10 most memorable films of legendary actress Sridevi
Last updated on - Feb 26, 2018, 17:56 ISTShare fbsharetwsharepinshare
01/1110 most memorable films of legendary actress Sridevi
We are still in a state of shock with legendary actress Sridevi’s sudden demise. She has had 11 Filmfare Award nominations and a commendable 3 wins. India’s first bona fide female superstar Sridevi left behind a remarkable legacy. It is not hard to imagine Sridevi in her golden shimmery dress and crown capturing the hearts of millions while singing 'Mai khwabo ki shehjadi, mai hu har dil pe chhayee' in ‘Mr Indian’ film. She was so graceful and mesmorising that we couldn’t take our eyes off her. While Sridevi was part of a large number of movies before 1997, her big comeback as Shashi Godbole in the 2012 movie ‘English Vinglish’ introduced the star in a new, never-seen-before avatar. ‘English Vinglish’ went on to become a surprise hit. Sridevi was back, so was her magic. Even her latest film ‘Mom’ was a great film. Even Balma dialogue became very popular. The actress had created magic whenever she was on the screen. Here are some of Sridevi’s memorable performances on screen.
02/11Sadma
The film is a remake of Balu Mahendra's own 1982 Tamil film ‘Moondram Pirai’, which also starred Sridevi and Kamal Haasan. Sridevi's performance as an amnesiac woman was widely praised and is considered one of the finest performances in Indian film history, and also brought her nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Sadma over the years has gained a cultural following and cult status. Nehalata (Sridevi) is a young, modern girl who meets with an accident. The parents are concerned as their daughter is unable to recognise them. The doctor diagnoses her with retrograde amnesia that leaves her with the memory and intelligence of a six or seven-year-old. Circumstances lead her into prostitution, and in the brothel, she meets Somu (Kamal Haasan). He realizes that she has been tricked into the trade. She boards a train that day back home with her parents. When Somu comes to meet Reshmi later that day, she is unable to identify or remember him. Despite his efforts to make her understand that he was the one who had taken care of her for several months, she is indifferent to him and leaves Ooty for her hometown, thus abandoning Somu and the life and relationship that she once had with him.
03/11Jaag Utha Insan
The actress was appreciated for her dance performance as well in the film apart from her acting. In the film, Sandhya - a Brahmin dancer - i.e. Sridevi falls in love with Hari Mithun Chakraborty, a Dalit. She visits her maternal grandfather J. V. Somayajulu - who is a staunch Hindu pundit - accompanied by her father and Hari, to perform at the village temple, where her grandfather is the head-priest. There, the grandfather decides to get Sandhya married to his adopted grandson Nandu (Rakesh Roshan), who is also a priest at the temple, but with a broader mind. Hari, citing the apparent caste difference, urges Sandhya to marry Nandu. Here Nandu tells her that he sees a Devi in her, and not his wife because she belongs to someone else and not him. They are bound into this marriage by the Pundit's chants, mantras, and the seven pheras, but Sandhya has taken the eighth phera, which is the phera of the heart and mind, with someone else, and thus she belongs to that person alone and must go back to him, whoever that may be. Nandu explains this to the rest of the family, and the grandfather accepts Sandhya's love for Hari, in spite of Hari being a Harijan. This comes as a result of Nandu explaining the truth, that every person is a human being first, and a Shudra at birth. It is only because of his/her deeds that a person becomes a Brahmin. The common misinterpretation of the Hindu caste system is that a person acquires his caste at birth, which is not so, as explained above. Hari soon gets this news and quickly arrives at the village. Even though the head priest of the village, Nandu's grandfather accepts Sandhya and Hari's relationship, his son and the rest of the village opposes it, and a fight breaks out. In the end both, Hari and Sandhya lose their lives. Deven Verma, who plays the head priest's blood-related grandson, provides for the counter view throughout the film, and is the only one besides Nandu, who understands the real meaning of the Vedas and supports him towards the end.
04/11Himmatwala
Jeetendra is also reeling under shock as he spoke about her tragic death to a leading daily as also about the film that brought Sridevi fame, 'Himmatwala'. He said, "We all know how it changed both our fortunes. Not many know that Rekha was the original choice for 'Himmatwala'. But I guess Sridevi was destined to do the film - she bagged the role and the film became one of the biggest grossers of the year. He also said, "I first met Sridevi at the 100th-day jubilee function of one of her Tamil films. I walked up to this bright-eyed girl and congratulated her on her performance. Little did I know that we would be working together in a few months' time? I was going through a low phase after 'Deedar-E-Yaar'. The film suffered heavy losses and brought me back to square one as an actor and producer. Sridevi, too, was coming out of 'Solva Saawan', her debut film as a full-fledged heroine in Bollywood. The film didn't fare well and almost put her out of the Hindi film industry. So 'Himmatwala', directed by K Raghavendra Rao, was a turning point for both of us." Rekha (Sridevi) falls in love with Ravi (Jeetendra) and decides to play the same trick against the Bandookwala by pretending to be pregnant with Ravi's child. Ravi finds his father as a worker on a dam construction site. Ravi then presents Bandookwala guilty before the panchayat but is freed by Dharam Murti on condition that he should show affection to the poor and treat them well. Finally, Bandookwala becomes a good man and then Ravi marries Rekha.
05/11Mr. India
‘Hawa Hawaii’ was the most popular song of the film. Recently, even in ‘Tuhmari Sulu’ Vidya Balan had danced to the tunes of this song. Sridevi had looked ravishing in the golden outfit and she was breathtaking in that song. The film was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1987 and remains a cult classic in India. The film was known for several of its lines and songs, including Sridevi's Miss Hawa Hawaii performance. On the centenary of Indian Cinema, Mr. India has been declared one of the 100 Greatest Indian Films of All Time. Mogambo (Amrish Puri) is a brilliant yet insane General whose goal is to conquer India. From his island, he monitors the evil-doings perpetrated by his henchmen. All of his subordinates know the formal salute "Hail Mogambo!", emphasising his complete authority over his minions. Arun Verma (Anil Kapoor) is an orphan and a street-walking violinist who rents a large, old house. There, the houses a dozen or so orphaned children and takes care of them with the help of his cook and caretaker Calendar (Satish Kaushik). Arun decides to rent out the room on the first floor. When he goes to the local newspaper to run an advertisement for the room, he meets Seema Soni (Sridevi) and makes her his tenant. They get off to a rocky start but Seema eventually becomes friends with everyone. However, they are all able to escape. Mogambo activates four ICBMs, which are poised to destroy all of India. Arun confronts him, and the two fight. When Arun has overcome Mogambo, he deactivates the launch which culminates in the missiles detonating on the launch-pad. Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the children escape, while Mogambo's fortress is destroyed. Mogambo dies inside the big fireball caused by the explosion of the missiles on the launch pad. Arun's dual identity remains a secret to most people, while he returns to his former life.
06/11ChaalBaaz
‘Tujhe toh main all India star bankar dikhaongi.’ The film is the remake of 1973 Indian movie ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’. Starring Sridevi in a double role, the film tells the story of two separated twin sisters Anju who is badly treated and abused by her uncle while Manju a street-smart girl. The movie is regarded as an all-time classic comedy film of Hindi Cinema and is also regarded as one of Sridevi's finest performances till date. The film also starred Rajinikanth, Sunny Deol, Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor, Rohini Hattangadi, Anu Kapoor. The film was one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of the year and also the film's music became a big hit especially 'Naa Jaane Kaha Se Aye Hain'. Anju and Manju are twins separated when babies thanks to their mentally handicapped nanny. An evil uncle Tribhuvan gets their parents killed in a car accident. He brings up Anju as a coy and easily frightened girl. Manju grows up in a slum as a happy-go-lucky stage dancer. After a lot of terrifying days in Anju's life, one day she runs away from home. On that very day, Manju has a fight with her childhood companion and neighbor Jaggu, a friendly beer drinking taxi driver. With a twist of fate, their paths cross but they never meet. They somehow end up at each other's place. Suraj is in love with Manju (who lives in the home of Anju). Filmfare ranked Sridevi's performance in ‘Chaalbaaz’ 4th in its list of '80 Iconic Performances of Hindi Cinema' stating that "Sridevi´s penchant for giggles and her ability to look distinctly tearful when required polishes these performances to perfection. Hell, she made Sunny Deol and Rajnikant look like sidekicks in the film".
07/11Judaai
The film featured Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar in leading roles and Kader Khan, Farida Jalal, Johnny Lever, Paresh Rawal, Upasana Singh and Saeed Jaffrey in supporting roles; while Poonam Dhillon makes a special appearance. The film was a remake of 1994 Telugu film ‘Shubhalagnam’. The film itself was remade into a television series as well. It has been declared a super hit film by box-office in 1997. When Kajal (Sridevi) marries Raaj (Anil Kapoor), an Engineer by profession, she and her dad (Kader Khan), automatically assume that he is rich, wealthy, and corrupt. Her father is very happy that his daughter does not have any in-laws, and that she'll get to rule the roost in her new house. But that is not the case. Raaj does not have an air-conditioner, a car, not even a refrigerator. This infuriates Kajal, and in her mind, she creates a separate world, where she is rich, wealthy, has several cars, and lives lavishly in a big bungalow. Even the birth of two children (a young son and a little daughter) and several years of marriage do not change Kajal. An example of this occurs when Kajal meets her old friend Nisha (Poonam Dhillon) who Kajal feeds a pack of lies such that her husband is a business magnate, her family own several cars, live in a big bungalow etc. Nisha who is more wealthy than Kajal then offers to give her a lift home, only for Kajal to have to lie about the directions to her home according to the story she has fabricated. Kajal, on the other hand, distraught by her family abandoning her, donates all her riches, in order to pay her dues. When she learns that Raaj & the kids are leaving for the US, she runs to the airport for one final visit. She finds them, ready to depart. But in a last-minute twist in the plot, Janhvi turns to Raaj and tells them that she is leaving for the US alone, but she is not literally alone. She is expecting Raaj's child. Janhvi accepts that although Kajal sold her husband, it was her who offered to buy him and thus she too should pay her dues. So, the movie ends with Kajal getting her family back, learning the importance of family over money and Janhvi leaving for New York.
08/11Lamhe
‘Sabhi badhe hote hai ... magar koi apne badhon se bada nahi hota’, this was one of the famous dialogue of Sridevi from the film. Sridevi received widespread acclaim for her performance in the film and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Virendra "Viren" Pratap Singh (Anil Kapoor) travels to Rajasthan with his governess, affectionately called Dai Sa (Waheeda Rehman). He meets the beautiful Pallavi (Sridevi) and falls in love with her. However, she is older than him, though this does not bother Viren. During a property dispute and a court case, Pallavi's father dies of a heart attack. She is shattered and goes into isolation. At the wake, Viren goes to console her, when she runs past him—towards Siddharth, the man she loves. Viren is heartbroken but, to fulfill Pallavi's father's dying wish, he arranges the wedding between Siddharth and Pallavi. Allowing Pallavi to live her life happily, Viren leaves for London. Pooja finds a sketch (which Viren had made years earlier of Pallavi, her mother) and misunderstands that it is a sketch of hers. She dresses in traditional clothes and when he comes home, she asks him to put "sindoor" on her since he loves her. Furious, he reveals to her that he had loved her mother and not her. Pooja is heartbroken and returns to India with Dai Sa. Viren decides to marry Anita since he feels she has been waiting for him for a long time. Pooja says that she will marry on the condition that Viren must marry before her. Pooja lies and tells Viren that she is already married. However, Pooja never marries for her love for Viren was too great. Viren understands that she is lying and lies to her as well. He sends her a marriage invitation to make her believe that he is truly getting married. The resolution she took shows a heartbroken Pooja narrating a folk tale to an audience in a village show. After the show, Viren approaches a confused and wary Pooja. Viren reveals that he realised, after she left London, she had lied. He tells her that he is not married either. He says that he loves Pooja and not her mother. She runs into his arms and they are together at last.
09/11Janbaaz
The story goes like Rana Vikram Singh lives in a huge farmhouse with his wife, Laxmi and two sons: Rajesh (Feroz Khan), a police officer and Amar (Anil Kapoor), a fun-loving playboy. Amar's entry begins with him playing a round of loaded Russian Roulette which he wins and proclaims himself jaanbaaz. Rajesh has gone through a traumatic experience of losing his love Seema (Sridevi) when she succumbed to drug addiction. He vows to fight the drug menace. An underworld kingpin Raja (Shakti Kapoor) murders Rana's old friend. Reshma (Dimple Kapadia), his friend's daughter, takes shelter in Rana's house. Rajesh is on the drug trial. Reshma's father lost a huge bet (by being tricked) to Raja after which Raja killed him in a fake accident.
10/11Chandni
‘Jab tum mujhe apna kehte ho ... apne pe guroor aa jaata hai’, one of the most popular dialogues of the film. One of Sridevi’s super hit film with Rishi Kapoor. Rohit (Rishi Kapoor) meets Chandni (Sridevi) at a wedding of her relative and falls instantly in love with her. He pursues her relentlessly until she agrees to date him. Eventually, they become engaged to be married. His family is very much against this because of the difference in their social status, but Rohit doesn't care. One day, Rohit calls Chandni and asks her to wait for him on the terrace of her house. As she's waiting, the afternoon's silence is broken by the roaring blades of a helicopter. Rohit appears and proceeds to shower Chandni in red rose petals from the copter. When he disappears, she is surrounded again by silence, but she has a feeling something has happened. Rohit and Chandni pretend to be strangers to spare Lalit. On the day of the wedding, Rohit has drunk too much and stumbles down a flight of stairs. When Chandni screams and yearns for him to be saved, Lalit realises she really loves Rohit. At the hospital the doctor says the condition is not too serious. Soon after Rohit has been in the pink of health he marries Chandni. Lalit and his mother share a sad moment where they cry for the loss of a loved one.
