I have never been an ardent fan of movies. It was only after I moved to a different city where passing time on holidays was a task, that I took to watching movies on my laptop (it seems unbelievable, that I had never watched a single movie on a laptop before that. The few I had seen were in theatres.)
One of the movies that are inscribed in my mind is the movie “Sadma” starring Sridevi and Kamal Hassan. I had watched one afternoon on TV after school. It is a weird movie, I argued as I failed to convince mom to change the channel and let me see my cartoon. You can say that I was introduced to a phenomenal actress rather forcefully.
The acting and the movie seemed weird that time, but later when I started taking interest in the entertainment world, I understood that it was one of Sridevi’s best performances. I still remember the name of the movie, a few lyrics and some scenes vividly, as if I had watched it just yesterday. This is in spite of the fact that I have never again watched or heard to any of it.
We have seen her acting exceptionally well in “Mr. India” – a movie most Indian children have grown to love. We have danced to songs like “Hawa Hawai” and “Kaante nahi kaante” and have heard of her best movies – “Lamhe”, “Chandni”, “Judaai”, “Nagina”, etc. I have not watched most of these, and I accept, I was never keen to either.
Her latest film was “Mom” which I am yet to watch. The last Sridevi movie I saw was “English Vinglish”, and it moved my mother to tears with her real depiction of Shashi- a middle class ignored wife and mother. Lately, she has also garnered praises for her ‘diva’ personality at this age and for grooming her daughters exceptionally well.
Sridevi is not my favourite actress to count upon, but her demise has surely brought a huge loss to the Indian cinema and heartbreak to her ardent fans worldwide. Like most of the world, when I first read the news, I did not believe it and hoped that it was not true.
May her soul rest in peace. Goodbye Sridevi