Sridevi in and as Chandni (1989)

Sridevi on the sets of the film Chandni back in 1989. 

In a special edition that complied a list of actors with their career-best performances, the editors of MOVIE magazine cherry-picked Sridevi and stated that her finest work was in Chandni. Not only did she carry the film on her slender shoulders, she thoroughly inhabited the persona on screen. 

Excerpt: 

"She herself disavows the Hindi version of Sadma "because I was more spontaneous the first time round in the Tamil version." Besides, her voice was dubbed in Hindi. Else Sadma could've been the Tamil tigress' best performance. 

The eerie echoes of a six year old's reemergence from within the winding tunnels of memory were all the more achingly vivid for their naturalism. 

Later on, as it often happens when a performer seeks assurance of perfection from applause to previous work, Sridevi happily evolved from playing 16 going on six to forever going on 16. 

The act worked in Mr India like a charm. It also worked for her in Chandni, her highest commercial success. But by Lamhe, the facial aerobic and shrill, jagged voice had begun to scrape nerves. 

It was like ruining a Balenciaga gown by enthusiastically wearing it once too often. She should've had it attended to right after Chandni, her biggest and most brilliant triumph. 

Chandni happened at the right time to Sridevi. She had the confidence of one who has nothing left to prove. She was the unchallenged No.1, youthful, beautiful, zestful, enormously versatile, ecstatic and she wasn't just playing cute, she was as cute as a cuddly Cheshire kitten. Sri as Chandni was inspired casting. Chandni was her alter ego (I wonder if Sri has ever realised that). A girl with a gift for bringing joy to the lives she touched, a girl born for loving and living to the full, a girl with a lot of pride and courage and such a wide streak of obstinacy, she'd never say die.