Sri then, Sri now!

Many years ago when one met Sridevi during the shooting of Harmesh Malhotra’s film Nagina, she came across as a woman of few words. Any query directed towards her, and she would quietly deflect it to her mother. “Ask mummy,” was the standard refrain.

Then a few years ago she showed up at the premiere of Esha Deol’s first film Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche with her husband Boney Kapoor. One asked her about a possible comeback. Sridevi smiled. One repeated the question even as Boney looked on. “Ask Saar, (Sir)”, Sridevi said, brief as ever.

Brand new

Cut to 2012. And lo, with English Vinglish, we have a brand new Sridevi! This time taking questions and answering to the best of her ability. Hindi is not her first language, and it shows in the way she frames her sentences. But she is game. “It feels good to be so wanted, so loved….the script was very powerful,” she says. Nudge her about the positive vibes the film has generated and she says, “I have never been away. I took time off to be with my kids. Now that they are grown up, I could think of doing a film. But so much has changed in the industry. Now, we have complete scripts.”

From the time she did Judaai to English Vinglish, she has indeed been seen on the screen. Once in the long delayed Meri Biwi ka Jawaab Nahin with Akshay Kumar, and once on the small screen for a Sahara production (Malini Iyer). Did she consult ‘Saar’ before signing the film? “He always encouraged. Once I came back to the sets, it was all so normal,” she says. Wow! Mummy, saar are history. The real Sridevi speaks up. Squeaky still but confident, assured.

Some lines of communication never change!