Sridevi in Karma (1986): The black and gold amrapali outfit

Sridevi in Subash Ghai's Karma. A brief role in a Sholay-esque movie. One of the few films she acted with Jackie Shroff. Two memorable songs were picturised on Sridevi; Aye Mohabbat Teri Dastan and Maine Rab Se.

Kavita Krishnamurthy, Aasha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar usually sang for Sri, these songs are rare in that they were sung by Anuradha Paudwal.

Karma marks the first film where Saroj Khan started choreographing for Sridevi. A tumultuous yet highly fruitful choreographer-dancer partnership followed. Loads have been written about Madhuri Dixit and Saroj Khan collaborations, but Saroj Khan and Sridevi did fabulous work together for a solid decade. Saroj Khan said Sridevi would insist that the choreographer be her - and shuffled her dates around if the dance director was busy. No other actress did that for Khan. 

When asked to pick her favourite - Saroj Khan has been reluctant to name just one; she always mentions Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit together in the same breath. Rumour has it, that in the 1990s Saroj Khan planned a film with both Sri and MD. Sadly, it never took off beyond discussion stages.

We are not sure what exactly happened during and after the shoot of Karma but Subash Ghai and Sridevi never worked together again. Legend has it, Sri didn't like being part of an ensemble film where she had little to do and was left waiting on sets for days on end with little to do in location shoots. Ghai's films mostly (there are exceptions) focus on the leading man and women were mostly ornamental figures albeit shimmering in elaborate dance sequences...

Sridevi at her sensuous best in Karma. The black and gold dancing amrapali outfit has been repeated by many actresses in Bollywood. 

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