Sridevi's look in Solva Saawan (1979)

Sridevi's village belle look in Solva Saawan 

 

For years she had been essaying parts of a much older woman than her biological age and finally at age 16, she played the part of a 16-year-old in her first Hindi film Solva Saawan (16th Spring). A coming of age tale, a remake of her own smash hit in Tamil and Telugu, the Hindi film vie was a dismal flop.

Shot in one stretch over a period of 35 days in Jharkand, Sridevi didn't speak a word of Hindi and mouthed her lines while a dubbing artist did a voice-over for her. Her only film with Amol Palekar, she had great respect for the award-winning actor and director. 

However, when you look back on interviews Sridevi did while describing her experience working on her first Hindi (Bollywood!) film, it was abysmal from the get-go. 

Despite having done the Tamil and Telugu versions of the same film (which were blockbusters and garnered her much critical acclaim), by the time she started work on the Hindi version, she was bored beyond belief. She didn't speak the National language, Hindi, and was uncomfortable with the Bombay (pre-Mumbai!) team. What she remembers of it, she messed up her first take - a bad omen, she said she knew the film was destined to flop. 

Funnily enough, she wasn't too perturbed by the film's failure at the box-office as it meant, she wouldn't have to leave her home state. Sridevi famously said in her Tamil magazine interviews that she would do a few more films, get married and settled down, and bid movies adieu when she was in her early 20s. 

Destiny however had so much more for the young actress, who went on to become a legend in her own time.