Sridevi and Mithun in Watan Ke Rakhwale (1987): Sridevi's memorable salwars

The seventh biggest hit of 1987, stills from the song Tere Mere Beech Mein Kaun from the 80s smash hit Watan Ke Rakhwale. Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty were ruling the box-office in Bollywood in the mid-80s as the ultimate power couple on screen. 

TBH, Watan Ke Rakhwale wasn't that great - saw it recently and the disjointed edits and shrill movie hasn't aged well. As we've said several times before, the 80s was a weird time in Bollywood. Its a miracle how anything was made - and completed - when scripts were written on set and scenes made up as they went along. Several stars have spoken about that decade and the lack of efficiency, discipline and structure in notoriously disorganised Hindi film industry. The funny thing is, now stars complain that things have gone too corporate and there's no room for spontaneity as too many decisions are made in strategy rooms and boardrooms vs sets. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  

Sridevi's designer salwaars were a rage back then - note the zari of a traditional sari ripped out to make her dazzling chunri. Sridevi mixed and match colours, fabric and styles to create her own looks for several films. 

Mithun, Sridevi

Happy Birthday Mithun da: Indian actor turns 72

Is it a toothpaste ad? Lol. Perfect smiles of Mithun and Sridevi from a still from their film. 

Today, Mithun Chakraborty turns 72! 

Of the four films they did together, three were superhits. 

And oddly enough, their best film, their first film together Jaag Utha Insan was the only good one! And their only flop.  

Go figure.   

 

No kissing please: Sridevi and Mithun

 No kissing please: Sridevi and Mithun 

The Sridevi and Mithun saga: Scandal of the 1980s

As a fan pointed out, we've not addressed the Sridevi and Mithun saga: Scandal of the 1980s. Mostly because its all rumours and innuendo. Neither spoke on record, neither of them addressed it. It was all speculation. And it was published during a time when film journalism was not the source of veracity and accuracy, honest reportage. When Sridevi had gone off the press, she had stated that there was no point in talking to a lot of the media as they would twist and turn her words and she herself would be shocked when the magazines came out. 

So why fan those flames now? 

Posting just the images. The articles are... unreliable at best, libelous at worst. 

Romance Rekindled! Well... no. 

Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty on the sets of Guru (1989)

Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty in their last hit film together, Guru (1989). 

Released at the peak of Mithun Chakrborthy and Sridevi's popularity, it was the biggest opener of 1989. Four films together, with just one flop, the two Bollywood stars of the 80s saw major success professionally... not so much personally (as per rumours and tabloid gossip). 

Personally, not a huge fan of the Sri - Mithun films (except for Jaag Utha Insaan). Popular films of the 80s do not stand the test of time and there are several cringe moments, be it in fashion, the casual misogyny, the crass humour, clothes, music, editing... I mean its a  lengthy misdemeanor list!  

However, nothing succeeds like success - statistically, their moves made a lot of money. Go figure. 

The Mithun - Sridevi saga, according to Mithun: And Bollywood Tabloids: Unrequited love in Bollywood in the 1980s!

TBT: Filmfare, Nov 1984. A snippet on the alleged romance/marriage between the two mega stars of Bollywood in the early 1980s, Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty.

Much tabloid ink was spilled over the alleged romance between the stars but both denied it and stuck to their guns till the very end. All we have now is tabloid gossip lingering in the guise of confirmed news.

For the record, we don't think they ever married - in the eyes of the law or lord - and we have... nothing else to say about it.

However, actor Mithun does. Well, he did back in 1984;

The Mithun-Sridevi rumour is almost at its peak according to Mithun. "I'm not saying anything," he laughs, "because I've been this way before. In the gossip mags, it starts off with attraction, then seeing each other, visiting one another's location, getting married, finally they have two children and then they split. It's all very very routine."

And yet he adds seriously, "What worried me is that I have met Sridevi's entire family. They are an orthodox, well-brought up sort of family and I wonder how they react to the talk that I have even bought a bungalow for her. It's okay for me. I'll survive all this but what about her?"

According to Mithun the rumours started when he likened Sridevi to Vyjanthimala and then added that he had a crush on the latter.  "A lot was read into my statement," he complains. "Sridevi and I have worked together only in one film, Jaag Utha Insan, and we became good friends on location in Guntur, The way I am with everybody. we would all get together (he, Rakesh Roshan, K. Vishwanath) and have fun. Sridevi would often join in. I think she's a wonderful person, a terrific actress and nothing, least of all rumours, linking her with me, will make me change my opinion. The last time I met her, was on the last day of shooting of Jaag Utha Insan. After that I have been out of town and out of the country very often. So where's the question of our meeting?"

Excerpt from Filmfare Jan 1986; 

After struggling for more than a decade, why is he now allowing trivial factors to influence his career? Reportedly, he stopped signing films with Sridevi because of what we journalists had written about him. How could he lose the opportunity to star opposite the most in demand leading lady when everybody else was dying to work with her?

"I am working with each and every heroine. I don't bother about who my heroine is. Ultimately it's the film that runs. So I'm not dying to work opposite her, like you say others are. But let me clarify, it was not me who did the refusing. It was she who made this decision. When I heard that she had withdrawn her name from three films I got the message. So even I started discouraging producers from casting us together. It doesn't make any difference to me if we do films together, or we don't. I don't feel flattered or anything like that to be cast opposite her.

"But now we are doing a film for Gaffar Nadiadwala. When he asked me if I had any preservations. I said 'No' because he had got the okay form her. I will never shoot the gun from her shoulder. If others are doing ti they are welcome to do so." 

Above: the Mithun and Sridevi cold war on set.

Oh! What a Lovely War! 

One thing you have to credit Lady No.1 is professionalism. Despite all those stories about Mithun Chakraborty and all her denials and the subsequent cooling-off, Sridevi is doing two films (A.F. Nadiadwala's yet untitled film and Guru) - even though they give the impression of not being on talking terms.

But as n inebriated lyricist put it at the Guru mahurat bash: "See, Mithun is still desperate to marry Sridevi. But her mother's threatened to disown her. So she doesn't look at him any more and he's just hoping for a change of heart. After all, Hema Malini also kept Dharmendra waiting for years., didn't she?" And you wish lyricists wouldn't babble too much after whiskey. If Mithun and Sridevi look too romantic in these pics taken on the sets of Nadiadwala's film, it's because they are both good performers!

Some of sooooooooo many tabloid headlines from the Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty chronicles.... 

Star & Style, the cheaper tabloid version of Stardust - had a field day with the Sridevi and Mithun saga. 

Left: Sridevi's alleged quote on the entire biz. Published in Cine Blitz in 1988. I... have sincere doubts about the veracity of the quote, the nameless 'journalist' and the frank and forthcoming statement that seems very unlike the perennially shy Sridevi that most fans know of.