RIP SRIDEVI

I heard about her first time in the year 1983, acting in the Hindi movie HIMMAT WALLA, the remake of a Telugu blockbuster at a time when South Indian actresses were talented originals and not fair skinned North Indian imports. Before coming to Bollywood, she had already carved her niche in South India where she started as a child actress, then soon to mature as a teenager acting against aging stars old enough to be her grandfather.

The movie Himmatwalla was followed by others like TOFA, MAWALI etc. Not an avid movie goer, her first movie I saw was the forgettable "Justice Choudhury", another Jeetendra - Sridevi junk churned out of Bollywood when Amitabh was sitting on top as the One Man movie Industry. 

She then had this image to open up, exposing her clevage and thunder thighs at a time when Indian society has not yet opened up. Her first movie  which exposed her talent as an actress was SADMA, originally a Tamil movie where she played the role of a mentally challenged girl opposite to indomitable Kamal Hasan. 

In the last scene of that movie she recovers and regains her mental state, in the process nonchalantly dismissing a jumping Kamal Hasan trying to remind  her of her past, as HOGA KOI PAAGAL (May be some mad guy). It brought tears to many seen leaving the movie theaters wipping off their eyes in handkerchiefs.

Sridevi finally came out of the orbit of Jeetendra to pair with the better known actor Amitabh in the hit movie AAKHIR RASTA in 1986. By the time I went to study Engineering in REC (now NIT) Rourkela, she was already an established star, the heartthrob of many. Here are couple of incidents involving her still etched in my memory.

One day during the ragging period in first year, a senior of my college took me to his room to help him write his sessional (lab) works. I was taking a break after copying 50 odd pages from another notebook (copying notes was a manual, no brainer job where the juniors expertise was used). Then barged inside the senior's room mate who had a big picture of Sridevi adoring the wall at a higher height. 

He wanted to have some fun at my expense - told me to jump and kiss her picture. I leaped multiple times, but only managed to kiss the white coating on the wall to the laughter of the senior duo in the background. My hardwork and entertainment provided was rewarded by a double chicken egg role and a sumptuous dinner that evening, all paid by the senior duo.

On another day, a senior who was a avid Quizzer (trivia knowledgeable, later made it to IIM) came to my room and asked me some hard questions. Impressed by my answers he let me go with some light ragging. Then it was my roommate turn, whom he asked about his favorite actress. Instantly came my roommate's answer - Sridevi. Then he was instantly asked to imagine the leg of his cot as Sridevi's thigh and rub is own, replicating the actor Jeetendra from one of the pair's movies. My roommate's act aping the actor was tragically comic, for I had to suppress my laughter lest I earn my senior's wrath.

Back to the actress - post mid 1980s she had multiples of hits to her own like Mr. INDIA, JAANBAAZ, CHANDNI, until she was eclipsed by a resurgent Madhuri Dixit. But she reigned for a long time in Bollywood where the life of an actress in leading role is shortlived, as yonger actresses take over with audience looking for a fresh face. 

She slowly delved into character roles as she aged gracefully. Her last movie I saw was ENGLISH VINGLISH a few years ago where she brilliantly played a middle aged lady in New York struggling with English and an alien milieu. I almost forgot her until today when I heard her passing away at the age of 54.

It is rumored that too much plastic surgery and her obsession to look young took a toll on her, accentuating her uuntimely demise. Death is the best leveller. It doesn't distinguish between rich and poor, top 1% and bottom 99%, race, religions, political affiliation of Democrats vs Republicans, a BJP Bhakt (devotee) or Congressi Chamcha (sycophant). Nor it spares anybody - chosing its own place and time, often stricking at the least opportune moment. RIP Sridevi.