page_description: Tanguturi Suryakumari, also known by her married name Suryakumari Elvin, was an Indian singer, actress and dancer in Telugu cinema. She sang "Maa Telugu Thalliki", the official song of the State of Andhra Pradesh. She was the winner of Miss Madras 1952 pageant and runner-up of the Miss India 1952 pageant. She was the niece of activist and politician Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, known as Andhra Kesari, who was chief minister of Madras and Andhra.
  As an actress, she has won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best actress, for playing Queen Sudarshana, in Rabindranath Tagore’s Off-Broadway play The King of the Dark Chamber in 1961.
context_section_description: Altogether, Surya appeared in some 25 Indian films in the 1940s and 1950s, singing and acting in a variety of languages, including Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil, Gujurati, Hindi and English.
  She had her film admirers too, for her films like Raithu Bidda (1939), Bhagyalakshmi (1943), Krishna Prema (1943), Maradalu Pelli (1952) and Hindi films Watan (1954), Uran Khatola (1955).
  In the mid-1950s, she made her first visit to the US, as a member of a delegation from the Indian film industry invited to Hollywood by the Motion Picture Association of America (though union regulations precluded her from film work there).
  In 1959, she went to New York to teach at the Columbia University, and also to add to her skills by studying western classical and popular dance forms. On her arrival, she appeared on television alongside the Indian ambassador and sang Indian songs. Making her debut stage appearance in American theatre, she portrayed Queen Sudarshana in Rabindranath Tagore's play The King of the Dark Chamber in Jan Hus Playhouse Theater, in February 1961. Commending her performance, Red Bank Register wrote that she "displayed luminous artistry to match appealing beauty." For the performance, she was awarded the Off-Broadway Award Critics' Award for Best Actress. Suryakumari had an acquaintance with the great Alfred Hitchcock. She also took the role of Princess Chitra in the dance production of Tagore's Chitra for CBS, and researched Indian stories for Alfred Hitchcock.
caption: Suryakumari (sixth from left) along with other contestants at the 1952 Miss India pageant in Bombay
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