Sridevi's blue lenses in Nigahein (1989)

Sridevi screengrab from the film Nigahein.

The costumes, the lenses... 

Sridevi in her only sequel. 

Sridevi in Nigahein: The First Superheroine

Sridevi’s iconic performance in Nagina, often remembered alongside its 1989 sequel Nigahen, firmly established her as Bollywood’s premier modern day superheroine. She effortlessly channeled supernatural shapeshifting - reminiscent of Mystique from the X-Men - combining extraordinary sight, uncanny speed, and an aura commanding enough to stop a crowd of men in their tracks. On and off the screen, she carried an undeniable, larger-than-life presence. 

Released shortly before Chandni (1989), Nigahein (1989) captured Sridevi at the absolute zenith of her physical charm and dramatic prowess. While Fearless Nadia - an Australian-born actress who famously starred in Hunterwali (1935) - pioneered the action-heroine archetype in early Indian cinema, her legacy remains obscure to most modern audiences. By contrast, Sridevi brought the female-led fantasy genre into mainstream pop culture.

Although Nigahein initially received tepid reviews from critics, audiences embraced it immediately. Made on a modest budget, the film recovered its costs within days and went on to become profitable, if not a blockbuster like its predecessor Nagina. 

Above: All images have been AI modified and enhanced

Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Nigahein: Images Grok'd!

The original image and its Grok edit; Sunny Deol, Sridevi and Pran in Nigahein. 

Released on 11 August 1989, two days before her 26th birthday.  She looked so tall, slim and striking... 

Sridevi's golden dance costume for Nigahein

 

A behind the scenes, on set image from 1989. Sridevi's golden dance costume for Nigahein: Nagina Part II

Think this is the only sequel Sridevi has ever appeared in, Nigahein (with the one note co-star Sunny Deol), opened phenomenally... and then plummeted at the box-office.

 Released just days before Chandni, Sridevi was her slimmest and trimmest in the movie and looks and dances phenomenally. She was all of 25 when she shot the film and peak prowess... 

Her finale dance number could have been a pale version of the original Main Teri Dushman song and dance routine, but it had far more difficult steps and she looked dazzling. 

It's a personal favourite of mine for....no reason other than, Sridevi looking her finest. It's also of-the-time fashion rich; Sridevi's outfits are peak 1980s style - all of which has been archived painstakingly here. 

A rarely seen poster of Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein: Nagina Part II

 

A rarely seen poster of Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein: Nagina Part II 

Sridevi dominating the Nigahein posters and publicity stills

Sridevi dominating the Nigahein posters and publicity stills 
 

Sridevi on the cover: Nigahein set look

 

Nigahein posters: Sridevi dominating real estate!

 

Released days before Sridevi's 26th birthday, this 1989 hit I liked... though many Sridevi fans don't! She looked smashing in the movie and danced like a dream! Sridevi dominating publicity stills of Nigahein which was powered by her star wattage - far more than the men in the movie. Anupam Kher famously said this was one of his worst performances - as the poor man's Amrish Puri, yeah, it was. But how insightful of him to have a healthy retrospective on his successes and his failures as an actor par excellance.   

Will Karthik Aryan's Film Compete with Vyjanthimala, Reena Roy and Sridevi's Legacy? The Naagin Tale Retold

Movie	Year	Leading Lady
Nagin	1954	Vyjayanthimala
Milap Nagin	1972 1976	Reena Roy Reena Roy
Nagina	1986	Sridevi
Naache Nagin Gali Gali Nigahen: Nagina Part II Tu Nagin Main Sapera	1989 1989 1989	Meenakshi Seshadri Sridevi Sonika Gill
Naag Nagin Doodh ka Karz Tum Mere Ho Sheshnaag	1990 1990 1990 1990	Mandakini Neelam Kothari  Juhi Chawla Rekha
Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani Hisss	2002 2010	Manisha Koirala Mallika Sherawat

Four days ago, the first-look and digital poster of Kartik Aaryan's upcoming film, Naagzilla, was released, and created a buzz online for the unexpected choice of film by the actor. What a twist! As a snake-turned-man-turned-snake entity, ie a shape-shifting being on the big-screen, the actor has to balance the fine act of believability, strength and vulnerability in an essential genre of Bollywood filmography, to make the expensive endeavor (special effects are not cheap!) work. One wrong turn and the film coils to a disaster. In fact, Kartik Aaryan's upcoming film joins a long roster of snake based thrillers that have found intermittent success. A retrospective; 

An abridged history of popular (and not so popular!) snake films in Bollywood, the trend was set by the OG leading lady of Hindi cinema, Vyjayanthimala in Nagin. The original female superstar*, famed actress and dancer of note set the blueprint for snake-themed movies. There was an aspect of suspense and thrill, with a dose of great pungi/bansi/been-based music and dance, Nagin was the biggest Hindi hit of 1954 beating out popular movies like Dilip Kumar's Amar and Dev Anand's Taxi Driver released the same year. If anyone, it was Vyjayanthimala's hit as it was her song and dance routines that charmed cine-goers, more than the box-office power of her male co-star Pradeep Kumar.  

Decades later, Reena Roy tried her hand at the genre with a career-defining, wildly successful turn in the homonymous Nagin and the forgettable flop Milap. I'm sure not many of you even remember the Shatrughan Sinha and Reena Roy snake film Milap that came and went in 1972, but the all-star cast led Rajkumar Kohli film Nagin had a stellar role-call that included Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan, Jeetendra, Sanjay Khan, Rekha, Mumtaz and Kabir Bedi. And yet, it was relative newcomer Reena Roy who stole the show. Despite being the biggest hit of 1976, snake films were on pause yet again for a few more years. 

 

In a film rejected by Jaya Pradha (she was afraid of snakes!), Sridevi (and Saroj Khan's choreography) brought the genre back to the forefront a decade later in 1986--smashing box-office records! The film wasn't expensive to produce--apart from Sridevi's famed unshakable remuneration--and made the most return-on-investment (Karma technically was a bigger hit of '86, but that movie was also ten-times as expensive to make) that firmly entrenched Sridevi in the top slot of pan-Indian cinema. The mid-80s, you couldn't escape the dance routine, the costume, Sridevi's sensuality and her power-house high-gloss performance. Even co-star Rishi Kapoor stated that she was a much bigger star than he himself was, even though he had been in the Bollywood belt longer. 

The 25+ week run of the thriller meant an onslaught of formulaic snake-films followed, including four dreadful released in 1990 alone; Naag Nagin, Doodh ka Karz, Tum Mere Ho and the comically over-the-top Sheshnaag led by (an otherwise capable-) Rekha and her excessive costume and makeup. With the same musicians and choreographer, Re' couldn't recreate the success of Sridevi at the turn of the decade when Indian cinema was unsheathing itself of predictable films and the 90s were bringing to the big-screen, more believable narratives. The saap-sapere, jantar-mantar did not work and the shoddy special-effects did not provide magic to the jaded audience. 

Sridevi herself worked on her only sequel, Nigahein-Nagina Part II, but the film was a modest and moderate hit--nothing compared to the original. Its middling success meant producer/director Harmesh Malhotra had to shelve part III of the film, Nagme, as there were too many films that trampled the genre to death. Internet rumours are that Naagzilla is also planned as a trilogy, but all depends on the success of Kartik Aryan's first attempt in this difficult to toil field. 

In a rather tragic and bank-breaking effort to relaunch his (talentless) son Armaan Kohli, producer/director Rajkumar Kohli made the most-memed Hindi film of all-time, Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, where Manisha Koirala had to pretend to be a snake-lady trying to entice the contact-lense wearing Arman. With a painfully repetitive title song, the worst special effects, script, editing, photography... you name it, 'twas bad... the movie somehow broke-even at the boxoffice courtesy of a heavy roster of cameos that included--take a deep breath--Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Arshad Warsi, Aftab Shivdasani, Sonu Nigam, Aditya Pancholi, Sharad Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Rambha, Pinky Campbell and Kiran Rathod! On the plus side, it helped ignite Pretentious Movie Reviews - for which we are grateful! 

When you look closely at all these films, there's a rather bizarre trend of all the leads wearing lenses (we geddit, its the snake eye attempt; quick q; how many snakes have blue eyes?!). slightly hideous sparkling costumes, and rather predictable dance moves of slithering and palm-bending, back breaking steps to lure the audience. 

Bit soon to put Shradha in the list as the film is... TBC! 

In an attempt to resurrect her flaying career that neither worked here [Bollywood], nor there [Hollywood], self-proclaimed legend Mallika Sherawat tried to translate the rural snake mythology in the English film Hisss; a film universally panned by every, single, critic. A mega budget compared to the other titles mentioned previously here and with a lot more nudity and body-reveal for the front-benchers, Mallika's powers of persuasion failed miserably and since 2010, there has been no word of a similar themed film. 

What cinema couldn't do, Ektaa Kapoor's Naagin on TV has done since 2015; revamped the role of a leading lady with omnipotent agency and metamorphosis. It propelled Mouni Roy's career and provided steam to reawaken the genre in cinema as Dharma Productions sets forth with an expected trilogy-in-the-works.  

Fact is, Karthik Aaryan's ambitious upcoming film has to fall somewhere between the high watermark of Nagin/Nagina and the nadir of Jaani Dushman/Hiss. 

Do note however, in the serpentine listicle, there's a developing pattern that one can pinpoint easily when you follow the footprint of... flops! Look at the list above and compare with trade figures, the definitive listicle reveals that most movies didn't do well at the boxoffice with just three notable exceptions among the dirty dozen.  And yet, here's another attempt to take a bite out of the box-office; will it be manah or poison?! We wait and watch. 

1989's forgetable release Tu Nagin Main Sapera

Sridevi and Sunny Deol on the cover of Arun magazine! Hindi tabloid

Sridevi and Sunny Deol on the cover of Arun magazine! Hindi tabloid's still from Nigahein back in 1989! 

 

Sunny Deol, Sridevi and Pran in Nigahein (1989)

Sunny Deol, Sridevi and Pran

The cast and crew; producer/director Harmesh Malhotra, stars Sunny Deol, Sridevi and Pran in Nigahein (1989). 

Sridevi looked so beautiful in this film. 

Producer/director Harmesh Malhotra, Pran and Sridevi 

Rare pic: Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Nigahein (1989)

Rare pic: Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Nigahein (1989)
 

Sridevi looking stunning in Nigahein (1989)

Sridevi looking stunning in Nigahein (1989) 

Rare still of Sridevi on the set of the film. She looked sooooooo beautiful in this movie. 
 

Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein (1989)

 

Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein (1989)

Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein (1989)

Sridevi and Sunny Deol in Nigahein (1989)

Dancing Diva: Sridevi in Bollywood: Box Office Queen: Golden Gal

Dancing Diva: Sridevi in Bollywood: Box Office Queen: Golden Gal 

Released 34 years ago today, Sridevi's only sequel, Nigahein wasn't loved by the masses or critics like its predecessor, the box-office smash Nagina, but personally, am a huge fan of this one. Sridevi's extremely confident performance and her epic beauty, acting and dancing skills in full display - along with the finest Bollywood fashion of the 1980s. Her striking salwars and chiffon saris and of course her memorable and iconic dance costumes. 

Contrary to popular media reports of the time, the film wasn't a flop, recovered its costs by a mile, but as it didn't reach the pinnacle of the box-office, was slightly written off. In fact, had it not been for Sridevi's other box-office smashes that same year (Chandni, Chaalbaaz and so on), this movie would probably feature more prominently in her cinematic cv.

35 years of Nigahein: Sridevi stuns: An 80s Fashion Moment

35 years of Nigahein: Sridevi stuns: An 80s Fashion Moment