TBT: Sridevi, "I flirt with the camera!"

Interview with Sridevi on the sets of Farishtay

Under a technicolour umbrella, there’s Sridevi. We are in Pahelgam. The rivulets flow from the mountaintops, birds chuckle, goats bleat and the sun’s striking a drum-beat.

Producer Sattee Shourie with Sridevi

It takes a lot of hubble-bubble, toil and trouble to wrap up an elaborate song’n’dance. Two cameras are whirring, producer Sattee Shourie (L) is something of a tigress, protecting her heroine as if she was her very own cub, from the autograph-mad millions. 

I barge into the shadow under her umbrella. Sridevi presents me with one of her special Miss India smiles. She nods politely, an interview’s okay she says, she’s not so shy anymore. She speaks in sentences now, gone are those classic monosyllables which were the bane of your life. 

Q: I’d like you to go back to your childhood. How has your experience as a child artiste helped you as an actress?
Sridevi: I played Lord Murugan in my very first film. Can you imagine, I did the role of a God even when I didn’t know about God? I was scared of people, I wasn’t very talkative. I was very thin. I suppose the experience helped me to come out of my shell, become confident. As a child, I wasn’t very smart. Today, I’m more sure of myself.

Did you have any friends?

Sridevi: Not really. No one except Dolly who was in the same school, the Good Shepherd Convent in Madras. She was sweet but I’ve lost touch with her. I studied only till the seventh standard. I never got used to the textbooks. I only got used to the camera. Naturally, I didn’t know anything about acting as a child. The director would say do this and I'd do it. I’d imitate him, like a parrot.

Do you think acting comes out of the experience?

Sridevi: No, no. Acting has nothing to do with your experience. Either you have it in you - or you don’t. In Tamil movies, there are actresses who have been in the industry for a long time but they still can’t act well. On the other hand, you have newcomers, who act superbly.

What kind of relationship do you have with he camera?

Sridevi: I flirt with it.

Do you see the camera like some male?

Sridevi: No. no, I was just joking. If the camera was a male, I’d be very reserved with it!

Have you always been closer to your mother than to your father?

Sridevi: Ummm, let me think… I’ve been close to both. Daddy’s stronger than mummy. He was a lawyer, an advocate, now he’s retired. He’s very affectionate. I’m not scared of him. I respect him a lot. If I stay up to watch video after midnight, he naturally shouts at me, I’m his little baby, he doesn’t treat me like a grown-up. 

Where do you draw your emotions from while acting?

Sridevi: There’s no such thing, there's no theory about acting. When I was seven I did my first film. I had to do a death scene and didn’t know what death meant. So I just pretended to go off to sleep. I’m told I did the death scene so well that both the director and the hero started crying. They couldn’t stand the thought that I was dead. 

Can you cry easily for the camera?

Sridevi: I can’t cry for the camera. I have to act it out. I need glycerine. While doing Mr. India, Shekhar (Kapur) told me to avoid glycerine, He felt I could cry on my own. I tried to, I tried to think of so many things but a tear just wouldn’t come. Probably, nothing sad has ever happened to me. Touchwood! No harm has ever come to my family or my relatives. But Shekhar wouldn't listen, he said keep trying. Finally, the tears came but theu didn’t come from my heart.

Do you ever regret missing out on your childhood?

Sridevi: As a child, I didn’t have the time to play with my sister or with my neighbourhood kids. I'd feel sad that I’ve to go shooting while my sister would be sleeping so aaram se [peacefully]. I’d ask, “Why she’s sleeping? Why’re you are more lenient with her?” But then to get something, you have to lose something. I’ve also wondered what holidays are... it must be great to go away to some faraway place and do nothing.

Do you ever try to learn more about things? Through cinema, through books?

Sridevi: Books, I’ve never read. but I do watch a lot of movies. I like Meryl Streep, she’s good even in a bad film. I liked her so much in Heartburn and Out of Africa.

In Mr.India, you reminded one of Geeta Bali. Have you been watching her movies on video? Did you copy her consciously?

Sridevi: I’ve been told this by other people too. But believe me, I’ve never seen a Geeta Bali film. I’ll make it a point to see her films now.