The Khuda Gawah poster: Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Nagarjuna

This rare newspaper poster of Khuda Gawah. 

From afar it looks harmless enough but look at the poster politics; Amitabh Bachchan appears three times on the real estate of this massive Bollywood film poster; so does Sridevi. Amitabh Bachchan has a solo head shot - so does Sridevi - in equal size and measure. 

Early 90s Sridevi didn't come to play. She came to dominate. 

Khuda Gawah publicity stills: Sridevi, Nagarjuna, Amitabh Bachchan

 

As Amitabh Bachchan had issued a media ban, not giving interviews or being part of press conferences or publicity shenanigans was the norm for most of the 1980s and early 1990s. In retaliation of sorts, it was such a huge media trend to shrink the box-office numbers to even his wildly successful movies. Hum was a huge hit, so was Khuda Gawah - the numbers don't lie. Certain editors however... 

A bizarre upmanship between the press and a reigning superstar - when AB Snr started talking to the press, so many of his quotes appear defensive. 

Take the post release interviews of Khuda Gawah - a massive film, a large-scale grand epic. Not without its flaws of course, but it had a great run. Sridevi rarely spoke to the press as it is - so Bachchan Snr spoke about the collections, how well a film was or wasn't doing. Ever articulate, ever aware, he relayed facts and figures. All those editors and magazines that criticised him, are nowhere today. Bachchan is Bachchan. Still guilding the way with his own everlasting light. 

Sridevi on film in the 1990s in Bollywood : Lamhe, Army, Khuda Gawah, Banjaran

 Sridevi on film in the 1990s in Bollywood : Lamhe, Army, Khuda Gawah, Banjaran 

Khuda Gawah: Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi's epic

Released on 8 May 1992, Khuda Gawah was an epic film that was a huge hit back in the 90s. Sridevi holding her own space in a Bachchan film has to be seen to be believed. 

Sridevi

 Sridevi on the sets of Khuda Gawah.

Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan in Khuda Gawah

Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan in Khuda Gawah 

Released on 8 May 1992, one of the grand epic Hindi films released in the 1990s. 

Sridevi on the sets of Khuda Gawah

Sridevi on the sets of Khuda Gawah! 

Finally, not all AI slop, but some benefits. Rare newspaper scans that fade quickly, finally restored!! 

Gorgeous Sridevi in an outfit designed by Neeta Lulla. The shoulder-length hair and 90s perm worked for the 28-year-old-superstar. Some of the slight criticism Sridevi faced was that  Mehendi of Khuda Gawah was too similar to Pooja of Lamhe... We didn't see it. Mehendi had such a unique diction and stance. Pooja was more effervescent. Shot around the same time, of course the hair is the same....  

Sridevi at the premiere of Khuda Gawah

Throwback to May 8, 1992. 

Sridevi at the premiere of Khuda Gawah. 
 

Sridevi art in Khuda Gawah

 

Nagina, Banjaran, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah... think of a handful of films where the hero moons over the portrait of Sridevi (to a certain extent even Chandni, except its photographs, instead of a painting or sketch!)... 

Sridevi's features, her classic South Indian beauty just lends itself to art so easily - we have innumerable (over 100 posts at last count - then we gave up!) posts of fan art either sent to us, or what we've found online. Some good, some great, some... not as much... which we've not included! 

Not a huge fan of digital art of Sridevi or the AI falsehoods mimicking the real, but it's like shouting into the void, so have given up on that too! 

We also have an archive of Sridevi's paintings too; the one gifted to Manish Malhotra here, the others in Sridevi's home here and here. 

UPDATE: For the fans who requested the images, here are a few more paintings, sketches of Sridevi on film; 

Sridevi's painting in Banjaran

Sridevi sketch in Lamhe

Sridevi in Banjaran

Anime version of Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Rahul Roy: Gumrah & Khuda Gawah

The cast of Gumrah above; Rahul Roy, Sridevi and Sanjay Dutt 

Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan at the launch of Khuda Gawah. 

TBH Sridevi was cuter than her anime version... 

 

Rare photo of Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Khuda Gawah

Rare photo of Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Khuda Gawah 

Sridevi, "I did a very emotional scene... later, I read she had broken down!"

Excerpt from an archival Sridevi interview. 

"I did a very emotional scene for Khuda Gawah, where I had to scream loudly. Later, I read in some magazine that she had broken down because she couldn't cope with all her tensions!" 

How mountains are made of mole hills in the movie bizz! 
 

Rare stills: Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi on the sets of Khuda Gawah

 Rare stills: Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi on the sets of Khuda Gawah

Rare poster: Sanjay Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi in Khuda Gawah!

One of the rarest pics found online, the first look of Khuda Gawah that went to print; Amitabh Bachchan with Sridevi and Sanjay Dutt - who left the film (or was dropped--depends on which media you believe in!) and was replaced by Nagarjuna. 

Films go through seismic casting changes often (Farah Khan was supposed to be in the movie too, Ajay Devgan was considered!), but after a scene was shot and with publicity stills that were published, it is rare for casting to go through a complete overhaul. But it did! 

How Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan lost the award for Khuda Gawah

Excerpt:

"...In an earlier interview, producer Manoj Desai told me, almost casually, about the time when his film Khuda Gawah bagged seven Filmfare awards. “It should have won nine. But I could not purchase the other two awards. Someone highly placed in Filmfare told me that Amitabh and Sridevi would get the awards if some pending bills in the Centaur Hotel could be taken care of.” 

After this story was published in Outlook, there was no reaction at all. Not a single call, not a single letter from any reader. Nobody cared, or everybody except the reporter knew it already. It was a flop story. 

From Open Magazine: The Power of Nonsense.

Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Khuda Gawah (1992)

Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Khuda Gawah (1992). Released on 8 May 1992, there was no bigger movie released that year, if not decade. Everything about it was so grand. 

By the 90s, Sridevi stood tall next to Big B; and she held her own in every scene. The two were so magical in parts of the movie... The smile scene, their reunion, the title song, this dance off... Just the greatest actors and superstars, beyond compare. 

Khuda Gawah's success in UK: The Poster

Eros' publicity posters for Khuda Gawah after the film's success in the early 90s! 

Getting the audio cassette back in the day was just the biggest thrill; the special packaging of the audio, the epic images... 

The movie was meant to be seen ONLY on the big screen - released in the summer of 1992, 8 May to be precise, it had one of the biggest openings at the box-office. 

Benazir ya Mehendi? Sridevi's double role in Khuda Gawah

Benazir ya Mehendi? Sridevi's double role in Khuda Gawah

 

Simply the Best: Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi

The grand union of the two biggest stars of Bollywood on screen was a momentous occasion - many magazines covered Khuda Gawah, during its grand, expensive production. G magazine India published a special supplement covering the making of the epic movie. A collector's edition.

Left: Excerpt, MOVIE magazine, June 1990.