Sridevi: Lesser known facts
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Sridevi: Lesser known facts

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Sridevi to make a comeback with husband's film

Sridevi swept all the Best Actress awards for her portrayal of Kajal Varma in the 1997 drama, Judaai. The film, also featuring Anil Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar, was produced by the late Surinder Kapoor, her producer-husband Boney Kapoor's father. 18 years later, Boney is producing a woman-centric Bollywood film for his actress-wife. The film marks the directorial debut of popular ad filmmaker, Ravi Udyawar, who has also scripted the film. A source has been quoted in a Mumbai Mirror report as saying that, "The story had been written with Sridevi in mind. Boney loved it and immediately came on board." Buzz was that Akshara Haasan, daughter of Kamal Haasan, who featured opposite Sridevi in Sadma, will play her daughter in the film. But Boney dismissed the rumours. He was quoted in the report as saying that, "Akshara is not in the film.Yes, it is a woman-centric drama, but not a remake of any film. It is not titled Mother."

While Sridevi is gearing up to face the camera after four years, all eyes are set on her daughter's debut. Read on to know about the special pooja that was performed for her...
Sridevi: Lesser known facts
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Sridevi, along with daughter Jhanvi, visited a temple in Andhra Pradesh. Sridevi reportedly performed special prayers for her daughter, a pooja for sarpadosha which is performed for prosperity and health, stated a report on Mid-day.com. The report further stated that the pooja lasted for nearly 45 minutes and both Sridevi and Jhanvi were present throughout. While Sridevi has had a successful comeback in the industry, all eyes are now on Jhanvi Kapoor's Bollywood debut.

Read on to know more about Sridevi's next South film...
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According to a report on Bollywoodlife.com, Sudeep has squashed rumours of a liplock with Sridevi in Illayathalapathy Vijay's next film. The film that stars Vijay, Sridevi, Sudeep, Haniska and Shruti Haasan has been making headlines for the star-studded cast. However, for the past few days, rumour mills have been abuzz with reports of a lip lock between Sridevi and Sudeep. But the actor has denied the claims that the reports made and instead raved about the actress and how she is the only one to come close to Amitabh Bachchan.

Let's take a look at some lesser known facts about the Chandni girl...
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Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963. She was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan upon birth. She is the first female actress to have earned the tag of being a superstar. She started her career at the age of four in Thirumugham’s devotional film, Thunaivan. She has also acted as a child artist in the film, Julie. She made her Bollywood debut as a lead star with the film Solva Saavan in 1978.
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With films like HimmatwalaTohfaMr IndiaChandniNagina and Sadma, Sridevi emerged as one of the most sought-after actresses in Bollywood. Jaya Prada was considered to be Sridevi's strongest contender at that point of time. Their fierce competition was one of the worst kept secrets ever. As per a report on IMDB, during the shoot of Maqsad, the actresses couldn't see eye to eye and hence, Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra had to lock the two actresses in a room hoping it would break the ice. But when the door was opened after two hours, the actresses were sitting in distant corners all by themselves.
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Sridevi was the first choice for Indra Kumar's Beta. She was supposed to star opposite Anil Kapoor in the film but declined the offer because she had already done a string of films with the actor. The role then went to Madhuri Dixit who became a superstar overnight after the film's success.
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Sridevi was also considered for a role in Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg wanted to cast her for a brief role. But she was at the peak of her career in Bollywood then and had rejected the offer. Taking up a Hollywood project would have meant a long break from Bollywood and she was not ready to lose out on her Bollywood projects because of one Hollywood film.
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Sridevi was director duo Abbas Mustan's first choice to play the female lead in Baazigar. At that point of time, Seema and Priya were supposed to be twins. And Sridevi was supposed to play the double role of Seema and Priya in the film. But directors of the film felt that killing Sridevi would only make Shah Rukh emerge as a villain. They wanted the audience to sympathise with SRK's character and thus they had to bring a relatively unknown actresses to play the part. Kajol and Shilpa Shetty eventually took up the two roles and the makers had to change the script accordingly.
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Jeetendra and Sridevi emerged as one of the most popular on-screen couple of their times. They were paired romantically opposite each other in as many as 16 films, out of which 11 films were superhit. Films like HimmatwalaGhar SansaarTohfa and Mawwali established them as the most bankable couple of the decade. Sridevi was also the highest paid Hindi film actress during this time.
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When she made her debut in Bollywood, Sridevi was not comfortable talking in Hindi. Her voice was mostly dubbed by Naaz. Rekha had dubbed for her in the film, Aakhiri Raasta. Sridevi dubbed for her dialogues for the first time in Chandni. While Rekha was the original choice for Chandni, and Jaya Prada had initially been offered Nagina, both the films eventually went to Sridevi and helped cement her position in the industry.
She was also voted 'India's Greatest Actress in 100 Years' in a CNN-IBN national poll conducted in 2013 on the occasion of the Centenary of Indian Cinema. She has also won 5 Filmfare Awards for Best Actress in a leading role.