Sridevi with Amitabh Bachchan in KBC: India's Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a ratings smash!

Watching Sridevi reminisce about her early days in the film industry... She was a treasure trove of experiences and information. A rich chapter of Indian cinema closed with her sudden and tragic passing. 

As Indian film journalism remains a nebulous fog of information and misinformation, these rare clips straight from the mouths of celebrities themselves is the closest we have to a factual account of what happened in the glory and early days of Indian cinema. 

 

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Boney Kapoor's post with Sridevi: Jab They Met

 

First picture with my wife ,September 1984 at Natraj studios Edited · 209w

Boney Kapoor posted a throwback picture with Sridevi - and the repercussions followed almost immediately, as the Indian Troll Army, a force like no other, went after him, hammer and tongs. 

Meanwhile, context for Sridevi fans; the image is from the mahurat/launch of a Hindi film Govinda back in 1984 - a film that was eventually shelved and instead, the Kapoors ended up making the phenomenal Mr.India.
 

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TBT: January 1988: Sridevi's Cine Blitz centrefold:

Excerpt: 

Red Hot: The Shocking Break-Up! Straight from Sridevi! 

An inevitable second marriage. A suicide bid by the wife. A cheated second wife follows it up with a painful break. And a man is caught between his duty and his love. Much has been written about the Sridevi-Mithun affair. But these are the inside facts that no ones knows... 

 

Sridevi and her saris: Modeling for a sari ad in the 1980s

 Sridevi and her saris: Modeling for a sari ad in the 1980s

Half real, half fake: Sridevi and Jaya Prada's pic

Fake pic of Jaya Prada and Sridevi above. The real pic below.

Someone asked online who died and made you the Sridevi police?! Said in jest (with a bite), obviously we have no issues with any other Sridevi fans and encourage all and more - but we do take issue with false reports, features, newsbytes, and images. Perpetuating falsehoods in film magazines have been rampant since the days of Mumbai's prolific tabloids. No fact checking, no verification, speculative gossip published as the gospel truth. 

Fake images that are proliferating now are dreadful. The simplest of minds cannot fathom why its a blight, tarnishing the great Sridevi. A little critical thinking, the importance of truth... Its so basic. 

Fake images tarnish the celebrity--there are equal, if not more fake pics of all the Khans, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, the Bachchans entirely in fact--and diminish their authenticity. Fan fic may seem like flattery, but fake pics, false narratives in fact do the opposite, they spread false impressions of very real superstars. 

Sridevi and Rajinikanth in the Tamil classic Pokkiri Raja (1982)

Trying to understand the phenomenon that is Rajinikanth... its so hard to put into words. Someone like Salman Khan currently is riding the wave of all style no substance, whereas Rajinikanth in his prime, with his wildly mimicked style, had such gravitas. It would be easy--albeit foolish--to write him off for the mannerisms, his suave style, his bag of tricks and gimmicks that he pulled off with such elan, amusing critics, fawning fans... but his choice of films, the messaging, the gut-punch moments in his movies, it elevated this Marathi-born Tamil cinema icon. 

Thankfully there are several books and features about him in print and online. 

Here he is with a signature move on still - from the film Pokkiri Raja, with frequent co-star and friend, the similarly iconic, Sridevi. Aka, "the great Sridevi!"

Sridevi was 19 here, and she wasn't eclipsed by her often senior and legendary co-stars. 

Released on 14 January 1982, the film was a major success. 

 

Dotty Sridevi: Polka dots and Sri

Oh '90s fashion... 

Sridevi looks gorgeous tho'. 

The fashion of polka dots is... well, a hit and miss. But Sridevi is so cute in all. Check out the archive of images here as Sridevi swanned through the 1970s-90s in polka dots.