A Foreword by Kajol

It's sort of fitting that I am today writing a foreword for a book on Sridevi given that I grew up idolising her. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that she's gone. 

I met Sridevi for the first time around 1989 during the shooting of Pathar Ke Insaan. I was around thirteen then. My father was the producer and director of the film which starred Sridevi, Vinod Khanna, Jackie Shroff and Poonam Dhillon. I vividly recall that at the very first meeting she told my dad, "You must put your daughter in movies. And I was like, "No way am I going to be in movies." It is sheer coincidence that the same evening Yash Chopra came to meet my dad at the studio and he got him to hear a recording of Sridevi singing the song 'Chandni O Meri Chandni'. My first reaction was slightly childish. I wasn't really impressed by the song and I even remember saying this to my father.

However, when the movie came out, it was a completely different story. In fact, Chandni released around five months before any father's film, and I remember I was crazy about it. I bought the video tape and played it so many times that the recording almost wore out. 

In December, that same year, Chaalbaaz released; Chandni and Chaalbaaz were my two lifetime favourites. Sadma is also an eternal favourite. 

All of this happened before I made debut with Bekhudi (1992). So you can say that she was the only film star I was crazy about before I joined the movies. 

When I was around eighteen, I was shooting for one of my films in Film City, Mumbai, and I heard that Sridevi was also shooting in the same studio. I quickly called my dad and asked him to drive to the studio. I wanted him to take me across to meet her so that I could her in person how 'crazy' I was about her. And also tell her how awesome she is. It was my first star-struck meeting. Selfies were still quite distant in the future. Otherwise, I would've clicked one with her back then. It is odd but my selfie with her came out few months before she passed away. Both of us were at designer Manish Malhotra's home in Bandra and that's where the photo-op happened. 

Besides the memorable selfie moment, I remember that in the course of years I met her quite a few times. And every time, I noticed there was some disparity; she was so different in person and on-screen. In her real life she was soft-spoken, unassuming and gentle. She possessed a canny intelligence but it was always hidden under the politest of manners; her face exuded warmth. 

Coming to what she meant to me as an actor, I must say that I only and deeply respected Sridevi. As I mentioned earlier, as a person, she had that native intelligence as far as the film industry was concerned. I do not think you can ever teach that to anyone. And as an actor, she was more shrewd. She knew which script would work, which wouldn't. She had the pulse of the audience at all times. She knew the camera so well -- how it would shoot her, which was her best angle. She actually did her own make-up and transformed herself every single time on-screen, which I find amazing. All of us need a makeup artist to make us look best, but not Sridevi. She paid attention to the minutest of details. If you watch her movies, in any random order, you feel like you are studying a textbook. At least that's how I feel. From the way she used her dupatta to the way she tied saris, everything was so perfect. Her eyes spoke volumes. 

She also considered everything, right down to the last detail like when to run barefoot and when to run with her shoes on. Likewise, there are films in which she has nail varnish on, others where she is without any. Her jewelry, her accesories, she had it all down pat. It was all so thorough. So well-planned. The beauty was she never let Sridevi, the persona, take over her character. 

In my view, she is the first woman superstar of this country. I don't think any other leading lady could have given Amitabh Bachchan a 'takkar' in Khuda Gawah. Besides her, I don't think anyone else could have matched him. She had as formidable in her movies. 

In my head, she continues to remain a formidable force. Even at the risk of sounding like a fangirl. I must add that the memory of Sridevi will always dominate Indian cinema. 

Finally, Sridevi was and will always remain special to me.