Inder Jeet S. ‘Prince’
Sri Devi, the “thundering thighs” of 80’s who went on to become the undisputed queen of Bollywood in 90’s, bade good bye to films after her marriage to film producer Boney Kapoor in 1997. For 15 long years, Sri Devi remained away from the lime-light playing the role of a dotting mother to her two daughters and a devoted wife of Boney Kapoor in real life, Sri is back to create magic on big screen once again!
At the age of 49, Sri Devi has proved her acting abilities once again in Gauri Shinde’s directed film “English – Vinglish” which got premiered at Toranto Film Festival. This film won a standing ovation where audience couldn’t stop clapping for 10 minutes. Was her comeback a pre planned move on her part? According to Sri Devi, R. Balki (the director of “Cheeni Kum” and “Paa”) is friend of Boney Kapoor. He told him about the two scripts he wanted me to check out. One film was with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role (which couldn’t happen) and the 2nd one was “English Vinglish” – revolving around a housewife who tries to master English language in a bid to improve her image thus giving rise to comic situations. And Sri Devi who is a comedienne par- excellence has given a superb performance of a housewife in this movie. “English Vinglish” is Hindi – Tamil – Telgu trilingual film and has a mix of emotions laughter and sadness.
Sri Devi who starred in super hit films like ‘Sigappu Rajakkal”, “Moondram Pirai”, “16 Vayathinile” and “Johny” opposite the likes of Rajnikanth and Kamal Hasan in down south entered Bollywood as a younger sister of Lakshmi in “Julie” (1975). Her first Hindi film as a leading lady was “Solva Saawan” (1979) that went unnoticed. However her next Hindi film “Himmatwala” (1980) opposite jumping jack Jeetendra established her as an actor in Bollywood. And it was a matter of years that Sri Devi turned from an actor to a super star. And soon Sri Devi earned the tag of female Amitabh Bachchan of Hindi cinema. Such was her influence that it is said Sri was the only heroine to say no to a Bachchan project if her role wasn’t meaty enough.
With “Himmaatwala”, Sri Devi set the trend of southern style dancing in Bollywood. The audience used to throng theatres to watch a Sri Devi film not only because she was the most beautiful and versatile actress around but also because of her dance moves. Her song-n-dance from film “Mr. India” where she tries to woo Anil Kapoor clad in a water drenched Saree, “Kaate Nahin Katey Yah Din Yah Raat” was high on sensuousness quotient and is still fresh in the minds of her fans. Now that Sri Devi has staged a comeback on the big screen is there another “Kaate Nahin Katey….” In the offing? Sri Devi laughingly replied as under “I don’t think that will ever happen again. It turned out to be special at that point of time. Today I think my children will kick me out of the house if I even attempted anything like that” (Remember Sri Devi is blessed with two daughters Jhanavi (15) and Khusi (12) who are studying in 9th & 6th class respectively).
Sri Devi has acted in more than 280 films of various languages that include Hindi, Telgu, Tamil (her mother tongue) and Malayalam. But it not her proficiency in languages but her acting prowess that made her a phenomenon. Film maker Subash Ghai goes on record to say that Sri Devi’s talent requires no directorial intervention.
Believe it or not but it is true that Sri Devi who ruled Bollywood till late 90’s had entered film industry (South) as a child artiste at a young age of 3. Camera was literally her play thing. And her (love) affair with these 40 years of her career as an actress. But, as a matter of fact, Sri Devi still resent that she had to lose out on childhood school and college. She want her daughters to complete their education first.
Best of Sri Devi: Sri Devi earned the tag of “Thundering thighs” for her sexy avtaar in “Himmatwala”. But she went on to prove her acting skills one after another film and finally became the undisputed queen of Bollywood in 90’s. She gave hits like “Nagina”, “Sadma”, “Mr India”, “Karma”, “Gumrah”, “Laadla”, Chaalbaaz”, “Lamhe” and “Judaai”, Sri Devi had guts to take risks while at the top in Bollywood. For example, in Yash Chopra directed “Lamhe” she played the role of a girl obsessed by a man who once loved her mother. According to Sri Devi, “Lamhe was too bold a subject two decades ago and even today – the daughter falling in love with the man who loved her mother. Of course, the film was well made and a lot of people loved it. The music was also good. But film flopped. And it is the box-office collections that decide the fate of a film! Says Sri Devi.
About her future plans, Sri Devi is awaiting the response of the audience to his comeback film “English – Vinglish”. “And their (audience) reaction will decide if I sign any more films” says Sri Devi.
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