Residents of Meenampatti, a small village in the fireworks industry hub of Sivakasi, mourned the death of Sivakasi's most famous daughter — Sridevi.
Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayappan on August 13, 1963, Sridevi lived in her native village for a short period of time. Her family moved to Chennai as she began acting in movies as a child artiste at the age of four. She last visited the village in 1989 to campaign for her father Ayyappa Naidu who contested the assembly election from Sivakasi constituency as a Congress candidate.
"She stayed for 10 days and campaigned for her father. During her stay, she interacted with the locals freely. It left an everlasting impression on them," said Duraisamy from Meenampatti. However, she did not visit the village after her father passed away in 1990.
Following her sudden demise, the village locals who still remember her paid floral tributes to the actress by placing her childhood pictures and her family photos in front of her ancestral home on Sunday evening.
T Seenivasan, who is a close friend of Sridevi's family in the village, said that even though they settled in Chennai when she was very young, the villagers admire her work and achievements in the film industry. "The news of her sudden death came as a shock to us. She will live long in ours hearts," he said.
Talking about the actress' family, he said that Sridevi's was a landlord family that owned a large tract of agricultural lands. "Her uncle Ramasamy Naidu was an ex-MLA. He was the local village panchayat president for 25 years," he said.
