Sridevi and Madhuri DIxit together at the premiere of Roop ki Rani...

Sridevi was 29 years old, and Madhuri Dixit was 25 years old during the premiere/release of
Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja in April 1993.

Amitabh Bachchan did, what no other film magazine editor or film producer/director could do for decades, bring together Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, the reigning screen queens of Bollywood together. At a photocall at the grand premiere of Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja back in April 1993. 

Only the Ramesh Sippy did the same years ago in 1987, but unfortunately the film Zameen was never completed so few saw the two together. 

Several magazine editors tried, but the two stars couldn't coordinate dates (a frequent excuse exercised by many stars, "date problems" is old hat), even choreographer Saroj Khan, who briefly indulged in the idea of directing a film couldn't get her two favourites together. Vogue couldn't get them together, Karan Johar couldn't get them to have "koffee" with him. The phrase iron hand behind velvet gloves comes to mind when thinking of the two most memorable Indian actresses of all-time... 

In Sridevi's second act, post marriage and motherhood, as both women dropped off the 'rat race', they were meeting more often, seen chatting together, they even did a Lux commercial together... The right project and director, and the right money of course, I'm sure it was just around the corner. Alas that fateful night on Feb 24, 2018... fate put a full stop to all our cinema dreams. 

The A-list of Bollywood; Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor

The A-list of Bollywood; Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor at the lavish premiere of Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja.

As Anil himself quipped soon after, hit premiere, flop film... 

More photos of the all-star turnout at the most grand film premiere of the 90s here in the archive. 

Left: The pic here of Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit at the premiere of Roop ki Rani Choron Ka Raja is lovely and its fake! Well, half of it is. From the waist down, its AI trickery. The blight of fakery is corrosive, it slowly ruins facts to fiction and opinion.  

TBT: Two Queens of Bollywood, Rekha and Sridevi at the lavish premiere of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja back in April 1993

TBT: Two Queens of Bollywood, Rekha and Sridevi at the lavish premiere of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja back in April 1993

Dozens more pics in the archives here.

Sridevi with Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit

click to enlarge

Twas the grand premiere of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja on April 16, 1993. There were (and still are!) but a handful of pics of Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit together - Amitabh Bachchan brought the ladies together for a gleeful paparazzi.

Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit

At the lavish premiere of Roop Ki Rani, Choron Ka Raja... getting these super divas together in the same frame was done by a very cheeky Amitabh Bachchan - the star of stars. The ladies couldn't say no to the Shehenshah...

April 1993.

All-star premiere of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja: Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Rekha, Raaj Kumar, Boney Kapoor

Without a doubt, this was probably the biggest Indian film premiere of the 1990s... if not all-time! Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja was the most expensive Hindi film ever made and was in production for a whopping five years. 

The A-list of Bollywood turned up for the highly anticipated first screening of the Hindi film on April 16, 1993. 

Every star worth their mettle turned up, looking their glamorous best. Be it other film directors, legendary actors, actresses, singers (even the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar attended though she didn't sing a single song in the film!), the who's who and creme de la creme of Mumbai society and Bollywood turned up. 

Without question, the most memorable moment of the night, where the flashbulbs of the attending paparazzi went simply berserk, was when Amitabh Bachchan brought together Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit in the same frame. The only man in the country they couldn't politely decline, the two superstars said genteel Namastays and then barely looked at the other throughout the gala - pics here as proof. But, what a night!

Pity the movie received a critical drumming and lukewarm response at the box-office, where the media went on to state, "Flop film, Super-hit Premiere!"

The film did have some amazing moments - especially by Sridevi. Her comic scenes, her song and dance sequences were superb. For those who remember, there's a lengthy train robbery scene that measures up to the best of the west... but overall, the film is exhausting. A few memorable skits do not make a memorable movie.

If the director is the caption of the ship, then this one sank like the Titanic thanks to the shoddy direction of, sorry-to-state, but the ill-equiped Satish Kaushik. A fine character actor and comedian no doubt, TBH Kaushik has never made a good film. Ever. Just about every film of his has been deeply flawed, despite his often A-list cast. His long roster of films are painfully mediocre - perhaps the sole exception being Tere Naam (which was a copy of a Tamil original). Roop ki Rani... a fiasco of this magnitude usually means its curtains for the director - but let's hear it for the amount of goodwill Satish Kaushik has that he went on to make several other films despite the underwhelming performance of the exorbitantly costly Roop Ki Rani Choron ka Raja. In fact, he has a long litany of duds. 

Back to this memorable night; another wow moment was of course, Sridevi meeting former Queen Bee Rekha and succeeding one Madhuri the same night. A frame of all three together would have been... miraculous! But for now, here's what we have from that evening.

Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor - click to enlarge

Above: Rare pic of film producer Boney Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bollywood legend Raaj Kumar, Anil Kapoor and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. 

Below: Rare pic of Sridevi with Satish, who she referred to as her brother. Unsure if its her cousin or step-brother...

Rare pics of Rekha who gave Sridevi a trophy of the film on stage.

Sridevi with her brother (cousin?) Satish