Sridevi is an actress beyond compare, whether it was Hindi films or Tamil...
Sridevi stands today as one of the most iconic, talented and celebrated actresses to emerge from the Indian film industry. She was India’s first female ‘superstar’ and was the highest paid actress during the 1980s and 90s. One of the most influential actors of her time, she acted in films spanning five decades and five languages, constantly working in the film industry since she was 4 years old.
The industry lost a bright spark when she suddenly passed away barely 6 months ago. Amid all the mystery surrounding her death and the sadness that enveloped it, on the occasion of what would’ve been her 55th birthday, let’s take a look at some of the more pleasant aspects of her life and career and discover some facts about the legendary actress that would probably surprise you.
1. One of Bollywood’s hardest working
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Sridevi was not only talented, she was also extremely hardworking. The actress started appearing in films when she was four years old (with the film Thunaivan). Over the span of 50 years, she completed 300 films, with her 300th film, Mom, being her last. The movie won her a posthumous National Film Award for Best Actress.
2. Sridevi and her many collaborations
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Sridevi has produced quite a bit of magic on the silver screen. She has acted with many famous actors, old and young. She did a whopping 13 films with Anil Kapoor, including Mr India and Laadla. However, that gets surpassed by the 16 films she did with Jeetendra and the mammoth 27 films she did with Kamal Haasan. These include films in Tamil, Telegu, Hindi and Kannada.
3. Sridevi and Rajinikanth
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Sridevi and Rajinikanth also did quite a few films together during their time, acting together in 22 movies. In fact, Sridevi’s first adult role in a movie was with Rajinikanth for the 1976 film Moondru Mudichu. The actress was just 13 while he was 25. Even weirder, she played his step-mother in the film. Now that’s called convincing acting.
4. The competition
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Sridevi was untouchable in terms of her popularity in the 1980s, probably only rivaled by Jaya Prada. Their competition was extremely intense, to the point that they couldn’t stand each other while shooting for 1984’s Maqsad. At one point while shooting, Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra locked the two actresses in a room together hoping that they could actually talk to each other. However, two hours later, they were sitting completely alone in opposite corners of the room.
5. Her problems with Hindi
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While Sridevi’s transition to Hindi cinema may have appeared seamless on-screen, it wasn’t so behind the camera. She initially couldn’t speak Hindi that well, and had her dialogues dubbed by someone else. Actress Naaz would often dub for Sridevi, and even Rekha dubbed for her in the Aakhiri Raasta. She first started dubbing her dialogues in Chandni.
6. The roles that could’ve been
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Considering the amount of work Sridevi did, there are bound to have been a few roles that slipped by. She was offered the lead role in Beta (which went to Madhuri Dixit), but refused due to having already done quite a few films with Anil Kapoor. She was even supposed to play the female leads (as twins) in Baazigar, but the makers felt that Shah Rukh Khan killing her character would make him seem more villainous. She was even offered a role by Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park, but turned it down because she didn’t want to take that long a break from Indian cinema.
7. Sridevi, the artist
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Apart from acting, Sridevi was quite the painter. In fact, she even made a painting of Sonam Kapoor as her character from Saawariya. The painting was meant to be auctioned off right after Mohit Marwah’s wedding in Dubai. However, she died soon after the wedding.
