Sridevi

Monday, 17 August 2026

Sridevi and NTR on the cover of Sunday magazine

Wow, there was a time in Indian cinema history when Sridevi was on the cover of a magazine and the editors thought not to even name her! Just "with heroine!"

Well, back then Sridevi was just 19, her famous co-star was 60 - and making headlines as he jumped the political bandwagon, cashing in on his wild popularity in Andhra.

They say star power is power; well, political power is power. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sridevi's glamorous cover shoot outtakes from the early 90s

Above: August 1990, Sridevi's outtakes from a Showtime cover shoot.

Photography by the late great Gautam Rajadhyaksha.

Below - clearly shot on the same day. Sridevi in satin. The images were used in a cover shoot for Stardust and Filmfare magazine.

4 screengrabs of gorgeous Sridevi from the 1980s in Bollywood

The elaborate costumes, heavy makeup, ah the 80s...

Sunday, 16 August 2026

Sridevi. In and as Chandni

Sridevi, 25, in the film Chandni. It is insane to think at 25 she was considered a veteran! By September 1989 (when Chandni was released), Sridevi had already appeared in 222 films across Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema, spanning her work as a child artist, teenage star, and leading lady.

Mita Vashisht appeared in her first commercial Hindi film in Chandni - and she seems to have had an... ambivalent time remembering that early phase on film. She has a unique and interesting voice, there's a gravitas there. She was 21, and her screen partner Sridevi was 25 - but the imbalance of power was staggering. By 1989, there was no star bigger than Sri - and Mita was a rank newcomer. The screen chemistry was fun - it really looked like they were friends. But not sure Sridevi ever spoke off camera, beyond polite greetings.