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Batein Sitaron Ki
SRIDEVI
THE FEMALE SUPERSTAR: FRESH, INTERESTING,
after gaining popularity in the
south, she entered Bollywood
in a lead role in “Solva Savan”
in 1983 followed by a series of
hit films, and thus becoming the
highest paid actress and the first
Female Superstar of Bollywood.
She was still not comfortable in
the language that had made her
a superstar in the entire India
––Hindi. At that time her roles
were dubbed by actresses Rekha
and Naaz. After a decade in
Bollywood, she began speaking
her own dialogues and this
changed how the audience would
One of my passions is doing voice over, voice perceive her. She had been very
modulation, or the mimicry of Bollywood talented, hardworking, and professional.
actors and actresses. The first time I did an She had been charming and beautiful who
act of mimicry was at the age of nine when danced both sensuously and gracefully. But
I copied the south Indian accent of my Hindi now, she was going to become something
school teacher in Hyderabad in front of my else too––exotic and extraordinary. Her
friends who clapped in delight. A few months dialogue delivery was fresh, interesting, and
later, I did a stage show, acting like a teacher unexpected. Bollywood film watchers were
who taught Hindi grammar with a thick not used to hearing their Hindi packaged
Telugu accent. My school principal who was in this strange accent that reverberated with
watching that show told me my act was fresh emotions. Sridevi’s style of speaking would
and interesting and unexpected, especially become her hallmark, and for mimic artists
because I was a North Indian who had never like me, the very reason to imitate her.
lived in south India until the age of nine.
At the peak of her career, Sridevi did not
The first actress I mimicked, again at age need a hero or a male actor to make her
nine, was Sridevi. What attracted me to copy films successful. And in many of her films, she
her then, and still does, is how she rolled stood out from her strong and successful co-
out her words wrapped in varying degrees of actors. She could easily tower over talented
emotions and accompanying with an echo actors like Sunny Deol and Rajnikanth as in
like effect. “Chaalbaaz,” or push powerful actors like
Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna out of the
Sridevi started working as a child actor and frame as in “Chandni.” Even the producers
DesiPages DFW | February 2022 VOL 36 | 44
