Sridevi - UBD Birthdays

Birthday girl: Sridevi

Sridevi as a child star

Sree Amma Yanger was born August 13th 1963 and started acting at the age of four. She worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam as well as Hindi films and became a superstar before the age of 20. Today she is considered to be one of the greatest performers of all-time. She is known to her fans as "the last empress". She was the highest paid actress of her time and was known as the "female Amitabh Bachchan" in the press due to outshining her co-stars. Sri held the crown from the mid eighties to the early nineties. Her last release was 'Judaai' [1997] for which she was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the 8th time in her career. She won the award twice: 'Chaalbaaz' [1989] and 'Lamhe' [1991] - playing dual roles in both. The diva is currently working on her comeback film titled 'English Vinglish' to be released mid-2012.

Sridevi in Himmatwala [1983]

Making her debut at the age of four in Tamil movie 'Kandan Karunai' playing the daughter of Gemini Ganesan (real life father of fellow UBD Rekha) - she went on to work throughout her pre-teens in many movies. At the age of 13 she got her first 'adult' film role in K. Balachander's 'Mondru Mudichu' [1976]. At the age of 15 Sri made her Hindi film debut with 'Solwa Saawan' [1978] which didn't fare too well at the box office. Sri went back south to concentrate on her other assignments but returned to Bollywood in 1983 with 'Himmatwala' - the film was a blockbuster. She followed this with more hits such as 'Tohfa', 'Mawaali' and 'Justice Chaudhury'. Her next release 'Sadma' earned her the first of many Best Actress nominations.

Sridevi in 'Chandni' [1989]

Sridevi was known more for her performances rather than the performance of her films. She continued to churn out spectacular acts throughout the 80s in hits such as 'Inquilaab' [1984], 'Masterji' [1985], 'Nagina' [1986], 'Mr. India' [1987], 'Ram Avtaar' [1988], 'Chaalbaaz' [1989] and Yash Chopra's 'Chandni' [1989].

Sridevi with Urmila in 'Judaai' [1997]

By the time the new decade started, Sri was the undisputed queen bee. She had zero competition. Jaya Prada, Dimple, Poonam, Padmini were all but gone. She was the first choice of every director and worked with the best of the best. Unfortunately some of her decision making let her down as she refused a role in 'Beta' which won the upcoming Madhuri Dixit much applause and awards. Unfortunately, as is usual in Bollywood, the bigger she got the less ideas the fiilm-makers had to cater to her talent. She continued to electrify the audiences with her performances in films such as 'Khuda Gawah' [1992], 'Gumrah [1993], 'Laadla' [1994], and 'Army' [1996].

Sridevi at the IIFA Awards 2011

Ever since her last movie almost 15 years ago, her fans have been waiting for her comeback eagerly. The time has finally come for this ultimate diva to return to the screen and set it on fire again. This may just be the most exciting comeback of all comebacks. Sri is currently shooting in North America and the film will co-star Amitabh Bachchan who she last worked with 20 years ago.

Ultimate Bollywood Divas would like to wish the lady a very happy birthday and all the best with the movie. Let's see a Sri at her best in her 1989 smash hit 'Chandni'