SrideviWhile Sridevi's father Ayyappan was thrilled to have daughter interviewed by an English magazine, the star herself was uninterested. CV AravindScreenshot/YouTubeBalachander had roped in his proteges Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan for the main roles for his film Moondru Mudhichu and had begun the search for a heroine. He stumped his assistants by rooting for a teenager named Sridevi. Balachander had seen the actor essay the role of Lakshmi’s kid sister Irene in Julie, the Hindi version of the Malayalam film Chatakkari. The director, who had a high regard for the Malayalam filmmaker Ks Sethumadhavan, who had helmed both the versions, felt that Sridevi who'd been picked by the latter should fit the bill in Moondru Mudichu. Sridevi, who had faced the arc lights at the age of four, had no hang-ups about doing the role but skeptics wondered how the slip of a girl would be able to play Rajinikanth’s step mother and the second wife of a widower (Calcutta Viswanathan) convincingly. But Balachander’s gamble paid off and Sridevi did full justice to her part. Her film with debutant director Bharathiraaja titled Pathinaru Vayadhinile was entirely a different kettle of fish. Pathinaru Vayadhinile originally titled Mayil after the Sridevi's name in the film was a heroine oriented subject and offered the young star an opportunity to reveal her histrionic talent. Although both the scene stealers Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth were around in this film, too, it was Mayil who stole the thunder with her vivacity and joie de vivre. As a freelancer moonlighting for a number of film magazines, I was able to approach the actor for an exclusive interview with a now defunct journal named Star & Style. Despite her glamorous appearance in Pathinaru Vayadhinile, Sridevi was quite shy and demure and I could easily discern that her impending stardom post the film’s release had not begun to rub off on her. In those days, when visual media had not yet made an impact, interviews in film magazines were highly prized and actors through their PROs would often cajole writers to feature them in their journals. Sridevi’s father, Ayyappan, an advocate by profession who was managing her fledgling career at that point of time, was thrilled that his daughter would be getting some exposure in an English journal, that too from Bombay ( now Mumbai). Sridevi, however, was hardly excited, and answered all my queries in monosyllables. Though her exuberance was evident, a passion for cinema was perhaps still in an embryonic state. Kamal Haasan, in a teary eyed tribute to the star, had recalled his meeting her when she was a teen on the sets of Moondru Mudichu and observing that she had a childlike innocence about her. It was this blithe spirit that cinematographer-director Balu Mahendra captured so vividly in his 1982 film Moondram Pirai where he cast Sridevi as an amnesia struck waif who loses her bearings after an accident and is rescued by a professor ( Kamal Haasan ). He nurses her back to health and in the process falls head over heels in love with her, only to lose her in the climax as she fails to recognise her benefactor. This role, which both the actors reprised in the Hindi version Sadma as well, should rank as one of her finest ever. The film was critically acclaimed and also had a phenomenal run at the box-office. Rumours were rife that Sridevi would win the National Award for Best Actress for her portrayal but she missed out by the proverbial whisker. Kamal Haasan won the Best Actor award that year for the film. Speaking to Balu after the jury had announced the awards, I could see that he too had been piqued at the jury bypassing Sridevi. Until then, Sridevi had been playing glamorous roles and her transformation in Moondram Pirai was a revelation. On interviewing her after the release of the film and the announcement of the awards, I could see that Sridevi , far from being crestfallen or depressed, had taken it in her stride and was all set to move on. The State Government’s Award for Best Actress was a consolation as were the plaudits that came her way. My bond with the actor who was destined to touch much greater heights in the days ahead grew when she injured her leg during the shooting of a song sequence for the film Shankarlal. Explaining the chain of events, she observed that she had to enact a slow motion scene for a duet and had landed heavily on her right leg, fracturing it in the process. Incidentally, Sridevi was an exceptionally gifted dancer who had attained great proficiency in classical dances like Bharathanatyam, so much so that dancing became her forte when she became a superstar in Bollywood. Biweekly visits to her humble rented abode became a habit and she would be propped up in her four poster bed, busy poring over a comic book with a stereo system blaring in one corner of the room. Four teddy bears had been placed strategically in the four corners of her bed and the teenager would often glance in their direction, all the time making small talk with me. But such was her dedication to her craft that she continued to dub for the film albeit with her leg in a plaster cast. Before Bollywood made her its own, Sridevi had a long and fruitful career in Tamil and Telugu cinema and also Malayalam, where the industy saddled her with roles that called for skimpy costumes and risqué scenes. But that innocence that flashed in her eyes always remained and Sridevi unfailingly managed to pull off even such roles, emerging with her dignity intact. My last interview with Sridevi was in 1983 on the sets of the Jeetendra starrer Himmatwala directed by Raghavendra Rao, where she was participating in a dance sequence. Child artiste Baby Shalini (who later acted in Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayuthe among other films and married Tamil actor Ajith Kumar) was perched on her lap, and in between shots she would take questions from me. Her films with Jeetendra would rock the box-office and the piece de resistance in the films would be the dance sequences with Jumping Jack Jeetendra matching steps with the queen of dance, Sridevi. A humble, genial personality, with no airs whatsoever, Sridevi exuded a lot of warmth and always endeared herself to one and all. Considering the fact that she had made a comeback to films, the industry and her legion of fans will certainly miss her.
- 2/26/2018
- by Editor
- The News Minute
ObituaryWhat is remarkable about her rise to this throne is that she never had any godfathers in any of the industries she worked in.CV AravindFifty years ago, in a studio in Chennai (then Madras), a young girl faced the cameras for her debut as a child artiste. Not many in the audience that watched this wisp of a girl would have wagered that this lass with luminous, bright eyes and a prominent nose would one day become the toast of not just South Indian cinema, but Bollywood as well. Sridevi performed as a child artist in a number of films, but landed her first significant role in a Hindi remake of the Malayalam hit Chattakari. Titled Julie and directed by veteran director Ks Sethumadhavan, the film saw Sridevi cast as the heroine Lakshmi’s nubile younger sister. But, the biggest challenge of her fledgeling career came to her in the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu, directed by star maker and the man with the Midas touch – K Balachander. As a thirteen-year-old, she was saddled with the role of the wife of an aging widower (played by Calcutta Viswanathan) and the stepmother of Rajinikanth. Kamal Haasan had a guest role in the film and the highlight of the film was the sequence of scenes between Sridevi and Rajinikanth. Balachander was later to cast her in another successful film Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu, which had Kamal in the lead, and Sridevi in the role of a young girl with a wayward father who falls for Kamal. Another director who played a stellar role in turning Sridevi into a household name was Bharathiraaja. His debut film Pathinaru Vayadhinile, a pastoral drama, had Sridevi playing the central role of the village beauty, Mayil, with Kamal Haasan as a physically challenged Chappani and Rajinikanth as the scheming villain Parattai. The film turned out to be a blockbuster hit. Sridevi, who had not yet established herself in the industry, threw caution to the winds, exhibiting the voluptuousness of her lithe frame, sending the front benchers into raptures of delight. Bharathiraaja again cast her opposite Kamal in the suspense thriller Sigappu Rojakkal, where Kamal played a homicidal maniac hunting down the heroine only to perish in the climax. The Sridevi-Kamal Haasan pair was a rage in Kollywood for several years, and the duo worked together in over forty films, including comedies like Meendum Kokila and intense dramas like Moondram Pirai. Moondram Pirai, helmed by cinematographer-turned-director Balu Mahendra, was a milestone in Sridevi’s film career. It tells the story of a professor (Kamal) who picks up an amnesia-struck waif, rendered senseless after a near-fatal accident. He takes her home and shelters her in the cocoon of his heart, but eventually loses her in a dramatic denouement when, after recovering her mental faculties, she is unable to recognize him as her saviour. But for the climax, where Kamal goes overboard with his emotions, the entire film belonged to Sridevi. Glamour took a back seat in the film as the actor essayed her role with aplomb, touching a new height in her career, dwarfing even a seasoned performer like Kamal. Ironically, it was Kamal who won the National Award for his performance while Sridevi was overlooked in the Best Actress category. Sridevi also worked with other Tamil heroes like Sivakumar in Kavi Kuyil and turned in a memorable performance in the Mahendran-directed Johnny opposite Rajinikanth, with whom she had also acted in the Sp Muthuraman directed Priya. Sridevi forayed into the Malayalam and Telugu industries too, and while Mollywood only cast her in lacklustre roles, well fleshed-out roles came to her in Telugu opposite veterans like Nageswara Rao (Premabishekam, a smash hit), Ntr, Krishna, Shobhan Babu and so on. Sridevi was the heroines in such Telugu hits as Konda Veeti Singham, Kshana Kshanam, Veeragadu, Sardar Pasparayudu and Bobbili Puli. Sridevi’s first foray into Bollywood as a heroine was with Bharathiraaja’s 1978 remake of Pathinaru Vayadhinile titled Solva Salwan, which however turned out to be a damp squib. It was in Himmatwala released in 1983, where she was paired with Jeetendra, a favourite of producers down South, that she created a significant impact. Suddenly, Sridevi and her ‘thunder thighs’ came into sharp focus across the nation. The Sridevi-Jeetendra pair was much like the Sridevi-Kamal combination down south, and films like Mawali and Tohfa clicked in a big way, while almost all their other films too did brisk business. Jeetendra, dubbed ‘Jumping Jack’ for his dancing prowess, was in awe of Sridevi. In a recent interview, he commented that he found it tough to match steps with her in the dance sequences as she was such a brilliant dancer. Not all her Hindi films did justice to her talent or versatility as they were mere potboilers focusing on entertainment. But there were notable exceptions like Sadma (the remake of Moondram Pirai), Mr India, Chandni, Chaalbaaz (in a dual role with Sunny Deol and Rajinikanth), Khuda Gawah (again, playing dual roles of an Afghani mother and daughter, opposite Amitabh Bachchan), Lamhe, and Gumrah. Shekar Kapur’s Mr India (which critics felt should have been titled Miss India as Sridevi hogged the limelight) was a delightful comedy caper, where she acted opposite Anil Kapoor. The “Hawa Hawaii” song, where she danced with gay abandon, became a craze, as did her Chaplinesque act that brought the roof down. Ace director Yash Chopra was so fascinated with her talent that he cast her in the dual role of a mother and daughter in his film Lamhe. Already, she had won hearts in his earlier film, Chandni, in a role tailor-made for her. Commercial hits like Nagina, Karma, and Janbaaz kept coming, right down to her last project before bidding au revoir to the industry, Judaai. Marriage to Boney Kapoor, Anil Kapoor's elder brother and a producer in his own right, turned the queen of the box office into a demure housewife. But when even her most die-hard fans thought she had hung up her boots for good, Sridevi sprang a surprise by returning to the silver screen after a fifteen-year hiatus. In 2012, Sridevi made a powerful comeback with the English Vinglish, directed by Gauri Shinde. The film’s theme centred on Sridevi as a housewife, who after being taunted by her husband and daughters on her lack of proficiency in English, strives to match their expectations by opting for a crash course in the language. The film was a runaway hit and the actor proved that she could still carry a film on her shoulders. Sridevi’s film Mom, produced by husband Boney Kapoor and directed by newcomer Ravi Udyavar featured her in the lead as the mother of two children played by Pakistani actors Sajid Ali and Adnan Siddique. The film also saw Nawazuddin Siddique and Akshay Khanna sharing frames with her. There’s no dearth of admirers even within the industry for the woman recently chosen as India’s greatest actress in the last hundred years by a popular news channel. Salman Khan, for instance, had said that Sridevi is greater than all the Khans in the industry, while veteran actor Anupam Kher dubbed her the Queen of Hindi cinema. What is remarkable about her rise to this throne is that she never had any godfathers in any of the industries she worked in. Instead, she made her rise to the top thanks to her versatility, her commitment to cinema and the hard work she put in over several decades. Bollywood has always been a haven for actresses from the South, with the likes of Vyjayantimala, Waheeda Rahman, Padmini, Hema Malini and Rekha all carving niches for themselves. But Sridevi has always been in a different league altogether, which is saying a lot considering that these other stars had massive followings in their heydays.
- 2/24/2018
- by Editor
- The News Minute
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