The Reel Empress of India! [Showtime, 1990 January]

As the 90s dawned, Sridevi had become the czarina of Indian cinema. From 'Naino Mein Sapna' to the Nagina dance and from 'Hawa Hawai' to 'Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan', they had all become pop-cultural icons of the nation. She defined the zeitgeist of the 80s, as many of her characters secured their place in popular mythology. For many, she was the only luminous patch in the dark cinema firmament of that era, the only one who had conquered both the stall and the dress circle. On paper, she had seemed a certified failure with her flawed Hindi, lack of dance training, and shrill voice. But Sridevi had turned every disadvantage into a quirk that had only endeared her more. The Mai of Bollywood had amended the heroine's rulebook and yet won over a patriarchal nation. Her shattering of the male power structure in Bollywood had turned her into a trailblazer. And this uprising had paradoxically stemmed from her obedience to how Bollywood wanted her to act, dance and dress. She had meekly jumped through every hoop the film-makers wanted. And then, in some moment, in a dance or a scene, she had quietly injected a stop of her DNA, making that entire thing her own. In both deifying and defying her decade lay Sridevi's triumph. Vidya Balan says in an almost reverential tone: "For me, Sridevi represents pure conviction. The spirit of how high an actor can elevate his art."

With Doordarshan, Sridevi was now in every household on most weekends. The small screen was helping her forge a deeper kinship with her audiences as compared to heroines of the pre-television era. SHOWTIME began 1990 with actress on its January cover with the caption "The Reel Empress of India".