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lines and some have outright ridiculous
plots. In the hands of any other actress, these
films would have been mediocre and long
forgotten, but instead they were box office hits
of their times and are still remembered, mainly
for Sridevi’s terrific acting, be it her negative
role of “Laadla,” in which she is a headstrong
and arrogant factory owner, or the greedy
and depraved housewife of “Judaai,” who
is willing to share her husband with another
woman in exchange of wealth and comfort.
Sridevi acted not just with her face but with
her entire body. In the shooting of the song,
“Hawa Hawai” in the film, “Mr. India,”
director Shekhar Kapoor wasn’t sure if he
should shoot the close-up of Sridevi’s face or
zoom out to shoot her entire body. But the
fact was her brilliance couldn’t be captured in
trusted her to shape a character in a way that any single frame. Her energy, comic timing,
the film became a part of the character and and unrestrained screen presence were
not the other way round. Only Sridevi could unparalleled.
have fit in Yash Chopra’s vision of “Chandni,”
and perhaps, even go beyond that vision. One of my favorite films of Sridevi is her
comeback film of 2012, “English Vinglish,”
Some of Sridevi’s films have unusual story which didn’t have any strong male lead and was
successful both commercially and critically.
In this film, Sridevi questions our idea that
the knowledge of a language defines one’s
merit. If one knows a particular language
they would be assimilated and appreciated,
otherwise not. She concludes that we have
got it all wrong. The inability to communicate
in a language should not be looked down
upon. And, in her own life, she proved the
same. Sridevi’s success and popularity in
Bollywood and a huge fan-following of Hindi
speakers occurred when she didn’t even know
the language of her Bollywood fans.
RJ PARO
DesiPages DFW | February 2022 VOL 36 | 45
