Has it really been 8 years...
When the news broke on Instagram... I just didn't believe it. Then the Prime Minister of India himself posted on social media that Sridevi had passed. Numb with shock.
The most comprehensive fan blog dedicated to India's most beautiful and greatest actress of all-time (in our humble opine!), Sridevi. Sridevi aka Sreedevi, ruled Indian cinema (with awesome performances in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films) in a career spanning 50 incredible years featuring 266 films. Born in Sivakasi on August 13 1963, her untimely and tragic death on February 24, 2018 left a nation in mourning. In our hearts, she'll forever be, the eternal Queen of Bollywood.
Showing posts with label RIP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RIP. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Friday, 26 August 2022
RIP Saawan Kumar Tak: Writer, director and Producer passes away at age 86
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We woke up to hear the sad news that Saawan Kumar Tak passed away yesterday (August 25, 2022). Writer, director and producer Tak was 86. He worked with Sridevi in only one film - Chaand Kaa Tukdaa. These images from the sets of the film in the early 1990s in Mumbai.
The Star & Style tell-all interview; Saawan Kumar Spills The Beans!
Saawan Kumar Tak, "No personal connection with Sridevi." "Good understanding with Juhi Chawla..."
Thursday, 24 February 2022
Tributes to Sridevi by her children on this day: Feb 24
Janhvi Kapoor on her Instagram, Khushi Kapoor on her insta-stories, posted these rarely seen images of Sridevi from their private family album.
As cute as the kids are/were, no one is cuter than Sridevi!
Sridevi: 1963 - 2018
The day our collective hearts broke.
RIP Sridevi.
Wherever you are...
Wednesday, 23 February 2022
RIP KPAC Lalitha 💔
What a terrible loss to Malayalam cinema.
Scrolling back to the time when she worked with Sridevi in Deva Raagam, in an interview with Kochi Times, she said, "[Sridevi]... was that professional. I don’t think there was or will be a more professional artiste. She was committed to her job as well as the promise that her mother had given.
After the movie was over, she had called Bharathan and admitted that she knew it was because of her that the movie had to have start-stop schedules. She recalled the times when she wanted to quit because of all the worry about her mother. The doctors had botched the surgery and she was constantly worrying about her mother while shooting for the movie.
After Deva Raagam in 1996, I saw her again in 2002 in Mumbai for V Shantaram Awards, where I was adjudged the Best Actress for Shantam. On seeing me, she hugged me and cried. She apologised for not keeping in touch. She had also talked to my daughter. That was the last time we saw each other.
Even before Deva Raagam, we had acted together in several films including the ones directed by IV Sasi. She was a very jovial character. She used to tell me how to perform better in a scene at such a young age. Sridevi was a complete actor who knew the nuances of acting, and that was evident from every film she had done. A lot of us aspired to be like her. She was someone who grew in stature as an artiste with every film but also had a kind heart. Else, she wouldn’t have done Deva Raagam."
Read the full feature here at TOI.
Wednesday, 16 February 2022
RIP Bappi Lahiri: Famed Indian Music Director and Singer died yesterday
Sad to hear about the passing of famed Bengali musician Bappi Lahiri this morning.
His association with Sridevi goes all the way back to 1983 when he composed her blockbuster song Nainon Main Sapna in Himmatwala (1983). Bappi da did so many catchy and peppy numbers for Sridevi and Jeetendra over the years. So iconic and intertwined with that era, the catchiest number in The Dirty Picture, if not the year, was Ooh La La, sung by him as a throwback to the times.
First Lataji, now Bappi... chapters of Indian music are coming to an end.
Sunday, 6 February 2022
Sound of Silence: RIP Lata Mangeshkar: India's Nightingale No More
Just two days ago Boney Kapoor posted the rarely seen photo of Sridevi with Lata Mangehskar on set - and this morning, we awoke to read that the divine Lata Mangeshkar is no more.
Such a sad, sad day...
Will be listening to a litany of Lataji's greatest hits for a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
Update: Below rare pic of Boney Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar and Sridevi
Sunday, 4 July 2021
Remembering Saroj Khan and Sridevi together today
Remembering Saroj Khan and Sridevi together today. Can't believe a year has gone since the choreographer and dance director died.
Don't even get me started on the loss of Sridevi... uff...
Saturday, 17 April 2021
RIP Vivek: Boney Kapoor tweets, Sridevi was a big fan of the actor and comedian
My wife was a big fan of actor Vivek she had got me hooked to his hilarious acts. Your presence and humour will be missed by all. I pray for strength to his family at this difficult time. #RIPVivek
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Sridevi's death anniversary
Well, its been three years. We've found no solace, no answers, we still have the numb grief, and we still can't believe it.
RIP Sridevi - wherever you are...
We - the Sridevi fan collective - think of you.... Every. Single. Day.
Friday, 3 July 2020
RIP Saroj Khan; 1948 - 2020: Bollywood's eminent choreographer, dance director breaths her last
Earlier this morning, woke up to read the sad news on social media that legendary Indian choreographer Saroj Khan is no more.
In the pantheon of greatest choreographers in the history of Indian cinema, Saroj Khan's name will shimmer and shine, whirl and twirl among the very best. If not the best...
It is with such sadness we scrolled through the news that the iconic dance instructor to every leading lady in Bollywood since the 1960s is no more. She died age 71 of a major cardiac arrest last Friday, as per reports, confirmed by her daughter. The news broke earlier today as the family kept it under wraps for a few days to let her rest in peace.
Fact of the matter is; when she stopped dancing, she stopped living. It was in her heart and soul.
Though she had many detractors and critics in a career spanning over sixty years--she started dancing as a child-artist! Saroj Khan's earliest film credit is in the movie Kalpana (1960! - as "assistant choreographer"!) and by the time she was teaching Madhuri, Juhi, Aishwarya, Kajol, she was already a legend in her own field. When she was teaching Aishwarya Rai, Khan was already an icon and all the 80s and 90s stars bowed at her feet.
There is no debating the fact Saroj Khan enlivened the Bollywood experience with her dance direction. There were major highs and lows, but Sarojji sailed through like a battalion ship. Watch her documentaries on YouTube, her interviews on BBC, her Ted Talk; her life was anything but smooth. Her choreography however, was.
It was slick. It was current, she set trends, she invented the hook step, she revolutionised dance, she created item numbers before the phrase was coined and later corroded - she molded the concept of a Number One actress; you had to know dancing or you were not even a contender.
It was slick. It was current, she set trends, she invented the hook step, she revolutionised dance, she created item numbers before the phrase was coined and later corroded - she molded the concept of a Number One actress; you had to know dancing or you were not even a contender.
As musicals died out in Hollywood, she ensured that the same fate did not hit Bollywood; her songs were a highlight, she became invaluable on a film set. She met with producers and directors and came up with concepts, art direction, even camera angles - she brought in the ideas of month long rehearsals, shoots for a dance that lasted a week, different looks, changes, novelty in every number... There are endless reports about leading ladies requesting she and only she direct their dances.
Khan kept up with the times, she knew and understand every phase of what was in trend in dance and she adapted to it. Whether it was a purely classical number that she choreographed for Malayalam films or her take on a Janet Jackson number for Bollywood in the 1980s, she worked both with equal ease.
Saroj Khan had what many others didn't; range and versatility. She was a task master, she was a disciplinarian but she cared, cared deeply for her dance troupes, the dancers, the dance union, her leading ladies and even the petrified men who shivered when she came at them with a stick!
Khan kept up with the times, she knew and understand every phase of what was in trend in dance and she adapted to it. Whether it was a purely classical number that she choreographed for Malayalam films or her take on a Janet Jackson number for Bollywood in the 1980s, she worked both with equal ease.
Saroj Khan had what many others didn't; range and versatility. She was a task master, she was a disciplinarian but she cared, cared deeply for her dance troupes, the dancers, the dance union, her leading ladies and even the petrified men who shivered when she came at them with a stick!
The infamous reports of scared stiff Sanjay Dutt during the making of Tamma Tamma is of film folklore! She was also famed for her temper and temperament, if she disciplined a newcomer on set, she also scolded the biggest stars in equal measure; they all genuflected to her when she taught. She fought with many celebrities on and off set - but she made up with every single one of them. She was the definitive Master-ji!
The greatest dance she choreographed for Sridevi was... well, there were two we think; the finale number of Nagina, Main Teri Dushman, and Chandni's wedding anthem Mere Haathon main.
For Madhuri Dixit, its one hell of a long list... but we think its unquestionably Humko Aaj Kal Hai from Sailaab - for pure invention, ease and elegance.
The most epic, large-scale, difficult, National Award winning mother of all dances is, of course, Dola re Dola from Devdas that Saroj Khan helmed. With two leading superstars - Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit-Nene at their finest - and over a hundred background dancers in perfect unison, synchronicity and dexterity. We've seen hundreds try to emulate that number and... fail to match up in one measure or another.
When she saw the calisthenics, acrobatics, the Western influence on Indian dance reality shows, Khan famously quipped, "Yeh nachna hai yah circus?" [Is this dancing or a circus act?] In the winter of her life as assignments petered down, she kept her humour, if not her spirits, up.
Saroj Khan had always refused to state who her favourite dancer/star/student was, but over the years listed Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai as "simply the best".
The greatest dance she choreographed for Sridevi was... well, there were two we think; the finale number of Nagina, Main Teri Dushman, and Chandni's wedding anthem Mere Haathon main.
For Madhuri Dixit, its one hell of a long list... but we think its unquestionably Humko Aaj Kal Hai from Sailaab - for pure invention, ease and elegance.
The most epic, large-scale, difficult, National Award winning mother of all dances is, of course, Dola re Dola from Devdas that Saroj Khan helmed. With two leading superstars - Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit-Nene at their finest - and over a hundred background dancers in perfect unison, synchronicity and dexterity. We've seen hundreds try to emulate that number and... fail to match up in one measure or another.
When she saw the calisthenics, acrobatics, the Western influence on Indian dance reality shows, Khan famously quipped, "Yeh nachna hai yah circus?" [Is this dancing or a circus act?] In the winter of her life as assignments petered down, she kept her humour, if not her spirits, up.
Saroj Khan had always refused to state who her favourite dancer/star/student was, but over the years listed Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai as "simply the best".
From the guys, her answers have varied over the years but generally she repeated the names of Aamir Khan [for staying in character of the film even when dancing], Hrithik Roshan [for the technical perfection] and her all-time favourite was, Govinda [for skill, ease and most importantly, joy of dancing]. Of other choreographers... well, she spoke well of perhaps only her son Raju Khan and on occasion Shiamak Davar. Her tiffs with Farah Khan, Chinni Prakash, her contemporaries and her competitors made for great tabloid headlines and soap-operatic snippets on chat shows.
Famously she was asked, in the 90s, during the peak of the alleged rivalry between Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, if she had to choreograph one or the other, who she'd pick; "I'd give up both films, but I won't let it spoil my equation with either."
In an earlier feature, we had listed Sridevi's Top Ten Dances of all-time. It is of no particular surprise to anyone who knows dance that eight of them were directed by Sarojji.
We've heard 'end of an era' so often these past few years in obituaries of one celeb or another, but with the passing of Saroj Khan, a rich chapter of Indian cinema closes forever. Dance's greatest exponent wisps away to the great beyond.
RIP Saroj Khan. Rest in Peace indeed.
Above: Saroj Khan and Sridevi on the sets of Waqt ki Awaaz (1988)
Below: Sridevi with Saroj Khan on the sets of Chand Ka Tukda (1994)
Famously she was asked, in the 90s, during the peak of the alleged rivalry between Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, if she had to choreograph one or the other, who she'd pick; "I'd give up both films, but I won't let it spoil my equation with either."
We've heard 'end of an era' so often these past few years in obituaries of one celeb or another, but with the passing of Saroj Khan, a rich chapter of Indian cinema closes forever. Dance's greatest exponent wisps away to the great beyond.
RIP Saroj Khan. Rest in Peace indeed.
Above: Saroj Khan and Sridevi on the sets of Waqt ki Awaaz (1988)
Below: Sridevi with Saroj Khan on the sets of Chand Ka Tukda (1994)
Above: Saroj Khan with Sridevi on the sets of Mr India (1987)
Below: The song and dances choreographed by Saroj Khan for Sridevi, most memorably in Mr.India, Chandni, Nagina, Lamhe and Chaalbaaz.
Below: The song and dances choreographed by Saroj Khan for Sridevi, most memorably in Mr.India, Chandni, Nagina, Lamhe and Chaalbaaz.
Thursday, 30 April 2020
RIP Rishi Kapoor
RIP Rishi Kapoor aka Chintuji.
He acted with Sridevi in six films - most were hits, if not super-hits - and was a wonderful actor and character on and off screen! His tweets and rants were legendary - but as an actor, he was easily the most underrated and infinitely capable star.
Such dark days for Bollywood, so many losses and we are only in April 2020!
Thursday, 30 January 2020
TBT: Shahid Kapoor remembering Sridevi
Want to sincerely thank you all for your wishes. But today is the day to remember Srideviji. To remember her for her brilliance and the magic she brought into our lives. All our love and wishes must be for her today. May she rest in peace.
Monday, 6 May 2019
Friday, 15 February 2019
Prayers for Sridevi in Chennai on Feb 14
On Feb 14, 2019, according to the Hindu calendar, it was time to remember Sridevi on her barsi. Prayers were held in Chennai with the Kapoor family.
We heard the news on Feb 25, 2018 to utter shock and disbelief. We will never get over this loss.
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