By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On Her Birth Anniversary
मोरनी बागा मा बोले आधी रातमा
छननछन चूड़ियां खनक गयी देख साहिबां
चूड़ियां खनक गयी हाथ मा
Sridevi, it would be conceded, was the only actress in the film industry who could dictate her own terms and conditions to producers. Indeed the latter were ever willing to eat out of her hands. Not only that in any bargain with the producers she had the last word. She accepted the roles she liked and rejected those she didn’t. She alone has had the cheek to express her disinclination-albeit, in diplomatic terms -to be paired with mega star Amitabh Bachchan evidently after her experience with the actor in two of their films- “Inqilaab” and “Aakhri Raasta”.
Sridevi was a class by herself. She lived and did act in style. Having burned her fingers by acting in a couple of hero-oriented films, she later decided to sign only heroine-dominated films or those that put the hero and the heroine on par with each other. This was evident from the titles of her later films like ” Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja”, “Banjaran” & “Chandni”. In all these three films, she played the lead. “Chandni” was Yash Chopra’s film. Initially Rekha was slated to play the heroine.
Sridevi worked opposite Jeetendra Kapoor (Justice Chaudhary, Maqsad, Tohfaa, Himmatwaala Mawaali), in a number of films. She also worked opposite Rajesh Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty ,Dharmendra & Amitabh Bachchan. At a time her closest rivals were Rekha, Dimple Kapadia, Meenakshi Sheshadhri and Jaya Prada, Sridevi went her way too successfully like an empress, reigning supreme. “Nagina” & “Mr. India” gave the actress renewed confidence and strength, sort of a catalyst. The lukeworm reception that some of her films like “Sone pe Suhaaga”, “Ram Avtaar”, & ” Sherni” definitely gave the actress a sort of jolt, forcing her to rethinking and have a retrospective examination of the debacle.
Her reported prolonged ‘torrid’ affair with Mithun Chakraborty provide the grapewine & the gossip- mills plenty of scandalous grist, giving the poor Yogita Bali ( also born this day in 1952), many many long sleepless nights in the process. The persistent media din about their secret marriage was a hot subject for a long time. Sridevi’s strong denials notwithstanding. For a time, she even stopped accepting roles opposite Mithun.
She was bestowed with the title ‘thundering following the grand success of ” Himmatwala” owing to her scintillatingly nay sensuous dancing prowess. Also called ‘Empress of the Hindi Screen’ her other prominent films include the likes of ” Chaalbaaz”, “Karma,” Lamhe”,” Masterji” , “Khuda Gawah”,”English Vinglish” & “Mom”. Sridevi was bestowed with Padma Shri in 2013 by the then President Pranab Mukherjee. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in ” Chaalbaz” ( 1990), and National Film Award for Best Actress for “Mom”( 2018). She won many awards in regional films including Filmfare Awards South.
Sridevi’s was gifted with a dancing feet. Her thrilling dancing performances, acting style, coupled with her voluptuousness made many budding actresses like Rani Mukherji, Juhi Chawla, Karishma Kapoor, Kajol, Preity Zinta, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Asin, Kajal Aggarwal, Anushka Shetty, Vidya Balan, and Alia Bhatt idolize her as their inspiration. I was #present on the sets of her three films at Ooty, Madras & Bombay, twice with my family. I was also present during the shooting of her film “Chand Ka Tukda” shot at #Kansal Forest, near Chandigarh starring newcomer Salman Khan. It was directed by Sawan Kumar.
