Date of Birth
13 August 1963, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, India Birth Name
Shree Amma YangerNickname
PuppyHeight
5' 6" (1.68 m)Mini Biography
Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963 in her father's hometown of Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, India. Her mother was from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. So Sridevi grew up speaking Telugu and Tamil. She has a sister named Srilatha and a stepbrother named Satish. Her dad passed away during the year 1991, while her mom died during 1997.
She started her career at a very early age in 1967 as a child artiste in a Tamil movie 'Kandhan Karunai'. She also starred as a child actress in a Telugu movie 'Bangarakka' in 1977, and in a Malyalam movie 'Kumara Sambhavan' in 1969.
She made her foray on the Bollywood tinsel screen in 1975 as a child actor with the smash-hit 'Julie' in which she played the younger sister of the lead actress. Thereafter she started to act in adult roles in Hindi only from 1979. She appeared in 63 movies in Hindi; 62 in Telugu; 58 in Tamil; and 21 in Malyalam - in a career that has spanned from 1967 through to 2007.
Sridevi established strong onscreen pair with Kamal Hasan in Tamil films from 1977-1983 and then with Jeetendra in Hindi Films from 1983-1988 which helped her get foothold in Hindi films. Her initial claim to fame was appearing as romantic interest to established stars NTR, ANR, Krishna Ghattamaneni,Vishnuvardhan in Telugu and Kannada films from 1978-1985.She has four hits with Rajesh Khanna and then from late 80's till 1996 her pair with Anil Kapoor was popular. But she became popular all over India, thanks to Tamil films' remakes in Hindi in 1983-1990 which were produced and directed by the same team which had made the southern version first and in these films she was cast opposite Rajesh Khanna or Jeetendra.
She has also appeared in the TV series 'Malini Iyer', judged a TV show 'Kaboom' as well as appeared in numerous print and TV ads. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Asian Academy of Film & Television.
Sridevi went on to get married to her co-star, Anil Kapoor's older brother, Boney, on June 2, 1996. They are now parents of two daughters: Jhanvi and Khushi.
She made a comeback to films with "English Vinglish" in 2012.
She started her career at a very early age in 1967 as a child artiste in a Tamil movie 'Kandhan Karunai'. She also starred as a child actress in a Telugu movie 'Bangarakka' in 1977, and in a Malyalam movie 'Kumara Sambhavan' in 1969.
She made her foray on the Bollywood tinsel screen in 1975 as a child actor with the smash-hit 'Julie' in which she played the younger sister of the lead actress. Thereafter she started to act in adult roles in Hindi only from 1979. She appeared in 63 movies in Hindi; 62 in Telugu; 58 in Tamil; and 21 in Malyalam - in a career that has spanned from 1967 through to 2007.
Sridevi established strong onscreen pair with Kamal Hasan in Tamil films from 1977-1983 and then with Jeetendra in Hindi Films from 1983-1988 which helped her get foothold in Hindi films. Her initial claim to fame was appearing as romantic interest to established stars NTR, ANR, Krishna Ghattamaneni,Vishnuvardhan in Telugu and Kannada films from 1978-1985.She has four hits with Rajesh Khanna and then from late 80's till 1996 her pair with Anil Kapoor was popular. But she became popular all over India, thanks to Tamil films' remakes in Hindi in 1983-1990 which were produced and directed by the same team which had made the southern version first and in these films she was cast opposite Rajesh Khanna or Jeetendra.
She has also appeared in the TV series 'Malini Iyer', judged a TV show 'Kaboom' as well as appeared in numerous print and TV ads. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Asian Academy of Film & Television.
Sridevi went on to get married to her co-star, Anil Kapoor's older brother, Boney, on June 2, 1996. They are now parents of two daughters: Jhanvi and Khushi.
She made a comeback to films with "English Vinglish" in 2012.
Spouse
| Boney Kapoor | (2 June 1996 - present) 2 children |
Trivia
Tamil/Telugu/Hindi megastar
Sister-in-law of megastar Anil Kapoor.
Daughter-in-law of Surinder Kapoor and sister-in-law of Sanjay Kapoor.
She is on the Board of Director at the Asian Academy of film and television.
Has two daughters named Jhanvi and Khushi, both named after the heroines in husband Boney Kapoor's films Judaai (1997) and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000).
In the 1980s, Jaya Prada and Sridevi were fierce rivals. They were of a similar age, from the south and considered contenders for the coveted number one slot in Hindi cinema. In public, each would give the other the cold shoulder. Once, during the shooting of a K. Bappaiah film called Maqsad, Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra locked the two warring queens in the same makeup room hoping they'd make up. No such thing happened. Two hours later, when they opened the door, they found the actresses sitting at opposite ends of the room in silence.
Sridevi was offered a role in Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg. She refused because it wasn't a starring role and it would have meant taking a hiatus from Bollywood, at a time, when she was at the peak of her career.
She was cast in a dual role in 1993's Baazigar. However, the director felt that the audience would never be able to sympathize with Shah Rukh Khan's character if he 'killed' Sridevi on Screen. The role was re-written and two different actresses (Shilpa Shetty and Kajol) were hired to play the roles originally meant for La Devi.
Was the original choice for the role in 'Beta' that made Madhuri Dixit a superstar. She turned the role down, because she felt she was already doing too many films with Anil Kapoor.
At the height of her career, Sridevi received countless marriage proposals from wealthy American and British born Indians who saw her as the perfect trophy wife. One of her rumored suitors was Hollywood movie producer Ashok Amritraj.
She was the sole income earner in her family. She financially supported her mother, stepfather, sister and stepbrother.
Jeetendra Sridevi were paired romantically opposite each other in 16 films and 11 were hits from 1983-88.
Sridevi was the highest paid Hindi actress from 1985-1992 and the 2nd highest paid Hindi actress from 1993-1996.
She fondly recalled meeting the then-assistant director K. Raghavendra Rao when she was a child actress. A scene called for her to cross the street, and when she got hit by a vehicle, K. Raghavendra Rao immediately lifted her and carried her to a doctor even though she suffered only minor injuries. A few years later, when he became a director, he first made her a star in Telugu films with Padaharella Vayasu (1978) and then again in Hindi films with Himmatwala (1983).
Personal Quotes
To be very honest, the characters I have played in the south has been much, much more challenging and exciting then what I have done in Hindi cinema
The character I was supposed to play in "Yugpurush" is a very good character. There was only one thorn in the flesh, I was supposed to be playing a prostitute. Somewhere I think I have developed a mental block against playing a prostitute. I get uncomfortable and so I guess I won't be able to do full justice to the character.
Believe it or not, I don't have an ego. That is one of the first lessons I learnt when I entered this line. Every thing here is so uncertain. One moment you are a goddess and the next moment you are out of work. And under the circumstances the ego is hardly any help. I don't believe in it and I think every actor or actress should learnt to crush their ego even before they learn to act. But here the equation is very strange, so many people who don't know to act also have an ego
During work, I don't like fights and tensions. Jayapradha and I initially did not get along. However, when we realised that the press was thriving on our cold war, we decided to make up. Strangely, the fights never affected our work. If you see Tohfa (1984) or Maqsad (1984) you will never sense the hostility. Thank God, we are on talking terms now, no more of those pointless controversies.