A-List of Bollywood: The Teen Deviyan and all the joy of Hindi Cinema: Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Sridevi De

Dec 2017

 

The Lux Rose Gold Awards... or some such made up nonsense PR event by the brand where they dished out random nonsensical awards to bring together celebrities, their entourage and their fans. It was clearly a one-off event as we haven't heard much about it thereafter, but they did bring together the three greatest actresses, superstars and absolute queens of Indian cinema, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Sridevi together. All lined up and seated together, the photographers had an absolute field day! 

Never before and never again, in the history of Indian cinema, the three leading contemporaries and competitors together..., all graceful, gorgeous and glamorous. Sigh.. what a glorious time. 

Happy Diwali everyone! 

• Sridevi celebrating Diwali over the years here.

Femina's first cover with Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi! Throwback to 1984!

Earlier, I had posted that Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit were symbiotically connected in the media, whether they liked it or not!  If you wanted to find one celebrity - be it Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit - you would find them next to the other! As far back as September 1984, the two were placed next to each other, for comparison, critique and sometimes, like here for example, coincidence. 

While Abodh released in 1984 with Madhuri Dixit's first film tanking at the box-office, Sridevi by September 1984, at age 21, had already been declared the Number One female superstar of India. Meanwhile, Femina didn't even spell Madhuri Dixit's name right - good grief! Was the sub-editor asleep?! 

For the next five years, La Dixit was playing catch up... in 1989, she was seriously considered for the top rung.  

May 1989

Sridevi was on solid footing from Himmatwala in 1983 to 1993 summer... Then was was speculative journalism became confirmed status quo; Madhuri Dixit's box office success and top of the charts music of Choli ke peecheh in Khal Nayak, established her as the definitive leading lady of Bollywood, the Numero Uno. Funnily enough though, as soon as that happened, Juhi Chawla came in out of the blue like a bowling ball and knocked down her competition like volatile pins; she had 8 releases and four massive hits; the blockbuster Darr, the sexy action flick Lootere, the family drama Aaina and her award-winning-turn in the rom com Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke! Just as she was getting comfortable on top of the heap, summer of 1994 came the biggest hit of the year/decade/all-time... the Bollywood Titanic; Hum Aapke Hain Kaun!   The Number One throne suddenly became musical chairs, interchangeable with every high and low of box-office tides. Of all the actresses, let's give credit where credit is due, Madhuri Dixit had stated that talent outlasts all, "we are not horses on a racecourse", its just acting, hits and flops don't matter, one remembers the performance. When you think of Nargis, Meena Kumari or Nutan - do you ever think of which movie did ROI?! Only film producers and exhibitors do. The audience doesn't. 

Tags on this vintage Femina cover;

Wow - a major throwback. 

• A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION

• SEPTEMBER 8—22, 1984

• Femina

• Rs. 3.00

Main Image Text

• Madhuri Dikshit (!)

Bottom Middle Section

• What exactly is star power?

Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Sultanat

Above, imdb shenanigans by delusional "fans", Sultanat was an epic flop that nearly bankrupted the film producers. Re-writing cinema history to suit opinion over fact is a ridiculous exercise. Who gains from this falsehood?! 

Our archive of features and images from the grand film:

• Chasing the Sword: Sultanat
• Sultanat the film. 
• Sridevi's controversial red costume from the film here. 

When white and gold defined Diwali: Throwback images of Aishwarya Rai and Sridevi

When white and gold defined Diwali: Throwback images of Aishwarya Rai and Sridevi.. 

There's Khushi kin the background... 

Sridevi to act in Bappi Lahiri's Bengali film?! What?!!!

What's Sridevi Doing In A Bengali Film? 

From Calcutta comes news that music director Bappi Lahiri is going to produce a film in Bengali because he feels he's not as well known in his native Bengal as he feels he should be. This by itself is not the kind of stuff that would shake the world, but what is that he's roped in Sridevi to play the lead. Now everyone's wondering why on earth Sridevi would want to act in a regional film, and a Bengali one at that. 

In her typically cryptic manner Sridevi replies, "Who said I am doing Bappi Lahiri's film? He hasn't even approached me yet. As far as I know I'm not doing his film." Thank God she didn't say, 'Ask Mummy'!

--  Showtime, August 1988

Chandni's audio review in Filmfare: August 1989: Sri Joins the Off Key Club: Subash K Jha fires shots!

Well, during the summer of 1989, a few months before the film's release, HMV released the audio of the highly anticipated Yash Chopra film, Chandni. Box-office and reviews aside, the Yash Raj stamp of exquisite, timeless melodies and music was well known to all aficionados. But Shiv Hari outdid themselves with the chart busters . Almost all songs and lyrics were universally praised - Lata Mangeshkar in divine form, Suresh Wadkar's impressive solo, the profound lyrics by Anand Bakshi. 

All were exceptionally received by the critics - well, all but one; the infamous title song crooned by Jolly Mukherjee and the leading lady herself, Sridevi. The fans made the Sridevi song top the charts but... its a fun beat sure... a little shrill! Sridevi herself blushed when the song came up - unlike her contemporaries, she could call out her own clunkers with no hesitation. 

Subash K Jha - the feared critic who held the Filmfare review page hostage with his poison pen for years - went hammer and tongs after Sridevi's vocals. Sridevi, incidentally, is Jha's favourite actress - not singer! 

That's the thing about fandom, it can't be blind devotion. That's enslavement that we don't approve of - of anyone. Let alone, our all-time favourite actress, "the great Sridevi!". 

Excerpt from Filmfare: 

She: "Ankhiyan mein tu bass ja ankhiyan mein band kar loon." 

He: "Tahreko inankhiyan se baatein main chand kar loon." 

That's Bollywood's no. 1 lyric writer Anand Bakshi in Shiv-Hari's score of Chandni (HMV). This santoor player-flautist team has by now become the hallmark of Yash Chopra's films. As usual, their music is neither unimpressive nor enormously impressive. What strikes one about the moonlit score is the poetry - simple and graceful, utterly to-the-point. Lata gives body to the score in four numbers. She sounds like Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (in short, sweet and all of sixteen) in Mere haathon mein. The tune's naughty - imagine a near-60 Lata singing "Mere dorzee se aaj meri jung ho gayee/Kal choli silayee aaj lung ho gayee"! None of her aggressive juniors could have conveyed that captivating innocence in such saucy words. 

Some of Shiv-Hari's tunes are like Khayyam's, on one of his "off" days: Lata's Aa meri jaan, Suresh Wadkar-Nitin Mukesh's Tu mujhe suna and specially Lata-Vinod Rathod's Mehbooba. But the duo emerges with flying colours in the hilly-billy Mithwa where Lata sings like a solitary thrush,

But Sridevi's attempt at "singing"... excuse me while I splutter... in Chandni meri Chandni reminds you how skilled Sharda/Hemlata/Shabbir and the other members of the off-key club are. Co-singer Jolly (Dayavan) Mukherjee tries his utmost to steer the tune but fails. 

Asha Bhosle breezes in for only one song Parbat se kaali ghata (a duet with Vinod Rathod) and leaves you hankering for more. Since Yash Chopra has been persistently trying to mould Shiv-Hari in the Khayyam style ever since the director and composer parted ways after Kabhi Kabhie (the incomparable composer did score for Chopra's Trishul and Sawaal but only half-heartedly), I wonder why they split in the first place!

Sridevi on the sets of Lamhe: Power pose

 

Rakesh Shreshta captures Sridevi and her power pose - in London for Lamhe.