Actor and filmmaker Satish Kaushik expressed that after the untimely demise of Sridevi, her husband Boney Kapoor couldn’t stop crying. “When I heard of ma’am’s (Sridevi) death, I couldn’t believe it. Boney and I have been friends for 30 years. I called him up. He wept inconsolably. The more we spoke, the more he wept. He just couldn’t stop crying. I hung up,” said Satish.
The actor further said, “I don’t know of anyone who could transform so much once she had make-up on. And I don’t mean just for the camera. She could dress up for a wedding and she’d look like a different person…And now to see her lying there still and unmoving in that casket...it was heartbreaking.”
Recalling his journey the actor said, “I was serving as an assistant on Shekhar Kapur’s Joshilaay which Boney produced. This was way back in 1988. I saw Sridevi in ‘Himmatwala’ and I was stunned by her screen presence. Javed Akhtar Saab recommended her very strongly. She was signed for the female lead of Joshilaay along with Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol, and Meenakshi Seshadri. Sridevi played a village belle, a circus owner’s daughter and her comic timing were impeccable even back then.”
He further said, “In her later years, she chose the real-life role of a mother to Janhvi and Khushi. That was her favourite role and the one that she played oblivious to the fact that there was no camera. I’ve seen what a good mother she was to the two girls. And now to see Janhvi and Khushi looking so lost without her.”
The actor concluded by saying, “I’ve never seen so many people at anyone’s condolence meet or funeral. There was not a dry eye to be seen. Her going away has affected everyone, even those who had never met her. The nation is in grief.”
