Last year, a few days after the release of Mom in July, I was talking to Sridevi's husband Boney Kapoor for a feature on the actor’s 50-year-journey in the film industry. Kapoor was ecstatic. He told me during the conversation that “the success and career that Sri has seen is commendable”. That no other actor could have worked across so many languages in so many films.
His words couldn’t have been more true. In fact, as a gesture of respect and love for his wife, he had released Mom, his home production and Sridevi’s 300th film, on the same day―July 7―that Sridevi began her film journey, back in 1967.
Sridevi, who passed away last night after suffering a massive cardiac arrest, was born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan on August 13, 1963 in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. She started acting when she was just four when her father Ayyapan Yangar got her a part in the Tamil film Thunaivan. She also did films in other languages, making her mark in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films at the same time. Probably, a testimony that she was really passionate about what she did.
It was no surprise that in the male-dominated Hindi film industry, Sridevi not only made a mark; films rode on her shoulders, whether it was Chaalbaaz (1989), Chandni (1991), Khuda Gawah (1992) or her comeback film after a hiatus of 15 years, English Vinglish. One of the first roles in the Hindi films was that of a supporting character in Julie (1975), before making her debut with Solva Sawan (1979), which didn’t work.
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In 1983, when Sadma hit the screens, the actor left everyone mesmerised. The movie, which starred Sridevi and Kamal Haasan, was a remake of Balu Mahendra’s Tamil film Moondram Pirai (also starring the lead actors). Sridevi was widely lauded for her performance―swiftly transitioning from a child-woman to a grown up. Himmatwala was another one of her Hindi films to release the same year. There was no stopping her as she went on to be the first female superstar and would continue to be called so.
The actor took a sabbatical after the 1997 film Judaai to concentrate on her family and kids. Known to be a very reserved person, she wouldn’t make many appearances.
Like everyone else, I had grown up in awe of the actor. My first dance performance as a kid for a cultural program was on Sridevi’s popular song Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan Hain from Chandni. Coincidentally, my first assignment as an intern was to cover the launch of a fitness product in Delhi, where Sridevi was the guest of honour. The task at hand was to talk to the actor by any means. When I reached the venue, the actor, along with her husband, was sitting with a host of other people.
I had gone up to her nervously and and asked if I could talk to her. She rolled her big eyes, looked at her husband sitting across the table, as if seeking permission, turned to me and politely refused. A few years later, I spoke to her briefly during the promotions of English Vinglish where she said that she likes to be in her own space. It was difficult for her to get used to the hectic promotional schedules.
However, she has been known for adapting easily to tough circumstances and tougher roles. She couldn’t speak a single word of Hindi when she entered the industry, but she taught herself. By the time she did Mr India (1987), she was comfortable enough to dub the film on her own.
Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who worked with the actor in 1985 on the film Karma, remembers her as a bundle of talent.
“She has been one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. Introvert by nature, she was electric in front of the camera,” says Ghai who described her as a traditional woman and the perfect mother.
And probably that is why Boney Kapoor couldn’t stop gushing about her, her performance in Mom and the great person that she is, when I spoke to him last year. The feature didn’t work out because of the family’s travel plans that time. Kapoor had told me that he and Sridevi would take out time for the feature and do it for sure. But sadly, now that would never happen.