Rajeswari, as a member of a dance team in south Indian cinema, might have had big dreams. But the Andhra native had to leave behind the busy world of the tinsel town after she married Ayyappan, a lawyer. However, her dreams did not remain so for long. They became true through the life of her daughter Sridevi, who started her career as a child artist in Tamil films and rose to become the queen of Bollywood. Her career spanned four decades.
When curtains came down on that colorful life, India in fact, lost its first lady superstar.
Sridevi, who was born in Sivakasi, began her acting career at the age of four through the film Thunaivan. She continued to act in Tamil and Malayalam films and won the Kerala state film award for best child artiste in 1971 for her performance in Poombatta.
Sridevi was crowned a heroine by veteran south Indian director K Balachander though Moondru Mudichu in which she acted along with Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. The film released in 1976 when Sridevi was 16.
A number of films with Kamal and Rajini followed, making Sridevi the dream girl of south India. Her acting prowess, revealed through films such as Sigappu Rojakkal and Moondram Pirai, cemented her stardom. Sridevi was the synonym of beauty in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
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RIP Sridevi
Bollywood actress Sridevi, star of films like Mr India, Chaalbaaz, and Lamhe, widely considered one of Indian cinema’s finest leading ladies, passed away after suffering a massive cardiac arrest in Dubai on Saturday. AFP
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RIP Sridevi
Sridevi, 54, was in Dubai this week with her husband Boney Kapoor and younger daughter Khushi to attend the wedding of Boney’s nephew Mohit Marwah.
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Sridevi, who had been a part of Indian cinema for nearly five decades, received 6 Filmfare Awards over the years, and in 2013 was conferred with the Padma Shri by the Government of India. AFP
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RIP Sridevi
The actress, who was a favorite with both movie-goers and critics, leaves behind a formidable body of work that includes popular commercial hits and strong performance-driven pictures.
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RIP Sridevi
Several members of the film industry took to Twitter to express their grief over her shocking demise and offered condolences to family and fans.
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RIP Sridevi
'Many happy moments with her flash through my mind including the last time I met her. Sadma's lullaby haunts me now,' says Kamal Haasan, who shared screenspace with Sridevi in a number of hits. AFP
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RIP Sridevi
The lady superstar, Sridevi, will be remembered for versatility.
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Sridevi with father Ayyappan and mother Rajeswari.
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Sridevi with husband Boney Kapoor and daughters Jahnvi and Khushi.
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Sridevi with Kamal Haasana and Rajinikanth.
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Sridevi with Bollywood actors Jeetendra and Anupam Kher.
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Sridevi with Anil Kapoor.
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Sridevi with Nawazuddin Siddiqui during a promotional event of their film 'MOM'.
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Sridevi receives the Padma Shri award from the then president Pranab Mukherjee in January 2017.
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Sridevi with former cricketer Saurav Ganguly during an event in Kolakata in June 2017
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Sridevi began her career as a child artist in Tamil films.
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Sridevi with actor Rekha during an award ceremony in Mumbai in 2016.
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Sridevi during an event in Mumbai in July 2017. Photo: Vishnu V Nair
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Sridevi stepped into Bollywood with a minor role in Julie in 1975. Though she became a heroine through Solva Sawan in 1978, it was her character opposite Jeetendra in Himmatwala (1983) that built her a fan base in Bollywood. A series of hits made her the lady super star of the Hindi movieland.
Even after becoming too busy with Bollywood, Sridevi kept Malayalam close to her heart.
During the 1980s, reports said that Bollywood legend Mithun Chakraborty had a love affair with Sridevi. Sridevi had fallen in love with Mithun Chakraborty on the sets of Rakesh Roshan's Jaag Utha Insan (1984). Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty got married secretly, and the latter admitted it to the press when a fan magazine published their marriage certificate. However, it was time for splitsvile soon.
In 1996, Sridevi married Boney Kapoor, a film producer who is also the elder brother of actors Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor.
By the time, she had acted opposite Anil in a number of films. She and Boney have two daughters, Jahnvi and Khushi.
Sridevi left filmdom after Judayi in 1997 and kept herself off the limelight for until she came back through a powerful performance in English Vinglish in 2012. MOM is her last release and she was working on Zero, scheduled to be released this year. The nation honored her with Padma Shri in 2017.
Sridevi leaves behind a big dream - to see the debut of Jahnvi who is working with Karan Johar for the film Dhatak.
