Sridevi,the Subdued Charmer

 

       Among Tamil heroines Sridevi was the rarest among the rare.She was a combination of Savithri,K,R,Vijaya,Lakshmi and Sri Vidhya in her looks and manner of acting.Absolute feminine grace and subdued charm were synonymous of Sridevi.Starting her career as a child artist in 1969 with M.G.R's Nam Naadu and Devar's spiritual film Thunaivan {as Lord Muruga},Sridevi made her cutest innings in Tamil cinema.She again appeared as Lord Muruga in K.S.Gopalakrishnan's Aadhi Parasakthi and as Lord Krishna in P.Madhavan's critically acclaimed film Sabadham. She then went on to act in a number of Tamil films as a child artist of which En Annan,Babu,Bharatha Vilas,Kula Vilakku,Vasantha Maaligai  Kanimuthu Papa and Agathiyar were remarkable shows.
      Like Kamalahasan,Sridevi also continued her prominent demonstration of role play on the big screen, from childhood till date.As a heroine her first appearance was in K.Balachander's Moonru Mudichu in which both Kamalahasan and Rajinikanth made their first dynamic joint parade {after Rajinikanth's meek debut appearance in K.B's Aboorva Raagangal starring Kamalahasan as hero},with Rajini taking the lead in a negative role.With this beginning, Sridevi went on to become one of the brilliant pairs of Kamalahasan sharing effective screen space with him, in most popular films like Padhinaaru Vayadhinile,Manitharil Ithanai Nirangalaa ,Kalyana Raman,Saaindhaadamma Saaindhaadu,Meendum Kokila, Guru, Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, Sigappu Rojaakkal,Vaazhve Mayam, and the award winning  Moonraam Pirai. Incidentally Sridevi was the only heroine who had acted in maximum number of films with Kamalahasan.With Rajinikath,her great entries were Gayathri,Dharma Yudham, Adutha Varisu,Pokkiri Raja, Thanikaattu Raja,Ranuva Veeran,Johnny and Naan Adimai Illai. In the other film Priya, though Rajinikanth was the hero,she was not paired with him.
      Later she was also seen with Sivaji Ganesan in films like Pattaakathi Bhairavan,Sandhippu Vishvaroopam Pilot Premnath and Kavariman.What is distinct about this voluminous actress is the fact that she  not  only remained as a South Indian top star during a particular period but also moved to Bollywood to carve an incomparable celluloid space for herself, in the line of her South Indian predecessors Vaijayanthi Mala,Padmini, Rekha and Hema Malini.In fact, her Hindi films are more than those in Tamil.But she has made a special contribution to Telugu Cinema by her more than ninety films.In contrast her Malayalam films were perhaps one third of her Telugu movies and her least participation was in Kannada films.
   Tamil Cinema last saw her in Vijay's 'Puli'in the role of a queen under a negative spell, making her look like the notorious witch Bellatrix in the Harry Potter series.Even here, her performance was really captivating with the charm of evil that the character demanded.The extraordinary thing about this fabulous star, was the eternal presence of feminine grandeur, truly personified.Her only drawback was the kind of voice she had,that would make it an ordeal for her to make emotional outbursts.But in reflecting modesty and exquisite poise she always remained unbeatable.Though she quit Tamil Cinema long back to hit larger fame and fortune in Bollywood,she would ever remain as the dream girl of Tamil Cinema too.Her loss is sudden but her position as a luminous star will ever glitter in the firmament of Indian Cinema, with the pages of film history speaking of her inimitable glory.
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