The Queen of Indian Cinema Passes Away...

 

What is common between the King of Rock N’Roll Elvis Presley, six time Grammy-winning pop legend Whitney Houston, and India’s female superstar Padmashri Sridevi Kapoor? All three of them met their fate in a mysterious way in the bathrooms and tested positive for drugs and alcohol. For many of us who grew up hearing their music and watching their movies and modeled our lives after their success, this news came as a shocker leaving us in a whirlwind of denial, pain and disbelief. Are superstars fragile and less gutsy?

India’s Meryl Streep

Sridevi started her acting career at the age of 4 and went on to act in 300 movies in the last 50 years. As a childartist she acted in all South Indian languages and by the age of 13 (in 1976) she did a leading role in Mundru Mudicchu opposite to Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth that got her more visibility and opportunities in South Indian Cinema.

 

At the age of 14 she worked with some of the best directors in Tamil Cinema including K. Balachander, Barathiraja and Balu Mahendra.  She won her first Filmfare Award in Tamil for 16 Vyathinile for playing a rural girl (Mayil) and at 18 she won Tamil Nadu State Award for her performance in Moondram Piram for essaying a girl suffering from amnesia. She is the only actress to have paired up maximum number of movies opposite Kamal Hassan (27 movies) after Sripriya. Also, Kamal is the only hero to have paired up with her in maximum movies.

 

She debuted in Hindi Cinema in 1979 while she was still a reigning queen of South Indian Cinema. It is her performance in Himmatwala opposite to Jeetendra that got her recognition and more opportunities. Soon she became a sought-after heroin and paired with all the superstars of Hindi cinema including Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor and Amitab Bacchan. She was the only heroin to do half-dozen double roles and the only one to pair up with both Dharmendra and Sunny Doel (father and son).

 

Even in Bollywood, she worked with all the star directors including Ram Gopal Verma, Shekhar Kapur, Yash Chopra and Pankaj Parashar. Her dance in Naagina, imitation of Charlie Chaplin in Mr. India, to a twin role in Chaalbaaz all earned her accolades in the press including Filmfare awards.

 

Though she acted in all four south Indian languages, but it was Hindi cinema that catapulted her to becomes India’s female superstar. In 1996, she did Devaragam, a bi-lingual with Aravind Swamy and bade goodbye to Malayalam Cinema.

Her comeback

Sridevi stepped out of Indian cinema in 1997 to start a family and played her role as a dedicated wife and mother off the silver screen. After her comeback to cinema in 2012 she started taking up roles that mirrored real life issues and represented the struggle of a doting wife and a protective mother. In 2015, the Queen of Indian cinema came back to Kollywood as Queen Yavanarani and thrilled Tamil audience after a gap of 23 years.

In her comeback movie English Vinglish in Hindi she captivated audience with her performance as a middle-aged woman trying to learn English, earn respect of her family members and bring back the spark in her marriage. In her last movie Mom in 2017, she displayed intense emotions as a step mother trying to bond with her rebellious daughter and seeking justice when she gets raped.

If her marriage to Boney Kapoor was failing, couldn’t she have borrowed lessons from Sashi (English Vinglish) or if she had a difficult relationship with her daughters Jhanvi and Kushi, couldn’t Devaki (Mom) give her much wisdom and confidence? Wasn’t it time for her to be a protective mom to her daughters and guide them to be successful in their life? Why did Sridevi decide to call it quits?

The bathtub Hall of fame

Though she was a director’s delight, she was called a journalist’s nightmare. She was an intensely private person, who rarely spoke to media or shared about her life or her inspiration. As a result, journalists are now speculating her death and media is rife with rumors with possible theories.

Sridevi may have never copied another artist’s performance, but she did when she ended her life in the bathtub. It is hard to believe that an artist who carefully crafted her career and carelessly ended her life in a bathtub.

We still love and miss you Sridevi. Hopefully, Jhanvi will grow up to be more gutsy and brighter version of you.