Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury (1983)

Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury (1983), a remake of Telugu movie Justice Chowdary (1982), which also stars Sridevi in the same role! 

The 80s pink salwaar. Sridevi didn't always love making a remake, as she's famously stated before, but enjoy its success and reach of pan-Indian cinema. 

Sridevi and Jeetendra in Justice Chaudhury: 43 Years of a Bollywood Hit!

A remake of Telugu movie Justice Chowdary (1982), which also had Sridevi in the same role, the Hindi remake Justice Chaudhury (1983) was a near frame to frame remake except with Jeetendra leading the cast and the addition of Hema Malini, Moushumi Chatterjee and other Hindi-speaking stars in the roster.  

A formulaic melodrama from the Madras movie factory, a film quickly made, quickly shot, quickly released, the producers made quick money in this predictable masala caper. Most memorable for its cute song and dance routines, it was the first year of hits in the Hindi belt for Sridevi. 

The movie was a stepping stone for leading lady Sridevi, but it was a career gravestone for another. Namely, Moushumi Chatterjee! She had just turned 35 (for context Kriti Sanon just turned 35), and was cast opposite the older Jeetendra and played an elder woman--grey streaks and all--in the entire movie. The success of the hit however, sealed her fate as she was prematurely slotted into the older woman category, left playing mother and matriarchal roles--no longer leading lady. 

It also put a mental note in Sridevi's mind; to not cave into pressure of working opposite co-stars as their mother at any given point, as it would end her desirous heroine stature. Moushmi was six years younger than Jeetendra and played his mother! Raakhee, Waheeda Rehman and on occasion even Hema Malini played mom roles to stars who were similar to their age when other, lucrative offers dried up in sexist, ageist Bollywood--a mirror of India really. Don't believe me? Just look at the comments section of Priyanka Chopra/Nick Jonas. We as a nation pay lip service for enlightened thought but in action and under the guise of net anonymity, express crudely what people really think. 

Jeetendra and Sridevi

Jeetendra and Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury. 

Ice cream khaogi was top of the charts for weeks on end. Earliest memory of Sridevi looking like a complete doll rocking the fashion of the early 1980s. 

 

Rare BW Stills: Jeetendra and Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury

Rare BW stills of Jeetendra and Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury. From the song Saath mere Aaogi, Ice-Cream Ghaogi... 

Yes, long before Salman Khan rendered gems like Oonchi hai building or the inanity of Ek Garam Chai ki Pyali ho... there were these little ditties that the critics hated but the masses loved - and these were all songs that topped the Binaca Geetmala (for the gen that fondly remembers that Indian countdown!). 

Lyrics don't always have to be soul-searching paeans - sometimes they just need to be pop and fun. There are plenty of English equivalents considered classics with equal measure that scribes hated back in the day; I wanna Hold your Hand, You can Ring My Bell etc have no lyrical complexity and yet were chartbusting numbers that many today consider classics - and hallmarks of their youth. 

So why not a peppy Jeetendra Sridevi number - and be unapologetic about liking the songs and the jog down memory lane with it?! 

Next year will be 40 years of Justice Chaudhury! I remember doll-like Sridevi as if it was yesterday. The Filmfare features about the cute newcomer "from the South." 

Jeetendra and Sridevi in Justice Choudhury

Sridevi's stylish salwaars. 

Jeetendra's infamous white pants and white boots... 

The 80s in Bollywood rocked because of these two superstars. 

The look should be instantly recognisable for fans; from the song Mama Miya Pom Pom from Justice Choudhury. 

Sridevi inspired fan art: Look from Justice Choudhury

 

Sridevi inspired fan art: Sridevi's look from Justice Choudhury. 

Heard Bollywood stars and superstars have started embracing NFTs. Hmm wonder if a Sridevi inspired NFT isn't far... 

38 years of Justice Chaudhury: Sridevi: A New Rage from the South!

Released on 15 July 1983,  Justice Chaudhury was a blockbuster with young 20-year-old Sridevi. With co-star Jeetendra, it was part of a string of remakes that turned into box-office gold for the duo. 

This feature of the "new rage from the south" showcases how Sridevi was making waves from the second she stepped into Hindi films. 

Sridevi: A New Rage from the South?

The 12-hour train journey from Madras to Rajahmundry seemed to go on forever. More so because at the other end was the person I'd been very anxious to meet - the Telugu wonder, Sridevi.

The first time this name had aroused my curiosity was when I heard that Amitabh had asked Kadar Khan to sign her opposite him in the latter's Jaahil, instead of Parveen Babi, the original choice.

And then recently, Dimple [Kapadia] had been approached for a very powerful role opposite Kamal Haasan for Sadma, the Hindi remake of the super hit, Moondram Pirai. But when producers Romu Sippy and Raj Sippy finally announced the film, it was with Sridevi and not Dimple. 

Furthermore, of late, people have been raving about her. Gulshan Grover is more ecstatic over having worked with her in Sadma, than he is of having bagged the biggest role in his career so far. On my last visit to Hyderabad, I spoke to directors, friends, even journalist about her. And quite a few interesting revelations were mad.

Just as recently as three years ago, the rating of our actresses was very clearly defined (Hema, Zeenat, Rekha as No: 1, 2, 3 respectively), that of the Telugu actresses is clearly defined today as Sridevi, Jaya Prada and Jaya Sudha, in that order forming the top three. While Rati with all her claims of being the top star in Madras had never managed more than Rs. 30- to 35,000 per film (she had grabbed Shaukeen because Basu Chatterji offered her 40,000), Sridevi command 10 times that amount, which is really quite a packet for a regional film.

Jaya Prada and Jaya Sudha, I'd already met. It was Sridevi I had wanted to meet and it was my bad luck that Sridevi happened to be out of Hyderabad at that time. I had to content myself with looking at her on the poster all over the city. What further fanned my interest in her, was an article in a Tamil film magazine which a friend translated for me, where Kamal Haasan had raved about Sridevi saying, "I'm her fan in the real sense of the word. A true fan. I've done nearly 20 films with her and I still can't get over this feeling. Doing each film was a challenge and a rewarding experience."

"I wanted to know if there had been any hints/gossip of an affair between Kamal and Sri. My friend translated from yet another magazine which described her as a very friendly, but no-nonsense sort of girl. It said that in the affairs-n-suicide infested South, Sridevi was one actress with a clean slate even though she has been in films for the last 15 years.

The last part brought my spirits crashing. An actress who's been around for 15 years must surely be over the hill by now. "Not exactly," said the friend. "She's just 20. She's been in films since she was a five-year-old kid."

It was on location in Rajhmundry that I finally met her. The unit of Padmalaya Films, who made Meri Aawaz Suno recently was shooting their new film, Zabardasti. It has the inevitable (if not the inimitable) Jeetendra paired with Sridevi. That morning, when I reached the location Jeetu was running around the location with Sridevi singing a song with the inane lines, "Tu ladki nahin, ladki ka khamba hai, Bak bak mat kar, naam tera lamba hai."

The first thing that struck me about Sridevi was that she was wearing skin-coloured stockings with black tight fitting trousers which stopped just six inches short of her ankles. I found it very amusing, Earlier, I had seen some... "

 * Zabardasti was the original title for the film Himmatwala! 

Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury (1983)

Age 19, a young Sridevi on the sets of the film Justice Chaudhury. Released in the summer of 1983, it went on to be one of many blockbusters she did with Jeetendra.

The film was originally made in Telugu - with Sridevi and N.T.Rama Rao = and later in Malayalm and Tamil.

Sridevi mentioned she found remakes a bore and a chore - but when the films were a hit, she didn't mind them!

Used to think about how tiresome it would be to do the same role again and again - Sridevi did several remakes throughout the 80s, but as an actor friend pointed out - it's part and parcel of the job. Stage actors have to recreate the same dialogue and emotion again and again on a daily basis for months on end. Where technique, skills and a little magic comes in. When the actors are good that is...

Sridevi and Jeetendra in Justice Chaudhury (1983)

For youngsters of a certain gen', the song Saath mere Aaogi from Justice Chaudhury was everything back in the '80s. Sung with gusto by Aasha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar and danced to polka-dotted perfection by Sridevi and Jeetendra, this was one of the biggest hits of 1983. The joie de vivre these two stars of Bollywood brought to mindless Madras-movies (they churned out 16 films in five years!) had a mixed reception. Hated by critics, but loved by the masses, they made mega bucks for those in the biz of show! 

Her first hesitant steps into Bollywood, Sridevi did films that paid her well and she shot them in a short period of time. As her box-office and power grew, she chose films wisely in her later years, mixing better, career-defining films with mass-appeal movies. In her early years, you can see a doll-like dreamy looking Sridevi who may not have done the change-your-life life-affirming-cinema... but she sure made movies fun to watch.

 

Jeetendra and Sridevi in 1983 - click to enlarge

Sridevi and Jeetendra 

Jeetendra and Sridevi: Yet another rain song: The 80s Movie Staple

Jeetendra and Sridevi rocking the '80s. I know its hard to believe, but we found archival issues of film magazines where Sridevi received a lot of criticism and faced a lot of flack for her 'overt sexuality'. 

When you see the rampant vulgarity that's on screen now, its almost laughable that people thought as much. Times sure have changed...

Meanwhile, here's gorgeous Sridevi with Jeetendra in yet another rain song - this time from the 1983 box-office hit Justice Chaudhury. Choreographed by Saleem, and not the usual names like P.L.Raj or Saroj Khan. 

Second Take: Sridevi on the sets of the Hindi film Justice Choudhury (1983)

Wow Sridevi!

Super fit Sridevi on the sets of Justice Choudhury

Young Sridevi and Jeetendra disco out in Justice Choudhury (1983)

Sridevi and Jeetendra in one of the many hits they did together, Justice Choudhury (1983). From the song 'Mama miya!'

Jeetendra in a chat with Mid-day spoke fondly of Sridevi. An excerpt below;

"Remember the vigorous dance moves of Jeetendra-Sridevi in songs like Taaki Oh Taaki, Nainon Main Sapna, Ek Aankh Maroon Tho, Mamma Mia etc. In a recent interview, Jeetendra said: "Sri was a natural dancer, while I had to rehearse a zillion times to get the moves right. It was a little embarrassing as Sri used to get her steps right at a single take. Any other star would have made his co-actor rehearse with an assistant, but Sri never complained and practiced with me till I got it right. Such was her sense of commitment, humility and discipline."

It's no wonder that those songs are such fun till date!

Click on images to enlarge. 

Click to enlarge

Sridevi and Jeetendra in Justice Chaudhury (1983)

Sridevi with Jeetendra in Justice Chaudhury. From the song Mama Miya.

Released during Eid back in 1983, it was a blockbuster hit. The movie also had the other Number One heroine of Bollywood, Hema Malini in it - though Hemaji was only 35, Bollywood being Bollywood, she had already started appearing as a mother to stars her own age - like Jeetendra - or even older stars. 

Released on 15 July 1983.  

Above: Asrani, Prema Narayan and Sridevi in Justice Chaudhury