Born on August 13, 1963, one of the most prominent, oomph-laden actresses to hit Bollywood still has a statuesque mythical quality to her even after having retired in the late ‘90s. Yes, Sridevi is her name and she celebrated her birthday yesterday.
She was introduced in Kandhan Karunai (Tamil) as a child actor and went on to spread her innocent charm in many Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu movies. K. Balachander, who is credited with many discoveries, cast her in Moondru Mudichu as leading lady in 1976, opposite Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. Not only did this landmark movie give Sridevi her first big break as a heroine, it also gave Rajinikanth one of his biggest critical hits to date. In Tamil movies, she has starred in the most number of movies opposite Kamal Haasan. She reigned the South Indian film firmament from 1979 to 1983.
Though her major movies were mostly in Tamil, she also acted with all the top heroes in the Telugu industry with movies like Konda Veeti Simham, Vetagadu and Sardar Paparayudu with N. T. Rama Rao and Mudulla Koduku, Premabhishekham and Khaidi Rudrayya with A. Nageswara Rao. After Kamal Haasan, Sridevi has acted the most number of movies with Krishna.
Then came Himmatwala in 1983 and Sridevi was elevated from a regional star status to becoming the reigning queen of Bollywood in a very short span of time. Himmatwala, which earned her the famous moniker Thunder Thighs, also made Jeetendra and Sridevi a hit couple, starring in a string of hit movie together. She appeared as Anil Kapoor's heroine in a number of films, notably Mr. India. She then married Anil Kapoor's brother and they have two daughters.
Gumraah, one of her last movies, saw Sridevi winning her umpteenth Filmfare award. She retired after her hit drama serial ‘Judaai’ and came out of a six-year retirement to do the hit TV comedy serial ‘Malani Iyer’.
This evergreen superstar is one of the last breed of heroines who could carry a film solely on the strength of their name. She also reigned non-stop for over a decade in Bollywood, a feat that hasn’t been repeated since.
We wish Sridevi a many happy returns and wish her the very best in her future endeavours.
