Bollywood’s first female superstar Sridevi would have been celebrating her 55th birthday today but sadly the late veteran actress passed away on February 24, 2018, due to accidental drowning at the age of 54. Sridevi was the popular and highest paid actress of the late 80s and early 90s.
Sridevi had started her career at the age of 4 as a child artist. In a span of 50 years of long filmi career, Sridevi worked in around 300 films. Her last film, Mom had garnered much appreciation at the box office for which she was honoured with posthumous National Award for best actress. Apart from being the best actress, Sridevi was also a perfect mother to her daughter Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor.
At the peak of her career, Sridevi got married to Boney Kapoor and took a sabbatical for her daughters. After taking sabbatical of 15 years, Sridevi made a solid comeback with English Vinglish in 2013, Interestingly, Sridevi played a mom in her last films as she played this role perfectly off-screen as well.
When asked about memories of Sridevi, daughter Janhvi told PTI, “She supported me a lot but I think both of us were clear that she wanted this to be my own journey. I remember reading lines with her around. But she never said ‘Do it like this or that’. She would always say, ‘I want you to find this on your own, do it on your own’”.
While remembering Sridevi, Janhvi had penned an emotional letter for the actress. She wrote, “There’s is a gnawing hollowness in my chest that I know I’ll have to learn how to live with. Even with all this emptiness, I still feel your love. I feel you are protecting me from sadness and pain. Every time I close my eyes, I only have good things to remember.”
Read the full letter here:
Not only Janhvi, when Sridevi was alive, she had also told about the relationship with kids. She told PTI, “The mother-children relationship these days is very different from what it was when I was a kid. I can’t expect my kids to be the way I was with my mom. I am sometimes a strict mother, but my children don’t give me any chance to be strict with them. We are more like friends with each other. Nowadays, our kids teach us. But as a parent, we do want them to be safe.”
When Arjun was asked about his stepmother Sridevi, he had told DNA, “That’s something I am sure I have had various degrees of emotions towards her and him. It’s too long in the past to even dwell on things … I try to look forward. I make it a point not to dwell on what could have or should have happened…”
He further added, “It’s very cordial. I respect anybody in my father’s life the same way because he would expect me to do that. So I respect her and don’t wish ill towards anyone.”
Recently, at IIFA, Sridevi was honoured with an award. At that time, Arjun gave an emotional support to father Boney Kapoor. That moment will still be remembered by many.
