The Goddess Is Back. Review on Sridevi

The Goddess Is Back

"I make films for Sridevi. The costars are not important. If people can make films for Amitabh, why I can't make films for Sri and admit it too." Harmesh Malhotra, Star & Style, July, 1991.

Such was the power of the Phenomenon called SRIDEVI.

She is finally making a comeback. The shooting of the film already started this month.Its being directed by Gauri Shindey(Wife of Paa and Cheeni Kum fame R Balki). Sridevi is playing a housewife married in an upward moving family, in search of her own identity.

So with her comeback news doing rounds, I sit to write my long pending review on the Screen Goddess, Sridevi, who has worked in 5 Film Industries- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and Kannada and ruled as the no. 1 actress in 3 of them. Total   no. of films being somewhere around 500 as per some sources. Far from the media and hype, this lady's magic just doesn't seem to fade away as the A-list of The Industry  from Yash Chopra to Shekhar Kapoor and Mahesh Bhatt all unanimously declare her the best in the industry. Be her seniors like Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Rekha who consider her the best among their successors, or her successors like Juhi Chawla, Karishma Kapoor, Kajol, Urmila Matondkar, Shilpa Shetty, Kareena Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Ayesha Takia, Aseen,  and many others who consider Sridevi to be their ONLY role model. She is among the favourites of literally EVERY actress in the industry . Even today Karan Johar is an obsessed fan, the new directors like Gauri Shindey and Anusha Rizvi( Peepli LIVE fame) who dream to work with her. Cant say enough about RGV's fanaticism for Sridevi .

In Kaareena Kapoor's words during Global Indian TV and Film Awards, 2011 " The lady watching whom I became an actress, an inspiration for generations of actresses"

Sridevi started working as a little girl of 4 Yrs in 1967 and even as a child, she was a perfect actor. I am completely captivated every time I watch 8 Yrs Old Baby Sridevi's dance on Buchadu Amma Buchadu from Telugu movie Badi Panthulu.And then the teenager Sridevi in 16 Vayadhinile(Tamil), my personal favourite of all her works where she delivered a heart wrenching performance at the age of 15!

After doing both commercial and quality cinema in Tamil,  some mixed masaala as well as good stuff in Telugu and establishing herself as the undisputed Queen of both Tamil and Telugu cinema, she moved to Hindi films. Her very good debut in Solwan Saawan(1979), a remake of 16 Vayadhinile opposite the very talented Amol Palekar did not work well then with the Hindi audience but her second release Himmatwala(1983) made her a Star overnight. Thathaiya Thathaiya echoed in every corner from shops to households and marriages and this South Indian damsel became the dream of every Indian man and aspiration for women. Just as the Hindi Cinema was about to label her a glamour doll, she amazed the industry with her path breaking performance in Sadma. It was established that Sridevi was no ordinary actress. While Sadma proved her versatility, her other successful BO ventures like Justice Chaudhri, Jani Dost, Mawaali, Maqsad, Tohfa all HITS in row made her officially No. 1 by 1984 and showed that she could do just any role and make it special  by her sheer magic .The first Superstar actress of Bollywood, Sridevi, who was 21, came to her own. She had her  terms and conditions. She chose the roles she liked. She did art movies like Jaag Utha Insaan and not very commercial but beautiful films like Kalkaar and Suhaagan. She stopped doing even remotely intimate scenes and appeared fully covered and the audience loved her. In 1984 and 85, she appeared with Amitabh Bachchan in Inquilaab and Akhree Rasta and still made her own mark in both the movies. In Janbaaz, with her 10 minutes role, she took all the credit and just in 2-3 Yrs from Himmatwala on when it seemed that Sridevi had achieved everything, she stunned the  the audience with Nagina(1986) which was the venture of a  new team followed by other successes like the blockbuster Karma and Ghar Sansar. Another milestone in her career being Mr. India(1987), my most favourite of all her Hindi films. She immortalized The Charlie Chaplin Scene, the song Kaate Nahi Kate and who can forget Hawa Hawaai. She was termed Miss India and The Female Bachchan then on.Shekhar Kapoor said " Sridevi is by far, the most complete performer we ever had".Unfortunately in 1987 and 1988, Filmfare Awards were not held otherwise Sridevi had great chances of winning for Nagina and Mr. India. Anyway, Sridevi is above any awards or honours.

She appeared in some successful masala flicks like  Watan Ke Rakhwale, Waqt Ki Awaaz, Jawab Hum Denge, Ghair –Kanooni and some forgettable ones like Joshilay, Sone pe Suhaga, Farishtay, Sultanat and some moderately successful above average  movies like Aulad, Himmat Aur Mehnat, Guru and Ram-Avataar in mid- late 80s/ early 90s.

Sridevi reached her peak with Chandni and Chaalbaaz in 1989. Chandni brought romance back to the silver screen. White became a fashion statement and Chaalbaaz won her the 1st Film fare award  after 7 Yrs of roaring career in Bollywood. Sridevi went on to set a record of doing maximum no. of double roles that exposed  her versatility to the fullest.

Now Sridevi  had enjoyed a complete unquestionable dominance for a decade and she was concentrating only on challenging and different roles like Lamhe(1991), the favorite performance of Sri fans and which got her International Film Academy Best Actress Award, Sunday Observer Award and Filmfare Award. A year later, she did Khuda Gawaah opposite Amitabh Bachchan, the only Amitabh Starrer, where an actress had a double role and she delivered a memorable performance esp. of the mother, Benazeer. In the same year, we saw her in one of her  underrated miraculous performances  of Heer in Heer-Ranjha.I personally did not mind Banjaran(1992) and enjoyed Pathar Ke Insaan(1993) only for Sridevi's extraordinary performance.  At around the same time, Sridevi gave Telugu Film industry 2 of their All Time Blockbusters in Kshanam Kshanam and Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari.  In 1993, she gave us Gumraah, another award worthy performance and in 1994, the best negative role ever played by an actress, Laadla. In between she made some bad choices like  Chandramukhi, Chand-Ka-Tukda, Kaun Sachcha Kaun Jhootha but despite of  terrible scripts, stories, production values, Sridevi continued to impress. She got rave reviews for the role of an avenging angel in Army in 1995. One of her better movies of late 90s was Mr. Bechara that did not do well.  In 1996 came her internationally acclaimed power-packed performance in Malyalam film Devaraagam opposite Arvind Swami.

Now was the time that the child star turned Superstar wanted to bid adieu after making the audience laugh, cry and experience every subtle emotion of every character she played throughout her career spanning 30 long yrs(1967-97) .After delivering a powerful performance  in Judaai(1997), Sridevi left her fans with Lambi Judaai which seems to be coming to an end after 14 Yrs.