Iconic actress Sridevi, who died in Dubai on Saturday night, was a woman of few words who let her films make all the noise. But her untimely death has left a deafening void in Indian cinema. She was one of the actresses who didn’t need to resort to smarmy marketing gimmicks to lure viewers to cinemas. Her mere presence in a film could bolster the film’s chances of success, such was her universal goodwill among fans. In a career spanning over five decades with over 300 films under her belt, Sridevi was one of the few actresses who could straddle comedy, drama and dance with flair. Her eyes were both evocative and sparkled with mischief. Whether it was her hilarious twinning act in Chaal Baaz or her greedy gold-digger wife act who pawned her own husband to a rich woman in Judaai, there was no role that Sridevi couldn’t own. Her grace and gravitas on the silver-screen may remain unmatched.
Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in Tamil Nadu, Sridevi’s meteoric rise in Bollywood is the stuff of film folklore. A quintessential outsider with no acting dynasty backing, Sridevi began her film career as a four-year-old child artiste in Tamil cinema with a devotional film. With blockbusters such as the sci-fi fantasy epic Mr India, the romantic love triangle Chandni and the touching family drama English Vinglish in 2012, the age-defying beauty was luminous on screen and had charisma that shone brighter than the Indian jewels that she wore. Perhaps, the only blot in her long-enduring career was her surgery-happy propensity to cling on to youth, but when it came to performances she was completely flawless.
