Sridevi Ek Sitara

Sridevi stole the hearts of many people with her seductive dance and mastered art. She had the talent and the grace to attract any audience. Sridevi was born on 13^th August 1963 in Sivakai, Tamil Nadu and her full name was Sreedevi Ayyappan but after coming to films her name was changed to Sridevi. Presently she married to famous producer Boney Kapoor who is brother of actor hero Anil Kapoor.

Sridevi father was Ayyappan a lawyer from Tamil Nadu and Rajeshwari (Andhra Pradesh) was her mother’s name. This bollywood queen had ruled the film world for two decades but started her career as child artist at an age of 3 years. Sridevi first debut in Hindi movie “Julie” where Laxmi was heroine and Sridevi was playing the role of her young sister. Julie movie had become a musical hit at that time.

Sridevi was a standard seven dropout and her passion for acting had made her to leave her education. She soon became the sexy kitten of Telugu Films acting with many heroes like Late NT Rama Rao, A Nageshwara Rao, Super Star Krishna, Shoban Babu & list goes on. She had even acted with the above said actors son’s as well Nagarjuna (son of Nageshwara Rao).

Sridevi’s first hit film as heroine in Hindi was Himmatwala (1983) and her debut film Solva Sawan was unsuccessful at the box office. After the hit of Himmatwala Sridevi became a super star and this brought the end of Hema and Rekha’s era to an end as heroines. Sridevi was 5'7' tall and soon became famous in bollywood and she earned the nickname ‘Miss Thunder Thighs’. Her biggest hits are Tohfa, Mr India, Nagina, Chandni, Chalbaaz, Lamhe and Kuda Gawah. She was popular in film industries other than Hindi as well and she acted in many films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Sridevi’s last movie Judaai in 1997 with Anil Kapoor was a big hit and audience were waiting for more but she retired from films after marrying Boney Kapoor.

In Sridevi’s personal life faced hard times and she lit the pyre of her mother breaking the laws of Hindu customs. Her father died when she was acting in the film ‘Lamhe’ and left her alone in the life. The gossips of bollywood claimed that Sridevi had relationship with Mithun Chakraborty in 1986 and the relationship ended within year when she realized that Mithun had not yet divorced his first wife Yogita Bali (actress). Sridevi married film producer Boney Kapoor in the year 1996 but Boney Kapoor was also a married man and had to give divorce to his first wife. Media & film industry had criticized the marriage but Sridevi faced all the attacks bravely and silently. She had two daughters Jhanvi and Khushi.

Sridevi came back as a small screen diva and acted in a comedy serial 'Malini Iyer' from 2004-2005. She appeared in TV shows like Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai (2004) and Kaboom (2005). Sridevi’s present world starts with her two daughters and I hope her daughters live up to Sridevi’s expectations.

BY Madhu Vamsi