Sridevi in Laadla: Her Tina Turner Wig et Al

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla. Sridevi looks great... despite the awful costume, wig and stylin'... 

Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in Laadla: On set: On film

Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in Laadla: On set: On film  

Released on 25 March 1994, the film was a runaway success. 

At the 40th Filmfare Awards, Sridevi was Nominated Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress – Raveena Tandon!

The film runs purely on the metal of Sheetal - Sridevi's performance. 

Sridevi in Laadla: Another Feather in Her Cap

Released on 17 Mar 1994, Laadla was a blockbuster from the get-go. Sure Anil Kapoor had the title role, but its Sridevi's iconic, over-the-top quasi negative role as Sheetal Jaitley that most remember. It earned her yet another Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Often credited with carrying the otherwise ordinary 90s Bollywood film, in the lens of 2026, the film is fabulous, flawed... fabulously flawed! 

Sridevi got high praise (Yash Chopra for one loved it), and mimicking her signature tagline in the film--You understand, you better understand--became a viral trend long before the invention of Instagram.  

1. Sreehari Nair (film critic), Rediff.com – "The VERY BEST of Sridevi" article, 10 July 2017
   "It's a character and a movie salvaged only by Sridevi's performance." He further elaborated on her inventive approach to an otherwise "trashy role.") "Sridevi doesn't try to embalm a trashy role, she plays trash like trash. She has an irony about the whole thing; she's too inventive and doesn't merely perform the rituals. When she struts and snaps her finger hard, we get it: She is too big for the role." 
2. Raveena Tandon (co-star, who played Kajal), Times of India interview – 25 March 2022 (on the film's 28th anniversary)
   "'Laadla was an amazing, very special film for me and working with Sridevi and Anil Kapoor was a lifetime experience which I always cherish.'"
3. Aneez Bazmee (screenwriter), interview with Komal Nahata – referenced in The Indian Express article, 25 March 2024 (on the film's 30th anniversary)
   "No one would have played the role better than Sridevi." (He added that the team rewrote scenes specifically "to complement Sridevi’s acting prowess and strength as an actor.")

These quotes highlight why Sridevi's fierce, campy, and larger-than-life portrayal remains the film's standout element decades later, even as the movie itself is often called over-the-top or messy. 
After a row of flops, the cast needed a hit. And they got a big one! 

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla

 Rare images of Sridevi on the sets of Laadla. Aahhh 90s fashion. She looks great tho'... 

Sridevi with Shakti Kapoor in Laadla

Sridevi with Shakti Kapoor in Laadla 

The two worked in innumerable films together; trying to get them all listed. Soon. 

Shakti Kapoor turns 73 today! 

Raveena Tandon's surprising quote about Sridevi's entry to Laadla

Raveena Tandon's surprising quote about Sridevi's entry to Laadla, and how it changed the film!

Well, this is interesting trivia; "Once Sridevi came into Laadla, things changed, everything changed. But I did not for once mention that my role was cut," Raveena Tandon (MOVIE magazine, 1995). Well, until she did in a nationally syndicated magazine and the quote went viral! 

Even though Sridevi didn't have the title role, what do we remember most about the flawed but fun film Laadla? Sridevi's performance. Sridevi famously absorbed attention and at a certain juncture in her career, no matter who was her co-star, she commanded the big-screen like no-other. 

Raveena Tandon was only 9 years younger than Sridevi, but Sridevi was 100+ films years older than the fiesty Ms Tandon. They were not of the same league to be frank. Raveena 2.0 was a fine actress, but definitely struggled to make her mark in the early years. As did every newcomer. 

For cinema trivia, this is interesting. But we certainly aren't comparing the two. 

Shout out to Bollywood Memories for digging this pull-quote out!  

 

Sridevi in Laadla (1994)

 

Sridevi and her power suits in Laadla (1994)

Having turned 30 when she shot the film, the age of innocence, of playing wallflower or victim, was beyond the scope of all-powerful and all-knowing Sridevi. By then, Sridevi had already appeared in over 200 films since the age of four, so the omnipotent and omniscient one had to essay stronger parts, leads that were specially written with her in mind. 

Laadla was a flawed film (as was Judaai) but somehow, the power of conviction by the actress which helped the suspension of belief while watching powered the movies and made them so watchable and entertaining. 

Sridevi as a bride on the sets of Laadla back in 1994

Sridevi suited up in Laadla

Sridevi in Laadla. The fierce Sheetal. 

Rare pic: A wet Anil Kapoor and an exquisite Sridevi from the sets of Laadla

Aside from the fact Anil Kapoor looks like a wet wildebeest, and Sridevi looks so strikingly beautiful, this is one of rarest pics and most gorgeous images we've seen from the sets of Laadla. Yet another film where Sridevi dominated with her performance, she really chewed out every scene. 

Anil Kapoor, 38, and Sridevi, 31. on the sets of Laadla (1994). BTW FYI, Raveena Tandon was just 22 when she shot the film with these two greats of Hindi cinema and tbh held her own in the frame. 

• Laadla images and features in the archive here.
• Anil Kapoor and Sridevi over the years here.
• The 12 Films of Anil Kapoor and Sridevi here.

 

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla

 Sridevi on the sets of Laadla 

Sridevi in all white in Laadla

Sridevi in all white in Laadla 
 

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla: 30 Years of a Smash Hit

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla: 30 Years of a Smash Hit 

Released on 25 March 1994 after a slew of Sridevi-Anil Kapoor flops, expectation was low when the film released. But you can't keep a good man - or woman - down. Sridevi's high volume performance got all the whistles and claps (Indian cinema is a audience participation program that requires a theatre!) and though the ending doesn't hold up, the performances do. 

For someone who preferred understated performances, Yash Chopra was a huge fan of Sridevi's acid-tongue turned role in Laadla and commented in several media outlets after the film's release, how much he loved Sridevi's performance. Something he said decades later after the premiere of English Vinglish too. There's a clip on Instagram/Insta stories as Shahrukh Khan escorts Sridevi to stage and says, "Sriji, I don't know if Yashji ever told you this, but he told me, you were his favourite performer. Ever." 

• Our massive Laadla archive here, images, info, on set pics, on screen moments. 

Sridevi in Laadla: 90s Icon

Sridevi in Laadla: 90s Icon 

Sridevi on set, Sridevi on screen. If we measure a performance by the wide gulf of personality and persona on screen, this is probably one of Sridevi's greatest efforts. A shy, hardly verbose, quiet superstar...  who transformed into the fierce, take-no-prisoners diva on screen.  

Sridevi on the sets of Laadla (1994)

Sridevi, 30, on the sets of Laadla (1994) 

Released 30 years ago, yet another memorable performance by Sridevi. She loved this print power suit look and had it in her personal collection and wore it for several stage shows in the 1990s. I believe its a Manish Malhotra design... but I could be wrong. To be confirmed... 

A confident performance, Sheetal wasn't a villain as she was made out to be in reviews for the film. She just wasn't a docile victim waiting to be rescued. The Taming of the Shrew Bollywood-ified to social mores of the 1990s. 

Yet another film where though she didn't have the title role, all one remembers is her performance. Truly, the 'great' Sridevi. 

Sridevi smiling on the sets of Laadla

 Sridevi smiling on the sets of Laadla 

How Laadla should have ended! MOVIE magazine lols on the Sridevi and Anil Kapoor hit

How Laadla should have ended! MOVIE magazine lols on the Sridevi and Anil Kapoor hit
 

Sridevi as a bride on the sets of Laadla

Sridevi as a bride on the sets of Laadla 

 

Sridevi in Laadla

 Sridevi in Laadla  

Sridevi fan art: Fierce look from Laadla

 

Sridevi fan art: Fierce look from Laadla