Sridevi On A Grand Mission

Superstar. Super wife. Super ‘Mom’. Sridevi Kapoor takes Farhana Farook into her inner world

- Farhana Farook

Blue became the colour of passion as her saree swayed against the breeze, while she sang of untold passion to an invisible lover .Kate nahin katte yeh din yeh raat in Mr India celebrated unabashed sensuality. And not for once did she let the innocence slip. No wonder it compelled a well-known director to once say, “Sridevi’s face doesn’t know what her form does to people!” A machismo dripping Feroz Khan in uniform, Sridevi in flaming red, her silhouette moving in tandem with the rising and falling waves in Har kisoko nahin milta… still inspires remixes years after Janbaaz hit the screens. Just as her serpentine seduction game in Nagin has spawned a legion of TV shows and films. Yash Chopra found his muse as she walked through clouds in chiffons in Chandni bringing the Swiss valleys closer home. It was her effortless straddling of two generations in Chopra’s Lamhe yet again, that went on to make the rebel romance hold the pride of place in Chopra’s oeuvre. Truly, Sridevi was an industry unto her herself.

A star whose luminescence was her own – not borrowed from her male counterparts. In sharp contrast to the lingering halo, Sridevi at home comes without any trappings. A wife who doesn’t  think twice about walking to the Siddhivinayak temple in Dadar for the wellbeing of husband Boney Kapoor. In a blink, she can vow to go off non-vegetarian fare if it can encourage him to quit smoking. Her prized purchase, among her Gucci and Prada picks, some time ago, was a luxury car for him since, as he said, he couldn’t ‘afford’ it. For daughters, Jhanvi and Khushi, she’s the satellite that moves around them – scrutinising their low calorie menu, picking the freshest fish to pamper their taste buds, overseeing their glossy wardrobe… apart from, of course, guarding their sweet secrets. Her stardom may be for the world. But her world is her family… Excerpts…