Sridevi’s rawness was her actual USP: Khushbu

Like Sridevi, Khushbu, too, started her acting career as a child artiste with films like The Burning Train, Laawaris, Naseeb, and Dard Ka Rishta. After playing significant roles as the teenage sister of Anil Kapoor in Meri Jung and a couple of other movies as the solo lead, the actress migrated to the South film industry with a Telugu film Kaliyuga Pandavulu. Soon, she moved to Tamil films and within a short span of time, raced to the top. Here, the actress pays a tribute to Sridevi and talks about the tremendous impact she had on the South industry...

Ruling the South

“Sridevi was one of the greatest stars of the South — she ruled the Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam industries for 10 long years before she came to Mumbai. She was working with the top actors from all the industries — Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth in Tamil, Nageswara Rao and NT Rama Rao in Telugu and Prem Nazir in Malayalam, simultaneously. All the directors and filmmakers wanted to work with her. She was everyone’s favourite.”

First impression

“Like many people, the first time I saw Sridevi was in Himmatwala and fell in love with her — at that point, I was not doing South films. She was unabashedly glamorous. She was absolutely a mass heroine. We did get to see what a great performer she was in her later films. I would rate Lamhe as one of her best performances, but she did such brilliant comedy in Chaalbaaz and Mr India. She was the most sensuous person — it is not easy to seduce the camera without a character in the frame. We saw her doing that in Kaate Nahi Kat Te. She was seducing the audience through the camera. And she did it without an iota of vulgarity.”

She was revered as a talented performer

“It was only when I came to the South that I got to know what Sridevi was like. I watched her Tamil films like Sigappu Rojakkal, Moondru Mudichu, Varumayin Niram Sivappu, Meendum Kokila, 16 Vayathinile, and Johnny. That’s when you realise that beyond the childlike woman, she had a lot of oomph to seduce the audience on screen. She was an actor par excellence. I really thought she looked far more beautiful in her South films without her nose job, without the perfect Sridevi we saw in Bollywood. That rawness was her actual USP. In the South, they liked her as a talented performer. Every director and filmmaker wanted to work with her. She had a knack of doing films that did well. I think you connected with her.

For instance, her character of Mayil in 16 Vayathinile is associated with her so much that even today you cannot name anyone Mayil on screen. People will immediately compare it with the original. Or take the character she played in Johnny. She essayed a singer who is at the peak of her career, but she underplayed the loneliness so well. I don’t think anybody can even come close to what Sridevi has done.”

Celebrating Sridevi

Khushbu also talks about actresses being treated as goddesses. She was the first actress to have a temple built for her. She says, “This culture of being called a goddess came much later in the South. Audiences here loved Sridevi for the kind of roles she did in films like Varumayin Niram Sivappu, Johnny, Gaayathri, Sigappu Rojakkal, Guru and Priya. She was a glamourous girl, but I think they saw the transformation after she came to Bombay and became the heartthrob of the nation. It’s when the country looked up to her that people in the South realised that they didn’t celebrate her the way they should have. After she came from Bombay, she did Telugu films like Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari with Chiranjeevi. I don’t think anybody would have presented Sridevi the way she was in this film, she looked beautiful. She also did Kshana Kshanam with Venkatesh and the film about a woman lost in the woods was mind-blowing. You could see the transformation in her — as you succeed you start understanding your work more, you have that space. Sridevi was a self-taught actress, you really have to hand it to her. People might have helped her to become what she was but the entire credit goes to her for adapting and transforming.”

The Tamil connect

“I haven’t worked with her but I had interacted with her at several events and parties. The Sridevi you get to see is not the Sridevi we know. She was very shy and an introvert, but she was fun loving, too. She loved to let her hair down and laugh. I can’t forget her childlike laughter. When we used to meet, we would start conversing in English, say ‘Hi’, then ask in Hindi, ‘Kaise ho’ and switch over to Tamil. It came naturally.

The country’s loss

We have lost a diva. Whether it’s Chennai or Mumbai, everywhere it’s the same. The nation is mourning. It hasn’t sunk in that Sridevi is not alive.”