Raasta: The Shelved film of Sridevi with Dilip Kumar, Mithun

Raasta: The Shelved film of Sridevi with Dilip Kumar, Mithun

"Releasing in March 1988" reads the poster - and we know, well, that didn't happen!! It's sort of amazing how many films are launched with great fanfare and it all fizzles out. Would have been amazing to see Sridevi with Dilip Kumar. 

We've written about the film before here - Social Media dug out this rarely seen poster. 

Sridevi gets wiggy with it: A look for a spy film from 1984!

Sridevi gets wiggy with it: A look for a spy film from 1984 titled Raasta!

The film was supposed to have Mithun as a spy and Sridevi as the babe in the movie... But the film was never made and never went beyond discussions in media and a look test/shoot. We have a dozen pics of this look in the archive.  

Sridevi's short cropped wig for the film Raasta (1986)

Sridevi's short cropped wig for the film Raasta (1986)

The film was launched - but never completed. In fact, we're not sure anything happened beyond a photoshoot for the movie and a look-test. 

We have dozens of pics in the archive - scroll back. 

Sridevi and Mithun in the unreleased Raasta (1986)

Launched in 1986, Raasta was meant to have Mithun and Sridevi in the lead. But the film, after its launch and pre-publicity stills, was never made. For reasons unknown.

Yet another film to add to the long list of shelved and unreleased films. We imagine there's some vault with reams of incomplete films somewhere. In many cases, movies were launched with great fanfare (click on the links below!) but most never even started production. Bollywood in the 1980s was disorganised-chaos, led by the lets-make-a-deal-era that never went anywhere. Long before corporatisation, organisation and insurance and legal consequence - the government didn't recognise it as an industry until recentally - which is ridiculous. 

As an avid collection of film magazines from the 1980s and 90s, we have so many stills of mega projects launched... but never saw the light of day. Eg:

click to enlarge

A list of Sridevi's incomplete and/or unreleased films:
Garajna

Partially shot:
Khabardaar
Zameen

Launched but never started;
Ram ki Sita Shyam ki Geeta
Teerandaz
Bus Conductor
Govinda
Raasta


PS: If you know of other films, esp with info and images, pls drop us a note to add to the above. 

Left: Sridevi and Anil Kapoor on the sets of... unknown film... 

Sridevi in the 1980s in Bollywood: Short wig for Raasta (1986)

Unlike her contemporaries who worked their archetypal roles and looks (the sati-savitri or the kotha-seductress or the vamp or villain's moll or the tear-stained bhabhi and so on), Sridevi's doll-like demeanour  and versatility meant she willingly tried various looks and avatars according to the fads and fashion of the time. She was in her early 20s when she hit Mumbai's movies and worked in various films her contemporaries were scared to broach. Not wanting to shatter their image (or illusion) that had been created over years on film. Count the number of courtesan films and songs Rekha did, count the number of weepy family dramas Jaya Prada did. So many stars got stuck in their image and rarely snapped out of their own prisms. 

As she had no expectation of making it big in Bollywood after the initial failure of Solva Saawan, Sridevi tried every role that came her way with zest and pizzazz. By sheer volume of work, she broke into the scene - there were as many as nine to a dozen releases in the early '80s as every few weeks, a Sridevi film hit the marquee. The good, the bad and the noisy, she did 'em all. And the law of averages caught up and Sri became the rage - leaving her contemporaries in the wake of her hostile box-office takeover. 

Dimple Kapadia (gorgeous but fickle), Meenakshi Sheshadiri (pretty but hammy), Rekha (Diva, and deluded), Bhanupriya (from the word-go she was a poor-man's Sridevi!), Radha (who?!), Jaya Prada (ah, the arch-rival) and the rest of the ilk just didn't command the position of Sridevi. Even Jaya Prada had to reluctantly admit that in the race, Sridevi was Number one to ten - while Amrita Singh (a gifted actress but box-office poison) praised Sridevi for being irreplaceable unlike her or her contemporaries.

Eventually, Sridevi changed her tune as well; at first she was rather nonchalant about making it in Hindi cinema, never fully trusting the scenario. She had said in the early days that Madras (Chennai now!) was home, Mumbai was an alien city. And she hated it - in the beginning! She never committed to moving to Mumbai and famously stayed at expensive hotels for the better part of a decade. The enormous work ethic and massive success followed and Sridevi moved bag and baggage to Mumbai, albeit reluctantly at first.

Meanwhile, here are some remnants of Sridevi in the early days, working a short-cut. Sridevi at age 23 here. Cute. It was a look test for the film Raasta back in 1984-1986. It was meant to be yet another film with Mithun - but the film was shelved for reasons unknown. The short crop wig, the palazzo pants, early day stylin'... Sridevi was so cute, she got away with it. There's a rediff feature about Indian actresses and their horrendous wigs - its only now that its polished perfection that you can't even tell the real and the fake apart. Sridevi tried multiple looks and worked hard to make them work. Some with success, others with middling effect. But dammit, she tried!