If someone defined what screen presence for a heroine, it was Sridevi. At her peak, she used to be the star of the movie, even leaving biggest male stars struggling to make an impact... Her career itself is an amazing journey of multiple transformations. Starting off as a child artiste and then making her mark in South Indian cinema working with the biggest stars of that time - Kamal Haasan, Rajnikanth and Krishna was Phase 1. She was recognized more for her acting , the glamour came in later.
Moonram Pirai ( later remade in Hindi as Sadma) defined the kind of acting she got associated with.
Phase 2 was her entry into Hindi movies as part of the mass remake factory of Jeetendra tying up with South Indian producers . Naino mein Sapna made that indelible mark on us, the pots, the Indeevar lyrics and the special dances of that era.
Phase 3 was the superstar phase - it started off with strong glimpses of it in Nagina in 1986. The final climax dance where Sridevi plays the serpent woman fighting the mendicant Amrish Puri in Dushman tu meri, mein nagin tu sapera set the tone. The dancing heroine where she was the center of attraction of the story was established. In 1987 she sealed it with the iconic Mr.India where all the script was the star , Sridevi made it her own with her Charlie Chaplin sequence, the Hawa Hawaii song and the comic timing that was interspersed in the movie. Then it took Yash Chopra to discover her further in Chandni and Lamhe with the camera showing her more delightfully. Her haatho mein nau nau chudiya dance in Chandni was an aspiration for every school student to present in the next annual day function in school or colony. In between she transformed Pankaj Parashar's remake of Sita aur Gita - Chaalbaaz into a masterpiece with her comic timing and acting in a dual role which is one of my family's favourite movies.
Phase 4 is her amazing physical transformation for someone known to have thunder thighs when she entered Bollywood.
We could still savour her acting in English Vinglish and Mom in her phase 5 comeback to movies. It showed what she was capable at 50 to hold the screen and screenplay as the numero uno.
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