Born on August 13, 1963, Sridevi started acting at the age of four and made her debut with M A Thirumugham's Thunaivan. She continued acting in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films but it was her career in Bollywood that made her a household name in the country. (All pictures/mid-day archives and official Instagram account of Sridevi, Janhvi Kapoor)
Baby Sridevi did her first Tamil movie, Kandhan Karunai, playing the role of a young boy, Murugan.
Sridevi made her Bollywood debut as a child artiste in the 1975 hit Julie but continued ruling the South Indian film industry where she established herself as a leading heroine with films such as 16 Vayathinile, Sigappu Rojakkal, Meendum Kokila, and Moondram Pirai.
Sridevi is remembered for her performances in some of the most iconic Bollywood films like Mr. India, Nagina, Sadma, ChaalBaaz, Chandni, Khuda Gawah, among many others in different Indian languages. Sridevi, who made a comeback to Bollywood in 2012 with English Vinglish after a hiatus of 15 years, was last seen in Mom in 2017.
In an industry dominated by male superstars, Sridevi reversed the trend by her sheer acting prowess. In fact, most times, her name was a guarantee enough for a film's success.
In Bollywood, she made her debut in 1978 as a lead actor in Solva Sawan. She gained commercial success with the 1983 film Himmatwala opposite Jeetendra, which also established her as one of the best dancers in cinema. She was grace-personified dressed as an 'apsara' (a celestial beauty in Hindu mythology) performing on the hit track 'Nainon Mein Sapna'.
In the 80s, Sridevi set major gyration goals for other 'ichchadhaari naagins' to follow with 'Main Teri Dushman' from Nagina. In fact, the lady managed to set a trend with the snake fantasy in the Hindi film industry.
The year 1983 saw Sridevi giving some stellar performances in both critically acclaimed and box-office hits such as Sadma, where she played the role of a woman who loses her memory. Both she and actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan played the roles in the Hindi remake of their 1982 Tamil movie, Moondram Pirai. The climax of the heart-wrenching movie was deemed as poetic as the entire plot, with the song 'Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le' as an ode to the philosophy of uncertainty in life.
Sridevi's other major box office hits of the era were ChaalBaaz, where she played the role of twins, Nagina, and Khuda Gawah opposite Amitabh Bachchan.
While Rajesh Khanna was called the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, Sridevi's expressive eyes and the mischievous smile sent hearts aquiver and lit up the cinema screens, making her Bollywood's first female superstar.
Sridevi's pairing with Anil Kapoor, her Mr India co-star and later brother-in-law, was particularly successful and she worked with him again in Laadla and Judaai.
Filmmaker Yash Chopra cast her in the title role of Chandni in the 1989 film, another iconic film of her career. Such was her performance in the film that fans came to recognise her by the name Chandni. Impressed with her performance in the film, Chopra cast her again in Lamhe in a dual role, where she played the mother and the daughter.
Didn't we all love to hate her in Judaai? Sridevi completely nailed it as a woman who sold her family for money.
After Judaai, Sridevi took a break from acting to focus on her marriage with Boney Kapoor. She had two daughters - Janhvi and Khushi - with the filmmaker.
In an impressive career spanning five decades, Sridevi ruled the commercial cinema space in the '80s and '90s like no heroine had done before.
Such was her popularity that her style and dance moves would be copied by her fans across the country. She was 'Miss Hawa Hawai' and 'Chandni' for them.
A throwback picture shared by Hrithik Roshan on Twitter, read, 'I loved her, admired her so much. My 1st ever acting shot was with Sri Devi, I was nervous in front of her n I remember her shaking her hands pretending 2b nervous cause of me just 2 boost my confidence. V had 2 laugh, n she kept laughing until I got it right. Will miss you mam [sic].'
An extremely shy person in real life, Sridevi came to life in front of the cameras, playing a variety of roles.
The actor made a successful comeback to cinema, 15 years later with Gauri Shinde's English Vinglish, playing a housewife who learns English after feeling left out in her family. She also had a starring role in the Tamil film Puli and followed by another successful outing in Mom, which also featured Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Akshaye Khanna.
Sridevi, you are truly missed!
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![A throwback picture shared by Hrithik Roshan on Twitter, read, 'I loved her, admired her so much. My 1st ever acting shot was with Sri Devi, I was nervous in front of her n I remember her shaking her hands pretending 2b nervous cause of me just 2 boost my confidence. V had 2 laugh, n she kept laughing until I got it right. Will miss you mam [sic].'](https://images.mid-day.com/images/images/b-town-specials/sridevi-candid-images/sridevi-n.jpg "A throwback picture shared by Hrithik Roshan on Twitter, read, 'I loved her, admired her so much. My 1st ever acting shot was with Sri Devi, I was nervous in front of her n I remember her shaking her hands pretending 2b nervous cause of me just 2 boost my confidence. V had 2 laugh, n she kept laughing until I got it right. Will miss you mam [sic].'")
