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Flashback Friday: When Sridevi didn't approve of the tag 'sex-siren'
Sridevi is the star of films Chaalbaaz, Chandni, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah, Gumraah, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja and Judaai. She was last seen in 2017's MOM. She died of accidental drowning in Dubai on February 24, 2018.
Sadness and shock took over all the cinema lovers when the news came that the first female Bollywood star, Sridevi or Chandni, is no more. Many of us must have wished that it was a rumour that will soon be clarified or a nightmare that will be just a bad dream the next morning.
The actress, who started her film career at the age of four, won millions of hearts all over the world. She worked in almost 300 films in Hindi, Tamil Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. And now she has bid us a final farewell and we will never to see the Chandni light up again and shine.
Sridevi, in her career's peak time, was known as 'sex-siren'. In 1987, with a leading Television news channel, she said that she didn't really approve of the title. "I feel very bad. When people come and tell me how beautiful I looked in a film, I don't react. But when they tell me I acted well I feel proud," Sridevi said.
"If I look sexy just wearing a sari, can I help it? There are so many girls who reveal much more but they don't look anything," she added.
When asked who the real Sridevi was, she said, "Someone very simple. I'm an ordinary person. Nothing very interesting. Just another parents' daughter. Even ordinary girls have style. I don't think I've got that. You see the real Sridevi in the house. I hate to go out for parties. I like being at home with my parents. I'm a very shy person and difficult to get along with."
Talking about stardom, Sridevi said, "It doesn't give me a chance to get to know life. Whenever I want a saree or anything, it comes to me. I have never been shopping. But I've got so used to it that even if I get a chance to experience things, I withdraw. I feel very uneasy with anything new. I feel comfortable only with my lifestyle."
In another interview with a leading magazine, when she was asked about facing the camera for the first time, she said, "Of course, that day is so clear in my memory. I was hiding behind my mother's saree pally. But she said 'Pappi, there's nothing to be afraid of' I believed her and that was it. I've never had a break after that. Usually, it's said that child stars have a very rough time. I didn't. But I do remember another child who was acting along with me. We had to cry for a scene and I'd just break into tears. But the other child had to be pinched hard by its mother and it would howl in pain. I played my first grown-up role at the age of 11 in the Telugu film Anuraagalu, a remake of Anuraag. I was playing the blind girl and I just made my eyes go blank. I was an obedient child, I guess. I did whatever the director told me to. I was cast as the heroine opposite N. T. Rama Rao, earlier I'd played the role of his granddaughter. I was paired with every senior hero. MGR, Nageswara Rao and Sivaji Ganesan. I never felt awkward while acting with them, rather I felt deeply honoured. But they did seem to be much taller than me and I'd stand straight up, so I wouldn't look like a little girl."
Sridevi is the star of films Chaalbaaz, Chandni, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah, Gumraah, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja and Judaai. She was last seen in 2017's MOM.
You will be missed, Sridevi!
