Cover Shoot: Sridevi with Jackie Shroff in Filmfare

TBT: January 1991 edition of Filmfare. Celebrating the 35th annual awards edition: What a night!

A rare find; snaps of Sridevi with Jackie Shroff together!

The '80s stars rarely did films together but Jackie Shroff has always praised Sridevi for her immeasurable talent. Shot just after the two won their first Best Actor and Best Actress awards for a Hindi film (Sridevi had already won before for Tamil films), their gleeful shots have 'winner' written all over it.

Jackie Shroff won for his role in the Mumbai mafia drama Parinda (1989) and Sridevi for her glorious double-act in Chaalbaaz (1989). There was hefty competition that year for Best Actor (newbie Aamir Khan for Raakh, the intellectually stunted Anil Kapoor for Eeshwar, the flawed romancer of Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor in Chandni and the birth of a superstar Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya) but, Jackie's underplayed and understated performance won him the coveted trophy.

With Sridevi, well, it bears repeating but she literally had no competition... other than herself. With six back to back releases (Gair Kanooni, Guru, Joshilaay, Nigahein, Chandni and Chaalbaaz - 1989 was her year!), there was no stopping Sri! Two of the biggest hits (blockbuster Chandni and the hit Chaalbaaz credited almost entirely to her despite the presence of Sunny Deol and megastar Rajnikanth), Sridevi was a shoe-in to win. And she did. Though Chandni remains her most iconic role [and alter-ego on cinema according to writer/editor Bhawana Somaya], the flawed but fabulous Chaalbaaz helped Sridevi grab one of her many awards. 

Sridevi beat out the competition hollow, newcomer Bhagyashree (Maine Pyaar Kiya) was given a trophy for Best new Face but having announced that she would no longer act post marriage and baby, was essentially a non-factor. Madhuri Dixit didn't make too many waves in Prem Pratigyaa and 

Vijayashanti, fellow Telugu superstar's unglamorous brave act in Eeshwar was Sridevi's closest rival albeit a mile behind. Oddly like Sridevi's other Telugu contemporaries (Bhanupriya, Radha, Maadhavi and to a certain extent Jaya Prada), no one else scaled the heights of Sri's pan-Indian stardom.  

These snaps, shot by ace photographer Rakesh Shreshta, a personal favorite of both Jackie Shroff and Sridevi, the carefree and casual-chic shoot is super-duper cute.

Rakesh Shrestha - a favourite of both Jackie Shroff and Sridevi.