Krishna with Sridevi: Her most-frequent co-star of ALL time!

31 films in 9 years together! Wowsa! Telugu cinema icons Krishna and Sridevi. 

 

Stars on stage: Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan

 

For decades, for many NRI's the only way to see Bollywood stars was on stage - the halo of bodyguards and PAs that surround them that prevent most interaction. You figure out quickly who is a talent with incredible skill - and who is a miracle of a great edit. 

In Mumbai, there's a particular whiff of I'm too good to stare at stars, and some go out of their way to inconvenience them to show they are above it all! Most just live and let live. 

In the Indian diaspora, when the Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi... really, any Bollywood viewing community (the love Russians have for Mithun Chakraborty and Raj Kapoor is surreal) sees a real true blue Indian movie star, they go from breathless excitement to full Beatles-mania.  

I've been very lucky to see several stars perform on stage. And my top, top dancers have been, Prabhu Deva, Hrithik Roshan, Madhuri Dixit (no surprises), Aishwarya Rai, Sridevi, Shahid Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Sushant Singh. 

The worst dancers I've seen on stage have been... Tabu, Sonam and Parineeti Chopra. Pari.. who was a lovely person, interacted kindly with fans, is a fine actress... was just dreadful as a dancer. Sonam was very chatty with fans and looked great... but not a great dancer. Tabu... give her all the awards for her histrionics, but she stomps the stage like a Clydesdale. Just dreadful. Most TV stars when they travel on stage shows... reveal all their failings. There's a reason why they can't make the leap to big-screen stardom. 

Akshay Kumar interacts with fans and puts on an 'show' per se... but there was little dancing on his end - despite being rather good on screen. Abhishek also does a lot, but he is more movie star and actor than...dancer. Siddharth Malhotra is stiff and... relies on looks than actual fluid movement on stage. Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan are so hyper... the batteries on full blast. Strangely Anil Kapoor's not that good dancing, but he does speeches from his movies, acts out bits... Johnny Lever is the greatest live comedy show - truly desi and blessed with infinite talent. 

Sridevi... what can I say. Firstly, you're in awe that it really is 'the' great Sridevi on stage. She's tall, statuesque... looks like  doll, dances like a dream. Graceful, gorgeous, a sea of outfit changes... Her expressive face, and her elegance... She really did fall from the heavens and grace our stage for a while. Just too short a time... 

Go traditional! Sridevi

Sridevi famously did the jewellery ad in Kerala... As she said, she was very fond of traditional south Indian jewellery - there are many examples in the archive of it. Search "jewellery" or "statement necklace" and you'll find hundreds of images. 

Filmfare: June 2020, Rishi Kapoor and Sridevi's blockbusters together: Nagina and Chandni

Published in Filmfare: June 2020, Rishi Kapoor and Sridevi's blockbusters together: Nagina and Chandni 

Teenage Sridevi in Telugu Andhra Pathrika

 

This portrait of teenaged Sridevi published in Andhra Pathrika magazine, Sridevi was just 13 in December 1976 - and already a leading lady. A heroine in Tamil and Telugu films. Clearly long before stringent child labour laws were put into place. 

Sridevi gave up her childhood, education, schooling to become the acting legend she was. In later-year interviews, or even during her peak she said she had no regrets - "to get something, you have to give up something." 

Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time, these were choices she and her family made. 

Sridevi in black and white: Outfit by Manish Malhotra from the 90s

 Sridevi in black and white: Outfit by Manish Malhotra from the 90s 

Diwali not the same without... a glamorous appearance by Sridevi

 

The looks, the colours, the vibrancy, the joy of Sridevi... 

Past Diwalis...