On the eve of Solva Saawan's release, 16-year-old Sridevi in her first magazine spread in Mumbai. The film was released in 1979 and Sridevi really was 16 at the time.
Below: The first ever appearance of Sridevi in Filmfare magazine, Jan 15-31 1979 issue. The 16-year-old who didn't make cover but went on to dominate many after.
Sridevi
The Latest 16-Year-Old
by Jyothi Venkatesh
Photograph: Balkrishan
Sridevi is the youngest heroine who has come from the South to the Hindi screen. She is barely sixteen. B Saroja Devi, Savitri, Padmini, Vyjayanthimala and Lakshmi didn't come here exactly this young.
After co-starring with her in Solva Sawan, Amol Palekar, not one to compliment anyone easily, has been praising Sridevi's talent. This film is a re-make of Pathinaru Vayadhinile, the runaway hit in Tamil which featured Sridevi in the same role.
When Sridevi visited Bombay, I found her at her hotel suite flanked by her father and mother all set for an interview. She wore a salwar kameez perhaps indicating her desire to make it in Bombay. In Madras, one usually gets to see Sridevi in the traditional pavadai thavani.
It was her fist exposure to the English film press, she said. She looked ill at ease. Once she started talking, it was clear she needed to brush up her English as well as her Hindi. In fact, she said her voice in Solva Sawan had been dubbed. However, Sridevi is fluent in Tamil though her mother-tongue is Telugu.
Wow that's so thrilling. She proved it right in the next 10 years what she said then: She thinks she is CAPABLE of making it Big in the HINDI film industry. She was so much confident and had a self-belief.
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