Sridevi: Leopard print top: 90s Fashion Moment

 Sridevi: Leopard print top: 90s Fashion Moment. Rakesh Shreshta captured Sridevi like no one else. 

Fierce Sridevi in Chaalbaaz (1989)

Fierce Sridevi in Chaalbaaz (1989) 

A rarely seen poster of Sridevi as she strikes a pose with a stuffed tiger - well, she is a Leo born! 

From a comedic seductress scene in Tera beemar mera dil in Sridevi's award-winning film. The 80s glamour of it all... 

Archive of Chaalbaaz features and image galleries here.
 

Sridevi

 

Sridevi's leopard print: Poster

One of the first posters I ever bought of Sridevi from Archie's (remember Archie's?!) for Rs 50 - which was a lot of money for me back then. 

Pic by Rakesh Shreshta. 

Note Sridevi's two different earrings, the 90s perm, the leopard print top... She looked so damn good. 

 

Sridevi

Sridevi by ace photographer Rakesh Shreshta 

This MOVIE magazine full pager was gorgeous. 

You can see all the images in the archive from this shoot here.

Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Chaalbaaz (1989)

 Sunny Deol and Sridevi in Chaalbaaz (1989)

Sridevi in the 90s in Bollywood

Sridevi in the 90s in Bollywood. 

Rakesh Shreshta photography

 

Sridevi's photo-shoot from 1986

My least favourite decade for Hindi movies, fashion, makeup, hair... some find it kitschy cool but, most of it is a whoaaa-what-were-they thinking blanket era. 

In these pictures from 1986... well, we still think Sridevi looks cute. #Obv. 

Portrait of Sridevi

Shot by Rakesh Shreshta - Sridevi's most frequent photographer. 

Cherub Sridevi in Leopard print!

Since the 1980s, our concept of beauty in Bollywood has changed. Be it in makeup, hairstyles, accessories or clothes. Sridevi, a model of her times, worked whatever was in vogue and put her original spin on it. With her angelic, cherubic face and those large, expressive eyes, this look might be cringe-worthy on anyone else. Here, she just looks delightful! That hint of a smile, all those expressions, she even carried her weight beautifully.

Gorgeous portraits of a Bollywood icon and true-blue fashionista, Sridevi.

Also see earlier post of chubby-cheeked Sri - gorgeous as ever - here. Shoot from the 1980s.

Chaalbaaz (1989): Leonine Sridevi's fiercest role: Leopard print and tiger straddling Sri!

Sridevi and Sunny Deol on the sets of Chaalbaaz (1989). Leonine Sridevi looking her ferocious best. Too awesome!

1989 was a defining year for the iconic Indian actress! The leopard print look, riding a tiger... ahh the glamazon era of the 1980s... 

Rakesh Shreshta: Sridevi's favourite Photographer

Bollywood's iconic photographer and portrait artist, Rakesh Shreshta, "I call Sri, mai. She is my favourite. I find her very talkative, child-like, and she can lose weight at the snap of a finger. Heroines who come to my studio get complexed because her pictures stare from all over. Her favourite picture to date is the MOVIE gold foil cover, where she is dressed in a gold drape. She adores it. Mine keeps changing, the latest I feel is the best."

The one man I envied the most throughout the late '80s and through the 1990s - photographer Rakesh Shreshta. He has shot Sridevi more than any other photographer and to visit his studio and go through the archive of images is an unfulfilled dream of mine!

Click on his tag below to see the images we have here of the shots he took of Sri. In fact, 95% of the pics in this blog are probably Rakesh's images. Bless him! He's the best!

About photographer Rakesh Shreshta:

Dimple Kapadia once made a very pertinent comment on the full of beans, lively and trendy Rakesh Shreshta. She said, "He is the barometer of a star's success. you know where you stand on the popularity charts by the number of times he shoots with you in a month."

Not surprisingly, Rakesh Shreshta is Sridevi's favourite photographer. Rakesh's swanky studio in the by-lanes of Bandra has walls with life size portraits of Sridevi and Sunjay Dutt, both numero unos serving as wall paper. The latest in camera equipment and backgrounds (purchased on his annual trips to Germany for the Photokina exhibition), deafening music (currently it's Khaled's 'Didi') and a bar that opens only in the evening, inspire his stars to reveal all facets of their personality to his camera, unabashedly. 

A passionate worker, after six in the evening however, Rakesh takes off to his club (where he is popularly know as Nepa) for a game of snooker, rummy or a swim.

"No hangover of film stars for me," says he. "I don't mix business with pleasure." A star in his own right Rakesh Shreshta's association with MOVIE has strengthened with every passing day.

-- MOVIE magazine excerpt.