Meteoric Journey to Bollywood: A Tribute to Sridevi

Veteran Bollywood actor Sridevi, who is termed India’s first female superstar, breathed her last in Dubai. The 54-year-old was in Dubai attending her nephew’s wedding and died due to accidental drowning on February 24. She was cremated with full state honors – draping her mortal remains in the national tricolor and a three-gun salute in Mumbai on February 28.

The entire country and the film fraternity from Bollywood to the south haven’t yet recovered from the actor’s sudden and shocking death. Here’s a look back at the illustrious actor’s life and career.

Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan on August 13, 1963, in Sivakasi, Sridevi worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films before making her Bollywood debut in 1979. Sridevi made her acting debut as a child artiste with the Tamil film Kandan Karunai at the age of 4 (1967). Her first adult role was in the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu (1976) at age 13.

Sridevi made her Bollywood debut in Julie (1975) when she was only 12 years old. Her first Hindi film in which she played the lead role was Solva Sawan in 1979. Some of her iconic films include Sadma, Chandni, ChaalBaaz, Mr. India, Nagina, and Lamhe.

Sridevi had a long career span of almost five decades. She has worked with the likes of late actor NT Rama Rao as his daughter and leading lady. She has romanced Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Amitabh Bachchan to Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan.

Sridevi was the highest paid female actor from 1980s to 1990s. She married producer Boney Kapoor in 1996 and had two daughters, Janhvi and Khushi.

The actor took a hiatus of six years to take care of her family. Sridevi briefly returned to the small screen in Malini Iyer, the Sahara sitcom in 2004-2005; Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai (2004); and as a judge on the television show Kaboom (2005). In September 2009, Sridevi appeared on Salman Khan’s 10 Ka Dum along with her husband and daughters.

Sridevi made her comeback with English Vinglish (2012). Her last film was Mom with Akshaye Khanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (2017). She made a cameo in Zero, which stars Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka and Katrina Kaif, and is scheduled to release in December 2018.

Sridevi was conferred the Padma Shri for her contribution to the entertainment industry in 2013. The actor also had a passion for painting. Her paintings were auctioned internationally, and the money raised was donated to charity.