Vyjayanthimala rejected Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1957.
The production of the original Devdas (1955) involved several big actresses leaving the project. Director Bimal Roy was willing to have Meena Kumari as Paro and Nargis as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar as Devdas.
Meena was left out because her husband Kamal Amrohi set some unrealistic conditions which Roy didn’t accept. The role went to Suchitra Sen eventually.
Nargis left because she wanted to play the more important role of Paro. Bina Rai and Suraiya left for the same reason.
Ultimately, the role of Chandramukhi was given to Vyjayanthimala. Screenwriter Nabendu Ghosh didn’t approve of Vyjayanthimala’s casting, but they couldn’t waste any more time.
Devdas earned critical acclaim and over 1 crore rupees at the box-office, making it the 10th highest-grossing film of the year.
At the 4th Filmfare Awards (1957), Dilip and Motilal won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. Vyjayanthimala was awarded Best Supporting Actress but rejected it saying that she deserved Best Actress because her role was as important as Suchitra’s Paro.
Vyjayanthimala became the first actress to refuse a Filmfare award.