Long after she died, Sridevi—the everlasting screen queen and, according to some, the first female superstar Bollywood has ever seen—continues to enchant and charm audiences. In almost 280 films, her personality shines through. Her following is still strong and even includes well-known filmmakers like Ram Gopal Varma (RGV). Her life and career have inspired biographies that aim to unravel her mystery.
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Early Life
Her full name, Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan, was given to her when she was born on August 13, 1963, to a Tamilian father and a Telugu mother. Sridevi practically grew up on the sets; her film career began when she was four years old.
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Amborish Roychoudhury has authored the book ‘Sridevi: The South Years’ primarily centred around her innings in the South Indian industry in four major languages. “It laid a solid foundation for her dazzling career in Bollywood,” he says.
The First Female Bollywood Superstar
She was dubbed the “female Amitabh Bachchan” by the newspapers of the day during her heyday, solidifying her position as Bollywood’s first female superstar. Steven Spielberg reportedly offered her a part in Jurassic Park, but she declined, claiming that it didn’t fit her popularity then. During an interview with Bollywood Hungama, when her Mom, co-actor Akshaye Khanna, questioned her why she did it, she remarked, “Those days, doing Hollywood films was alien, now it’s like a pride.”
The Versatile Actress
She began her career as a child actor in the film Kandan Karunai, and in 2017 she finished her filmography with Mom. Both her comeback smash English Vinglish (2012) and her classics Chaal Baaz (1989) and Sadma (1983) have made the actor highly renowned.
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She also starred in Chandni (1989) and Lamhe (1991) by the late filmmaker Yash Chopra, who reportedly remarked that she could completely immerse herself in a role. Sridevi played various roles, including an amnesiac who had regressed to being six years old in Sadma and a shape-shifting snake-woman named Nagina.
Strived To Be The Best
When Sridevi was asked about her rivals in the industry, she was quoted as saying in August 1990 by Filmfare, “Where are the rivals? There can be rivalry only between two equals. My only rival at the moment is Sridevi. I’m constantly trying to upstage her. I’m doing it to the point of obsession.”
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Sridevi’s Death
Sridevi passed away in a hotel bathroom in Dubai in 2018. The ‘accidental drowning’ in the bathtub was described in the autopsy report. She travelled to the United Arab Emirates with her husband, Boney Kapoor and her family to attend the wedding of her nephew Mohit Marwah. While celebrities and fans mourned her shocking, untimely death, some questioned the circumstance in which she died.
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In a 2022 article published on Medium, filmmaker Sunil Singh claimed that Sridevi’s death resulted from a murder. He requested an investigation into her passing in a plea before the Supreme Court. According to Sunil Singh’s attorney, Sridevi had a Rs 240-crore insurance policy in Oman with a condition stating that the money could only be claimed if the actor passed away in Dubai. The Supreme Court denied Sunil Singh’s appeal since it was determined that the UAE authorities had already looked into the situation.
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