Sridevi in Lamhe

In Lamhe, Sridevi shines in yet another double role - perhaps no other Indian actress... correction, perhaps no other actress in the world has done as many as she has. The challenge lies in ensuring the two characters are different as night and day, in the same film - and make it palatable, immensely believable. Sridevi dipped into her bag of tricks to create magic on screen. 

In an interview with Screen, she said, "I don't know who the inspiration behind the roles in Lamhe was, Or who they had been written for. But when Yashji narrated the story to me on the sets of Chandni, I was so fascinated by the characters of Pallavi and Pooja, that I knew I'd love to play them. The challenge lay in brining out the contrast between mother and daughter who look identical." 

Well, Sridevi did it flawlessly. Pallavi was as different as Pooja could be. The superficial look and patina aside, Sridevi ensured Pooja and Pallavi emoted differently, they cried differently, showed anxiety in different ways. Sridevi altered her expressions while essentially showing the same emotion. Pallavi wept with unrestrained shrieks, Pooja's tears were more muted and silent. Pallavi raged in pure Hindi, in declarative sentences, Pooja interspersed her words with English and colloquial speech. They laughed, well, they laughed the same as a memorable dialogue in the film indicated. 

The physicality of the two were delineated too. Pooja and Pallavi had different hair, Pooja wore more western clothes, her Indian ensembles were different to Pallavi's. Pallavi wore only traditional ensembles and thick, ethnic jewelry. Pooja had a more modern twist, polka dots, denims skirts, capris... perhaps the plats were a little too much - I mean which 20-year-old is walking around with identical ribbons in her hair?! But on Sridevi's perfect visage.. .it didn't look too absurd. 

She was a vision in Lamhe... a double vision... the one and only Sridevi.