A multilingual, multifaceted and marvelous actress, who is fluent in Tamil and Telugu, Sridevi's versatility and range could bring a depth and maturity to the performance unlike any other contemporary actress living in India today.
Having starred in 250 plus films (a number which she herself is unsure of), there are few frontiers left that Sridevi has yet to conquer, having proved time and again that there are few thespians of her caliber. In her vast repertoire, she hasn't done many films based on real life characters. For an actress who has seemingly done it all, what a fine challenge this would be to portray an iconic singer from the age of 18 to 88...
Years ago, when Filmfare asked Mani Ratnam about Sridevi, he had simply stated that her best work was in Tamil films and he didn't have much to say about her Bollywood/Hindi films. Suhasini Ratnam, a fine actress herself, has gushed about Sridevi on her talk show without fawning over the screen queen, as she sincerely wished her audience to catch Sridevi's resplendent performance in English Vinglish. She had worked with Sridevi in Telugu films and their association goes further back - her uncle is of course Kamal Haasan, one of Sridevi's most frequent co-stars.
Nagarjuna, a co-star of many a Sri film, had said in a television interview that even the biggest stars and directors were in awe of Sridevi - himself included.
As a beloved icon of South Indian cinema, who is extremely proud of her heritage as she shuttles between Chennai and Mumbai, just the idea of Sridevi essaying the divine M.S. Subbulakshmi has us lost in thought. Just the awesome potential of it...
We are huge fans of Rajiv Menon, who made one of the finest films of 2000, Kandukondain Kandukondain (a Tamil adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility no less), where he balanced multiple story lines with an A-list cast (as many a critic will tell you, it even has Aishwarya Rai's finest act) and gave justice to each character.
With a director of his ability and with an actress like Sridevi, that's lightening in a bottle waiting to be captured.
If only...
If only...
It would indeed be a great news.. But neither Rajiv Menon nor the production house has ever mentioned Sri Ji's name. They had always been keen on casting Vidya and recently i read somewhere that it has even been finalized. Under such a scenario i doubt if it would be good on our part to talk about such a thing. As it might appear as if we are trying to somehow snatch a role from Vidya for which Sri Ji was never considered.
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