Bollywood’s first female superstar would have turned 60 today

Nonika Singh

An eternal screen goddess and, to some, Bollywood’s first female superstar, Sridevi continues to captivate and enchant people long after she ceases to exist in the flesh. Her charisma lives on on screen in over 280 films. Her fan base is alive and well and includes reputed makers like Ram Gopal Varma (RGV). Biography about her life and her films attempts to decipher her mysteries.

Born on August 13, 1963 to a Tamilian father and a Telugu mother, she was named Shree Amma Younger Ayyappan, a mouthful. Sridevi started her film career at the age of four and she literally grew up on set. Ambolish Roychowdhury has written a book ‘Sridevi: The South Years’ in four major languages ​​which mainly focuses on her activities in the South Indian industry. “It laid a solid foundation for her brilliant career in Bollywood,” he says.

Among her countless films, Sadma stands out. As Roy Chowdhury reminds us, during her distinguished career in the South, such films were the rule rather than the exception. She went on to play some nuanced and complex characters. “She was only 13 years old when she played the female lead role in ‘Moondol Mudichu’ in 1976,” the author added. Apart from being directed by the legendary K Balachander, the creator of the iconic love story ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’, ‘Moondru’ also stars Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, who would go on to become a phenomenon just like Sridevi. starred. Although she never attended acting school, she found mentors in her co-stars and directors. When asked about her acting methods, Sridevi was usually clueless. Couldn’t she have been swallowing it all up in her subconscious? Critic Bharadwaj Rangan says in Roychoudhury’s book that “the film industry was her university”.

Director and screenwriter Gauri Shinde, who revived her magic with her comeback film ‘English Vinglish’, recalls: “She was an intuitive actor, but just as much of a director’s actor. Here I was a debut director, and she had a solid career. Still, she was completely attached to me and the script.” Sumeet Vyas, who co-starred with her in the same film, remembers her fondly and says: But I feel that how an actor prepares is a very personal journey and I’m sure Sridevi had her own process as well. She never once got her lines wrong or forgot them. ” he recalls one shoot that symbolized her mastery as an actor. “During the final scene where she gives a speech in English, filming was interrupted several times because there was construction going on at the house next door. Her monologue was interrupted several times when it was gaining momentum. But believe me, Sridevi picks up the exact same rhythm every time.” He feels that a lesser actor would have caused a fuss, but she did not. In fact, when he first meets her, he is surprised to find her sitting alone and quiet, with no stellar entourage around her.

Most of her co-stars and people who knew Sridevi closely claim that she was not exactly a people person. Jackie Shroff once said that on sets, she would sit quietly in her corner and immerse herself in her books.

Adil Hussain, who matched her talent in ‘English Vinglish’, has a different view. “She may have been an introvert, but she was receptive and a good listener, and when asked for her opinion, she was quick to give it.” “It’s not that she’s being held back. In fact, she was open and vulnerable,” he says.

Gauri, who got to know her personally, found Sridevi incredibly warm. She recalls that once she got to know her co-stars, she interacted with them very freely and had a lot of fun on set. She said, “She may have been shy, but she was just as caring, and she gave me a lot of food.”

But there’s no denying that the actor, who was a pure magical presence on screen, never felt at ease when out in public. At the 2017 IFFI in Goa, she never struck a prima donna pose and smiled sheepishly as photographers stormed around. In fact, she rarely spoke in public and was always a taciturn person. Roychoudhury feels that “her public image was perhaps a bit artificial in contrast to her on-screen avatar”.

Was she unhappy in her personal life, as claimed by RGV, a self-proclaimed one of her biggest fans who dedicated the entire film ‘Must’ to Sridevi? Although Roy Chowdhury doesn’t feel like dissecting her personal life, she doubts that “no one knows exactly what was going on in the mind of a woman for whom movies were her world.” I’m thinking.

Gauri insists that her love for her daughters Janhvi and Khushi and husband Boney Kapoor were her greatest strengths. Forget her conspiracy theories after the death of Bonnie who accidentally drowned in her bathtub in 2018, Bonnie was shocked by those words and later married her, leaving her wife and child behind. He was always by her side. Even in her moments of glory, he chose to remain in her shadow. Rather, he was proud of her achievements, especially her ability to adapt, learn Hindi, and even try to understand Punjabi. He was no mean feat for a South Indian, he used to say.

Rishi Kapoor, who co-starred with her in the blockbusters Nagina and Chandni, wrote in his autobiography that he sang songs in Hindi (‘Chandni Aur Meri Chandni’) even though it was not his mother tongue. He praised her for singing.

An effortless actor, her adaptability is truly her strongest suit, and she has reinvented herself many times. After her big hit with 1983’s ‘Himatwala’ and the release of a number of her southern remakes including ‘Tofa’, she appeared in a new avatar with the iconic ‘Mr India’ . Director Shekhar Kapur carved out a memorable character for her by exploring her cheeky and mischievous side as a goofy journalist. Her performance was so overwhelming that critics joked that the film should have been called “Miss India.”

Yash Chopra’s ‘Chandni’ further confirmed her diva status as she tugged at the heartstrings of the nation. Her ‘Chandni’ look and chiffon sarees became a symbol of beauty and fashion. While every fan may have a personal favorite, ‘Chaalbaaz’ and ‘Lamhe’ stand out. Grapevine, hailed as a female Bachchan, is said to have dared to dictate terms in a Big B movie and bagged a double role in ‘Khuda Gawah’. As long as she acted, she ruled the marquee. Her superhit ‘Judaai’ was followed by a 15-year hiatus after she embraced her domestic life. Whether or not hibernation was a satisfying period, “she was always at home on set,” Sumeet says.

For her incandescent song “Mom,” she posthumously won the National Film Award for Best Actress. Although the film was not well received by critics, no one criticized her acting skills or said that she did not deserve her award. Adil asserts that if she had had a script with the gusto to truly explore her talent, she would have won her international accolades.

Whether the movie was good or bad, there was no doubting her talent. She won her Padma Shri award in 2013. As Sumeet says, “Ultimately, the camera captures the soul of an actor. Today, we can empathize with all her roles, and this speaks volumes about her craft.”

But did the world see the best of her when it lost her in 2018? “Of course not,” says Adil. “We only got a glimpse of the beauty of her acting.” Sumeet echoes similar thoughts about her nuanced portrayal in “English Vinglish.” It just proves that actors mature like wine. He probably wrote roles like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada especially for her. And that’s exactly how she was described as “India’s Meryl Streep” at the Toronto International Film Festival (2012). But adjectives hardly describe Sridevi’s greatness. Perhaps unwittingly, she rewrote the rules for female actors in a male-dominated industry and emerged as an innovator.

Her daughter, actress Janhvi Kapoor, has an inspiring presence all around her, and you feel closest to her when she’s facing the camera. She confessed that during her ‘Dhadak’ days, she had watched only five of her mother’s films. She also considers actors like Alia Bhatt to be her idols. When Karan Johar hands over his hat to his favorite director Yash Chopra, it’s also an homage to Sridevi’s chiffon-draped images that exude sensuality. In addition to her acting, the actor, who was passionate about drawing faces and figures, has left behind fragments of her film images that may become muses for many. An eccentric, a zany person, a childish woman, a jilted lover, a shy housewife, a femme fatale… Sridevi could take on any character and yet she remained a child at heart. On her 60th birthday, we need to paraphrase Lee Strasberg’s words: “Honor for the actor is in her work.”

I hope future writings and books will cherish the actor she once was and mourn the actor she could have been.

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