Sridevi the country’s first female superstar was born on 13th August 1963. At that time who would have imagined that this shy girl would go on to become the greatest Indian actress of all time. Her illustrious career spanned over 50 years in which she did 269 movies in different languages Hindi, Tamil Telegu and Malayalam.
During the 80s she was the reigning superstar in all the four languages a feat achieved by no one else till date and many few people know that someone else used to dub for her in Hindi because her Hindi was not good and Chandni released in 1989 was the first movie where she dubbed for herself. The audience was so enthralled by her performance that they did not mind her slightly shrill voice and accented Hindi. They were in love with Chandni.
Another blockbuster Chaalbaaz that released the same year established her as the first female superstar of Hindi Cinema. Chaalbaaz had Sridevi play a double role of twin sisters Anju and Manju. While Anju was docile and submissive Manju was fiery and brave. Playing such contrasting characters with such consummate ease only Sridevi could have pulled it off. Her magic was not confined within the geographical boundary of India. She was approached by none other than Steven Spielberg to play a character in Jurassic Park but Sridevi refused the role as it was not the central character in the movie. Anyone else would have lapped up the offer by Steven Spielberg but Sridevi was different
What made Sridevi different from other heroines was her comic timing and her intense portrayal of characters. If Madhuri possessed a million-dollar smile, Rekha boasted a sensuous voice, Hema Malini exuded charm, then Sridevi epitomized acting prowess. This is not to say that other actresses did not know their job but this much can be said with certainty that no one but only she could play Charlie Chaplin in Mr India or the shape shifting snake in Naagin with such conviction. I am sure Charlie Chaplin would have watched her from up above and would have been mesmerised by her portrayal of him.
In the 90s, Sridevi focused mainly on Hindi movies such as Laadla, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah, Judaai, and Gumrah. Initially reluctant to do Khuda Gawah, she was convinced by Amitabh Bachchan and the director Mukul Anand who assured her that her role was significant. Despite the failure of the expensive film Roop Ki Raani Choron Ka Raja, Sridevi’s stature remained unaffected as she had transcended the notion of success and failure.
In the 90s Sridevi did fewer films and her main focus were mostly Hindi movies. Laadla, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah Judaai and Gumrah were some of her notable movies.
There is an interesting anecdote regarding Khuda Gawah. Sridevi was not willing to do the movie as she felt that in an Amitabh Bachchan movie heroines had nothing much to do and she was unwilling to do inconsequential role. Amitabh Bachchan and the director Mukul Anand knew that only she could do justice to this role, so one day Amitabh went to Sridevi’s house with truck full of flowers and assured her that her role was central to the film and she had an equal footage. Only then she relented and after watching the movie one understands as to why the director and Mr Bachchan were adamant on casting her.
The most expensive movie of that time Roop Ki Raani Choron Ka Raja had Sridevi in it and the movie was a big box office failure but it did not diminish her stature. By this time Sridevi was above success and failure.
Sridevi married Boney Kapoor in 1996 and then she took break from acting. After about 15 years she made a comeback with English Vinglish and what a comeback it was. The movie was both a commercial success and was critically acclaimed. After that in 2017 she did Mom. This movie was also a big commercial success and Sridevi received widespread acclaim for her powerhouse performance. No other actress had such remarkable comeback. Her last on-screen performance was in the film zero (2018) in a cameo.
Her sudden passing away in 2018 shocked her fans and cinemagoers worldwide and the void she has left would be difficult to fill as there cannot be another Sridevi.
