Tuesday 19 October 2010

Sridevi in and as Sherni (1988): Title role for a Bollywood Queen!

The only film Sridevi did with Shatrughan Singha, Sherni.

Directed by Harmesh Malhotra (of Nagina fame), this wasn't much of a movie. The low-budget and faulty direction, writing, editing, choreography mediocre music... is all too apparent.

Here is a fine example how Sridevi was often better than the movie she was in. A polished diamond set on a shoe-string.

Based loosely on the crime spree of Phoolan Devi (Shekhar Kapoor went on to make the faultless, fearless Bandit Queen a decade later), the movie isn't great by any measure. Srdevi's efforts are valiant however... hmm. No further comment.

BTW one look at the posters and clearly you know who was the biggest star at the time of the film's release. It's a classic case of A-list stars working with a B-list budget. The way it was shot is particularly abysmal...




Sridevi: One Woman Industry



click to enlarge


The movie has its own share of fans - including Sonakshi Singha, a self-professed Sridevi fan.










Legend has it, the film's producer Pawan Kumar waited for Sridevi's approval for the film for a long time. Sridevi's mother Rajeshwari (one of the original momagers) was not sure how Sridevi would do in the horse riding scenes, but Sridevi was a fine equestrian and had no problems. Sridevi finally gave the go ahead when Pawan Kumar agreed to pay Sridevi her full market price.





The Sherni billboards that were spread across the nation in the 1980s








Above: Publicity stills of Sridevi with Shatrughan Singha on the sets of Sherni (1988) published in the magazines of the time. 


Above: Sridevi with her stunt-double Reshma Pathan in the film Sherni. 


5 comments:

  1. Sad Sherni was a flop but Sridevi Rocks no matter any scene of bandit Queen of Sridevi which was based on similar, earlier scene in a telugu movie called Kanchu Kagada with Krishna. It was super duper hit and Sridevi acting as Bandit Queen gave run for his life(?) to Amjad Khan in Sholay. There are many Telugu movies Of Sridevi all Super duper hits some times theyare not as good on Hindi screen for various reasons as it is not easy to remake exactly with sense of humor in Hindi.,and of course script and cast etc as well in the remake.

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  2. Sherni was not that bad movie, it was not flop either. Sridevi was good in the movie and she played the role with conviction, the songs were not that good, compared to directors previous attempt Nagina, this movie was nowhere near to previous product.
    One can atleast watch it for Sridevi, its a different Avtar of Sridevi, I did not regret watching this movie , hope you will not regret.

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    1. Have to respectfully disagree. Sadly, I saw the film after Bandit Queen and the comparisons of Sherni and BQ are hard to stay away from - as the source is the same. Sherni comes off as a B-grade film (with an A-list starcast). The songs and dances are mediocre, the photography is abysmal, the budget was just not on par with what Sri films are usually like. And it shows. But then, different strokes for different folks.

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  3. It is one of sridevi s best. . Watch her performance

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  4. Fillm bahut pyari thi ek khoobsurat daku sridevi bani

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