This actress, Madhuri Dixit’s rival, starred in Yash Chopra’s ‘biggest gamble of his life’, saved him from bankruptcy

Sridevi made her debut as a child in the 1967 Tamil film Kandhan Karunai at the age of four and began playing lead roles as a child. He first lead role as on screen adult came in 1976 at age 13, in the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu. With this, she established herself as the leading female star in South cinema. 

Solva Sawan marked Sridevi’s Bollywood debut and with Himmatwala, she gained widespread recognition. By the 80s, Sridevi emerged as the leading Bollywood star with successes like Mawaali, Justice Chaudhury, Tohfa, Maqsad, Masterji, or Karma, Mr. India. 

While Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi may have never openly opted for ugly catfights, the constant strenuous tiff between Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi was still vividly proclaimed. The duo being exact contemporaries of one another, had engaged in cut-throat competition for films. While the 80s was the time for Sridevi, who gained the title of India’s first female superstar, the 90s was not that kind to her and Madhuri Dixit’s back-to-back successes made her a superstar. The rivalry between the two was quite visible.

However, in 1989, Sridevi was the actress who saved Yash Chopra from bankruptcy. There was a time when his four consecutive films flopped at the box office at one point. Yash Chopra’s bank account was drained and his production house, Yash Raj Films, was on the verge of shutting down.

At that time, Sridevi was at the peak of her career and her involvement in any film increased its chances of success. Thus, Yash Chopra approached Sridevi with a role in Chandani. The film was called the 'biggest gamble' of Yash Chopra's life, however, it became a huge success at the box office and saved Yash Chopra from bankruptcy. 

Chandani was a romantic musical drama directed and co-produced by Yash Chopra. Apart from Sridevi, the film also starred popular actors like Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher, Sushma Seth, Beena Banerjee, Mita Vashisht, Ram Gopal Bajaj, Juhi Chawla, Bharat Bhushan and Suhas Joshi. The film marked Sridevi and Yash Chopra’s first collaboration and they again worked together in Lamhe which became a cult classic.