Sunday turned out to be a black day for people of Tamil Nadu as they were informed by the media on early Sunday morning that Sridevi — the girl from a Sivakasi village in Virudhunagar who rose to the prima donna of Indian films — was no more.
“I thought it was a fake news forwarded by social media users to create panic,” said Parthipan, the prominent actor in Tamil films.
Sridevi could be the one and only person who started her career as a child artist and rose to become the first female superstar of Tamil as well as Hindi films. “What made her different from other actors was her skill in performing any kind of roles with elan and poise. Whether it be the role of a village girl or that of a spoiled brat or a ditched lover, Sreedevi could transform from one role to another smoothly,” said Radha Rajan, author and columnist.
According to Radha, Sreedvi belonged to that rare breed of artists who could live serious as well as comic roles. “That’s why I simply love her. She was superb and there are no other stars in Tamil or any other languages who could match her prowess,” said Radha.
Tamil viewers watched her performing the role of Mayil in the 1977 movie “16 Vayathinile” (at the age of 16, directed by Bharatiraja) could not believe what they saw on the screen. Till then heroines were showpieces in Tamil movies which were dominated by the heroes. The movie fully shot in a village was the turning point in the history of Tamil movies. Since then the yardstick for the success of heroines is decided by the quality of their performance compared to what Sreedevi has done in 16 Vayathinile.
Though an integral part of the big budget movies, Sridevi handled the roles given to her to the satisfaction of the director and the viewers.
She was on an equal footing with her lead stars,whether it was Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth or Kamal Haassan.
Rajinikanth who met reporters after hearing the news was in a state of shock while Kamal Haasan said the lullaby he sang for Sridevi in Moondram Pirai (1982). The writer remember of seeing many of her fans weeping when they came to know of her marriage to Boney Kapoor. Now in 2018, they are weeping over the demise of the same girl who perfected the roles ranging from that of lord Muruga to the village belle to the ultra modern GenNext girl to the middle aged Indian aunty.. We may have so many stars but there is no Sridevi amongst us..