TBT: Cine Blitz 1998: The evolution of Sridevi in pics

TBT: Cine Blitz 1998: The evolution of Sridevi in pics 

TBT to 1998: Sridevi at Filmfare Awards

Sridevi's first public appearance post-baby, the actress hit the stage at Filmfare to present the Best Actor award (to a gleeful Shahrukh Khan for Dil Toh Paagal Hai). 

Dazzling in gold and in a traditional kanjeevaram, she reminded all once a superstar, always a superstar.

 

Boney Kapoor and Sridevi's first portrait together

Boney Kapoor and Sridevi's first official portrait together in Filmfare, Jan 1998 

Sridevi attends Madhuri Dixit's party: Paps went berserk!

Rikku Rakeshnath, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and Madhuri's sister... 

Madhuri Dixit hosted a massive party back in May 1998 when almost the entire film industry turned up for the then-reigning queen. Sridevi appeared in a shimmering pink satin sari and the paparazzi genuinely went berserk trying to capture the two together. It had been more than a year since Sridevi went into self-imposed hiatus as she married Boney Kapoor and had baby Janhvi. Seeing Sridevi out and about was a rarity. 

Madhuri had just turned 31, the Mumbai media had, predictably, started writing about her diminishing career--just as they had done for Sridevi before her, and Rekha before Sri, and Hema before Rekha... Something about the age 30 mark seemed to trigger critics into writing the career obituary of leading ladies. Like clockwork... 

Heaven forbid an actress have a career after they hit that third milestone which somehow turned into gravestone according to tabloids. 

Thankfully times have changed... a little. Well, the goal post has moved a bit further but, critics writing off actresses continues as aging actors continue to act with perennially younger heroines. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Sridevi and Shahrukh Khan: Uniting on stage

With the continued and staggering success of Pathaan, the box-office shattering figures that keep getting reported weekly thus far, thought we'd re-post these images of Sridevi with Shahrukh Khan. 

A major TBT, Sridevi presenting Shahrukh Khan award a Filmfare Best Actor trophy back in 1998. A reunion on stage, the two had worked together in the film Army (1996). Khan had stated during the production of the film that he only did the film to work with a legend and observe her as he was a mega-fan. In a listicle, Shahrukh Khan mentioned that his favourite performer to watch was Sridevi, on stage at an awards show he brought to light that in conversation with Yash Chopra, the late great director and professed that Sridevi was his all-time favourite artist and the director had offered six films after Lamhe to Sri, but she refused them. Shahrukh at a press conference said he was so protective of Sridevi that he once asked her if he can give her a hug - she complied. And after the release of English Vinglish had spoken at length about the capabilities of the actor - that never fades with time nor age. 

Basically, King Khan was a Sri fan boy. 

I mean... aren't we all?! 

 

TBT: Rare pics of Sridevi at the grand premiere of China Gate back in Nov '98

TBT: Rare pics and clip of Sridevi at the grand premiere of China Gate back in November 1998. Having shown no signs of returning to films post baby, this was a rare appearance of the screen icon after the release of her hit film Judaai and fans were ago at the return of exquisite Sridevi in the public eye. 

Scroll to 9:18 here to see the clip on Lehrein Retro.

Timing and context is everything - why Sridevi was photographed like crazy at the time as this was one of the few times, Sridevi stepped out in public with her new husband after news of their controversial marriage broke. Sindoori Sridevi appeared beaming and beautiful at the grand premiere of the film. Sridevi was only 35 at the time and as beautiful as ever. 

• Judaai was released February 28, 1997
• Janhvi Kapoor was born March 6, 1997. 
• China Gate premiered on November 27, 1998. 

TBT to Jan 1998 when Sridevi was paid 3 lakhs for a Namastay!

TBT to Jan 1998 when Sridevi was paid 3 lakhs for a Namastay! 

MOVIE magazine, Jan 1998

TBT: Maheep Kapoor with Sridevi back in 1998

 

Sunita Kapoor, Sridevi and Maheep Sidhu

TBT: Maheep Kapoor with Sridevi back in 1998 - during Maheep's marriage functions with Sanjay Kapoor. Maheep and Sanjay married back in 9 December, 1998. 

Maheep was a model, a Miss India contestant (in 1993), she appeared in a few music videos and she was set to be launched in a Hindi film Shivam, with Panini Raajkumar (son of Indian legend Raaj Kumar) - but the film never took off. 

Post marriage and kids, she ,mostly stayed away from the limelight, but in 2020, Mrs Kapoor found fame on Netflix in the cringe-binge worthy reality TV show The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. 

Today, 29th April is her birthday and we wish the "moophat" Maheep a very happy birthday. 

Dressed in all black, Sridevi presents a Screen Award to Govinda: 1998

TBT: 1998 Special Videocon Screen award from Jury to Govinda, for the comedy and box-office smash Bade Miyan Chote Miyan 

Sridevi presented the award to Govinda and they fanned out at each other.  

Both born in 1963, pity the two stars only worked on one film together - there's potential for comedy gold with the two. 

 

TBT: Box office report Judaai (1997): Sridevi announces retirement, Jan 1998

Judaai (1997)

The Telugu original Shubhalagnam was a super-hit. Yet, no actor wanted to do the Hindi remake, imagine being sold by your wife to another woman for Rs 2 crore! Even Anil Kapoor admitted he was distinctly uncomfortable with this "different" role but was coaxed into doing it by his father and the film's producer Surinder Kapoor. The film brought him back into the reckoning and was also a surprise comeback for the new mama Sridevi. It was rangeeli Urmilla's second big grosser in a sober, sacrificing and saree-clad role.

Sold for Rs 1.23 crore per major territory, this unorthodox ladies film was a slow starter. But collections remained steady at a modest 75 per cent, at a time when films getting a 100 per cent initial crashed after the first week. This was the only woman's film of 1997 and obviously it struck a chord specially in commercial centres like Mumbai where according to a tongue-in-cheek trade analyst, a woman would have no qualms about selling her husband for a TV, micro oven and a new fangled dish washer! Changing your pati parmeshawar [hsuband] was the liberated Indian miss would probably argue, any day better than a quick divorce!

In the North, in places like Delhi and UP, the film did only average business possibly because the society there is still pretty conservative. Even in Mumbai, in the more rural Thane belt, the film wasn't much of a crowd-puller. The distributor there will probably have lost a couple of lakhs on his investment but elsewhere in the city, its distributors have had an unexpected bonus. Being a remake, it was not a mega hit down South but was a good earner. Overseas, though it had an amazing run probably because Anil Kapoor is a big draw abroad and the film appealed to the NRIs there who are always attracted to a story with a difference.

This will probably be Sridevi's last film. The lady has announced her decision to quit show business at the end of the year.

-- Screen, Jan 2, 1998

Shahrukh Khan's quote about Sridevi in the film Zero: Bollywood icon's last appearance on film

Above: Sridevi presents Best Actor Filmfare award to Shahrukh Khan for Dil toh Paagal Hai in 1998

Sridevi with her baby Janhvi and husband Boney Kapoor

When Sridevi went off the radar post Judaai, we treasured every rare appearance she made in public. This tbt pic shows how happy she was during her self-imposed sabbatical, happy with her newborn first-born Janhvi. How gorgeous she looks. Circa 1998 or early 1999.

TBT: Rumours about Sridevi's Return to Film: Aakhri Mughal with the Last Empress?

Rumours about Sridevi's comeback to films were circulating as June 1998--less than two years after her last film release. Legend had it that Sridevi would return in a Yash Chopra film or in Yaadein with Subash Ghai or be part of Abhishek Bachchan's launch film... all these false rumours circulated for ages. Sridevi mostly kept mum - in more ways than one. She barely spoke to the press and she was a stay-at-home-superstar mother to her two children. 

Filmfare, June 1998

Famous Fan: Manisha Koirala, "Sridevi was mind-blowing!"

Manisha Koirala, "Sridevi was mind-blowing in Chandni and Lamhe, in my opinion neither Madhuri nor Karisma in Dil To Pagal Hai could have matched up to Sridevi's performances in those two films. 

I want to reach the heights that Sridevi did with Yash Chopra whenever I get a chance to work with him." 

 -- Filmfare, Jan, 1998