Sridevi as a child artist in Malayalam film Poombatta (1971)

 

Sridevi as a child artist in Malayalam film Poombatta (1971)

Released on 12 March 1971, young Sridevi propelled the film Poombatta (Butterfly) with her precocious performance at the age of six! Based on the short story by Karoor Neelakanta Pillai, the film stars Sridevi as an orphaned child dealing with the abuse of a wicked stepmother. It has all the tropes of a fairytale tragedy, including the transformative acting tour-de-force by a child-artist like no other. 

Young Sridevi, in a little frock went up on stage the following year to pick one of her many awards; Sridevi won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist for her performance in this Malayalam film. 

Sridevi went on to make nearly two dozen Malayalam films in her resplendent career, and as she mentioned back in 2013, her link to Kerala stems back to a childhood and teenage years on the sets of great Malayali filmmakers who taught her the nuances of performing on film.  

Sridevi, 7, winning her first award Poombata