The first time I
heard about Sridevi was in the early 80’s from Jeetendra. He showed me some
songs from Himmatwala and informed
that his heroine was a superstar of Telegu cinema.
Would you believe that she has shot two films without understanding a word of Hindi? She made her debut in Solva Sawan in Hindi but it was a wrong choice, if Himmatwala clicks Sridevi will go places.Jeetendra
Jeetendra was right, in less than a year, Sridevi displaced many top heroines in big banners and with a good mix of artistic and masala films, proved that she was an actor to reckon with. She was the first choice of all the leading heroes: Amitabh Bachchan (Inquilaab, Aakhree Raasta), Rajesh Khanna (Masterjee), Mithun Chakraborty (Jaag Utha Insaan) and Jeetendra (Mawali and Tohfa). The first choice of all filmmakers: Feroze Khan signed her for Jaanbaaz, Subhash Ghai for Karma and Harmesh Malhotra changed box-office history with Nagina.
Sridevi still could not communicate in Hindi and her rivals poked fun at her accent and wardrobe but it did not matter. She was too busy traveling from one location to another, hopping studios in Madras and Mumbai, playing different characters. She was cordial with her colleagues on the sets but none could claim to be her friend. When she reduced assignments down South, her family was her constant companion at the hotel and at shootings.
She hardly met journalists and when she agreed to interviews, answered in monosyllabic or just rolled her dark eyes. The media often described her dumb and Sridevi never bothered to contradict opinions.
There were too many perceptions about her and she was not going to reveal truth to strangers, unless of course you stumbled upon it. One early morning in the 90s, my photographer and I were given appointment for a photo-shoot in her hotel room. We were setting the cameras in the outside room as she got ready inside the bedroom.
We could overhear her mother talking to somebody on a trunk line in Tamil. She sounded upset, Sridevi looked off colour as well, something had happened that morning. I was prepared for her to cancel the shoot, she didn’t but when she sensed we had got the picture we wanted, she excused herself – no discussion and no explanation and I respected her silence.
The next time I met her was on the sets of Mr India, director Shekhar Kapur had interesting insights into his heroine. He revealed that every time he explained a scene to Sridevi, she would explain the same to her sister Srilata in Tamil. This went on for a couple of days and Shekhar was perplexed why she was doing that till he realized that it was her way of preparing for a scene. “In the song ‘Kaante nahi kat te..’ she had to kiss an invisible man which is complicated but Sridevi had an appropriate expression. She doesn’t show it but she is an amazingly astute actor.”
1987 was a game changer for Sridevi both personally and professionally. She did Mr India with Boney Kapoor, the beginning of a lasting relationship followed by Punkaj Parashar’s Chaalbaaz and Yash Chopra’s Chandni. In the 90s there were some old and some new filmmakers. She did her second film Lamhe with Yash Chopra, Khuda Gawah with Mukul Anand, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja with Boney Kapoor and crime thriller Gumraah with Mahesh Bhatt (1993).
By this time Sridevi who was fed up of living in hotels and then her producer’s home had purchased a house of her own in Lokhandwala’s posh Green Acres designed by a socialite friend.
Music filled the room when I arrived one evening for an interview and though I could not decipher the words, the melody was extraordinary. That was my first introduction to music composer AR Rahman. “He is magic” said Sridevi “And soon, he will be taken over by Hindi cinema too” and that’s what happened!
In the coming years Sridevi went through a turbulent phase when she had to fight many adversities. She lost her father, her mother developed cancer, she had a fall out with her sister, her involvement with Boney Kapoor, their controversial marriage and the backlash took its toll on her but the storms subsided when the babies arrived, first Jhanvi and then Khushi. For some years Sridevi was only focused on her home and children, sometimes I bumped into her taking walk in the building with a friend, sometimes I bumped into the family at a fashion show together.
In the winter of 2011 I walked into Indigo one evening and found her relishing coffee with Jhanvi. We discussed new releases and I persuaded her to come back to movies and while Jhanvi stared at her mother, Sridevi smiled and said nothing. A few days later, I read Gauri Shinde had signed her for English Vinglish and a few months later, Sridevi was the talk of the town.
I know the next time I meet her she will have an ace up her sleeve and I’m wondering what it could be this time.
(Bhawana Somaaya has been writing on cinema for 30 years and is the author of 12 books. You can read her blog here and follow her on Twitter: @bhawanasomaaya)
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