New Book On Sridevi Traces Actor's Budding Years In South

Arguably one of the greatest actresses in the history of the Hindi film industry, Sridevi set the screens alight for over forty years. Embracing every one of her varied characters, whether in comedy, action, romance, or drama, her performances gave off an energy that made every dialogue and movement of hers unforgettable.

Very few people, however, know that it was her extensive work in the South Indian film industry that made her performances feel effortless. 

Amborish Roychoudhury's book Sridevi: The South Years looks at her early career as a child artist and leading lady before she
became a household name in North India. Interspersed with interviews and insights from leading filmmakers and journalists who have worked with Sridevi, this book is a glimpse into the making of India’s first female superstar.

Here's an excerpt from Amborish Roychoudhury's Sridevi: The South Years

In 1975, we see her in Yashoda Krishna, playing the eponymous god. There seems to be a jump here. A teenager now, she is a far cry from the child Muruga she played in so many films. In Yashoda Krishna, she was given the role of the adolescent Krishna. She was growing up.

Watching all these films is to watch her get older, and it’s a delight. It’s almost like a parent observing their child grow. “They grow so fast!” The maturation was on both fronts - as she grew physically, her acting skills were coming of age. After all, she had been working for more than six years, without any significant breaks.

That same year, some films had her play “grownup” roles, like in Devudu Laanti Manishi (1975). She wasn’t the heroine yet, but not playing the child either. On the sets of Devudu Laanti Manishi where Sri was playing an adolescent briefly romancing an actor who at the time was known as a comedian, Krishna is known to have given Sridevi’s mother Rajeswari a piece of his mind about her career. The apocryphal story goes, he advised her not to let Sri play these small-time roles since she was obviously capable of so much more.

And this is when “it” happened. Three men paid Rajeswari and Sridevi a visit. They were director K.S. Rami Reddy, producer T.R. Subramanyam and a cinematographer who had recently graduated from the Pune film institute, by the name of Balu Mahendra.

Sridevi later said to Vir Sanghvi in an interview, “They all came home and they told my mom if there’s any saree, let her wear…we want to see. We didn’t have any clue, we were just wondering what happened. They saw me in the saree and they just left. Next day I was shooting in the studio and the other people came and congratulated my mother. They said, “Mubarak ho, aapki beti heroine ho gayi hai!”. She was in shock. She was quite upset…she thought it was too early for me to become a heroine.” The film was called Anuragalu (1975).

Three years before this, Bollywood producer-director Shakti Samanta introduced Bengali actress Moushumi Chatterjee in Anuraag, a film about a blind girl and her friendship with a child suffering from cancer (played by Master Satyajeet). Anuraagalu was the official Telugu remake. Even the music by Chellapilla Satyam was heavily influenced by SD Burman’s soundtrack of Anuraag (though Satyam added his own flourish).

Sridevi repeated her blind-girl act from Poompatta - only this time she was wearing sarees instead of frocks. But all the same, she tried to bring a sort of maturity to her mannerisms. It was not the cutesy baby-talk anymore. She was a heroine and by the looks of it, she understood this well. She was a tad bit awkward with the romantic bits, but she delivered the goods.

Her first romantic lead - her first hero - was Ravikanth. He did the part played by Vinod Mehra in the original. But he might also be the least well-known of all her heroes. There’s little to no information available online.

Playtime was over. It was now time to take things to the next level.

Extracted with permission from Amborish Roychoudhury's Sridevi: The South Years; published by Rupa Publications. You can also join SheThePeople’s Book Club on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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