I used to do the Filmfare Awards in the South, and it was rather casual in the ‘80s for South Indian filmmakers to make Hindi films. Jaya Prada and Sridevi had had this fierce competition. Jaya Prada’s brother owned cinemas, and blocked Sridevi’s films from being screened. But they lost a lot of money, and it didn’t make sense to be this childish.
Jeetendra brought Sridevi to Bollywood with her second Hindi film, Himmatwala . The film did very well and Sridevi overtook Jaya Prada, but [the former] was a better dancer and was thought to have more sex appeal. In fact, she overtook everybody.
I remember I asked Javed Akhtar when I was doing a cover story on Sridevi for Filmfare. He said Sridevi is the first heroine to bring to the screen the kind of sensuality she became known for. Once Himmatwala happened, praise followed. [In 1990] there was a bit of controversy when Sridevi won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Chaalbaaz instead of Chandni . The jury felt her performance in Chaalbaaz was better, but most industry people felt it was gimmicky.
Sridevi stood out with her films, especially with Chandni . But she had established herself by then. Then, in the 90s, there was competition between Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit over who Saroj Khan worked with. At the time, both Anil and Boney Kapoor were backing Madhuri Dixit. Things got bad for Sridevi around the time her mother died and was estranged from her sister, Latha. She felt alone and was insecure about being a woman who’s not from the north.
She was initially diffident about [interviews], not fluent in English and Hindi. But she was a great performer. In the beginning, she was a little intimidated by the media in Bombay. She was not flamboyant and would underplay herself. She was always professional and didn’t talk too much because she was concerned about being watched [by the media]. After Himmatwala , I think she gained in confidence. She was communicative if she trusted you, and would speak to you very well. She is my favourite, and a phenomenal actress.
The author is a former editor of Filmfare
