How Sridevi became the first female superstar of Indian cinema over five decades
In short: Sridevi began her career as a four-year-old child actor and evolved into a powerhouse performer, eventually becoming the first woman in Indian cinema to be crowned a superstar. Her journey spanned 300 films across multiple languages, marked by an unmatched ability to dominate the screen with both comedy and drama.
Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in 1963, Sridevi entered the film industry at age four with the 1967 Tamil movie Kandhan Karunai. She transitioned seamlessly from a child artist—winning a Kerala State Film Award for her role in the 1971 film Poompatta—to a leading lady. By 1976, she was headlining Tamil films like Moondru Mudichu. Her versatility allowed her to conquer South Indian cinema before making a massive impact in Bollywood, where she was declared the undisputed number one actress of the 1980s.
Sridevi’s Hindi film career was defined by high-grossing hits and iconic performances. In 1983, the action film Himmatwala established her in Bollywood, while the 1986 fantasy Nagina cemented her status as a top star. She displayed remarkable range, moving from the slapstick comedy of 1989’s ChaalBaaz to the nuanced, intergenerational drama of 1991’s Lamhe. Her influence was so profound that she commanded record-breaking salaries, including 1.5 million rupees for 1989’s Chandni, and even turned down a role offered by Steven Spielberg during the production of Jurassic Park in the early 1990s.
After a 15-year hiatus following her 1997 film Judaai, Sridevi made a historic comeback in 2012 with the comedy-drama English Vinglish. Critics hailed her performance as a masterclass, and the film’s success made her the only Bollywood actress to achieve such a triumphant return as a leading lady after marriage. Her final role in the 2017 crime thriller Mom earned her a posthumous National Film Award for Best Actress. Sridevi passed away in 2018, leaving behind a legacy as a performer who could, as one critic noted, make her contemporaries look like sidekicks.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Sridevi
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