The real pic vs the fake, AI manipulated ones of Sridevi. AI pics will soon be illegal. We hope!

Sridevi

 

Oh the 1980s were a strange time in Bollywood for fashion and photoshoots. Still, Sridevi looks very pretty here...

Sridevi

Sridevi in the Telugu film... anyone recognise the look? Which movie? Which year? Kindly comment below. 

 

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! 

Shobha Kapoor, Jeetendra, Sridevi share Stardust cover with Sanjay Dutt, Rati Agnihotri

Oh Stardust! You are missed.

A throwback to this early 1984 edition of the ultimate Bollywood tabloid,  the infamous Stardust - with a young Sanjay Dutt on the cover. 

Jeetendra, flanked by his wife Shobha Kapoor and frequent co-star Sridevi; trying to put rumours to rest! More on that in earlier post here. 

 

Sridevi at the Oscars?

Let's be very clear from the get-go, the background of this Sridevi pic is fake. Sridevi in Oscar de la Renta at IIFA was real. 

As the Academy Awards air this morning (we're in Asia!), I'm reflecting on the number of actors and directors who have stated on record that Sridevi, as an actor, was comparable to anyone in the West. Her vast, oceanic talents and infinite gifts meant she could have adapted to any role or any field. She acted in films when she didn't even know the language (Malayalam, Kannada—and even Hindi in the early 1980s!), yet she learned and adapted quickly. 
Instead of Sridevi going to Hollywood to work in an English-language film, her radiance was such that she could have brought the Oscar to India through her performances alone.
Sridevi 2.0—in her second act after marriage, kids, and hiatus—was just gearing up, delivering one flawless performance after another... and then fate intervened so cruelly.
While contemporary stars walk the red carpet or get the privilege of presenting an award, had we bided our time, Sridevi would have, could have brought home an Oscar like no other star. Alas...
Of her 54 years, she gave 50 to the film industry, appearing in 266 films (definitely not 300 if we count strictly released theatrical films). There is no one who gave so much to the craft, the industry, and cared so deeply about every performance from start to finish. 
She sacrificed her health, personal life, and family for her work. These posthumous felicitations have yet to meaningfully honor her worth.
Sridevi was honored in the In Memoriam section at the 2018 Academy Awards (along with Shashi Kapoor and others), which is not the same as winning an Oscar (a couple of people wrote and published this incorrectly), and yet it still seemed... not enough. 
Just as we still remember Meena Kumari, Nargis, Nutan, and Madhubala for generations, Sridevi will be remembered forever. 
BTW, here's the real pic of Sridevi in Oscar de la Renta at IIFA below:

 
 

Sridevi in and as Chandni (1989)