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Bollywood film icon Sridevi's life and legacy decoded in new book
Gulf News
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2/18/2025
Emirates Festival of Literature speaker Satyarth Nayak reveals all about the biography
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00:00
Actress Sridevi remains India's most beloved and enigmatic movie idols.
00:07
She was called India's first female superstar.
00:10
It's going to be four years on Feb 24th since her death in Dubai.
00:14
But her fans and family around the world are still struggling to gain closure.
00:19
But who was Sridevi?
00:20
Indian author and journalist Satyarth Nayak tries to decode the mystery and mystique behind
00:24
the award-winning actress in his latest book, Sridevi, The Eternal Screen Goddess.
00:29
We are in conversation with the author before his session at the Emirates Literature Festival
00:34
this Friday and we talk about the highs and lows of encapsulating Sridevi's tremendous
00:38
journey in his book.
00:40
I was always very fascinated about her.
00:41
I think when you write a book on someone, it is because you are so absolutely in love
00:46
and fascination with that person, with whatever that person is.
00:49
I went and met Bonisa regarding the book.
00:51
This was in 2017.
00:53
This was when she was alive.
00:54
So, you know, I was the first to approach Bonisa.
00:57
Because 2017 is also a milestone career in Sridevi's life.
01:00
It was her 50th career in cinema and Mom was her 300th film.
01:04
So, for me, I thought it was the right moment to actually do a book on her.
01:08
I mean, what a great milestone, yeah.
01:10
So, I spoke to Bonisa about that and he was extremely excited that yes, let's do a book
01:13
that captures her journey.
01:15
He spoke to Shree and she was interested at that point of time but also she told me let's
01:20
wait for a year because Janhvi's movie is about to release, Thadak.
01:24
So, she said once Thadak is out in 2018, August, that was supposed to come out.
01:28
Once Thadak is out, we shall then, you know, get started on the book.
01:32
So, that was the original plan.
01:33
Then, of course, 24th failed happened and suddenly, you know, she was no longer there
01:38
and I was in an absolute shock that how do I now do this book without her, in her absence.
01:43
It just seemed an impossible task.
01:45
But a friend of mine told a very beautiful thing.
01:48
He said, you know, you owe this book to her.
01:51
So, do it because you had promised this book to her.
01:53
The only difference, he said, would be that now your book will have a last chapter.
01:57
So, that made sense.
01:59
So, I kind of picked myself up again.
02:01
Let's do this book.
02:02
So, I met Bonisa again.
02:03
I already had Penguin backing me because they were, right from day one, they were very excited
02:07
to do this book with her.
02:09
So, then Bonisa said, okay, then just go and let's do this the way we had planned and that's
02:14
how the journey began.
02:15
I was very sure that this book should not be a hagiography.
02:18
Like so many biographies tend to become at the end of the day.
02:21
So, I mean, of course, I mean, one is fascinated.
02:25
I mean, ultimately, you talk about Shri Devi.
02:27
Let's just face it.
02:28
So, you know, there's only so much bad that you can talk about someone like her who is
02:33
almost great and flawless in everything that she does.
02:35
But having said that, there were definitely aspects of her career that I have been critical
02:39
about.
02:39
I, from day one, had it in mind that this needs to be the definitive biography on her.
02:43
I was very clear about that.
02:45
For example, which is why if you see the book, it begins with her Southern career, which
02:48
is something that very few people know about.
02:50
Prior to coming to Bollywood in 1983, she had a two-decade-long career down South and
02:55
what illustrious career with stalwarts like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan and, you know,
02:59
in Telugu cinema with Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna and the kind of directors even now people
03:05
down South feel that she had much better roles in Tamil cinema than she got in Hindi.
03:10
And this is true to a certain extent if you see Tamil and Telugu work.
03:13
Also, for me, very important was that Shri Devi when she came in the 80s, you know, she
03:17
was one actress who broke the hierarchy that was there.
03:20
She challenged patriarchy in a big way in Bollywood because 80s was not the kindest
03:25
decade for actresses in Hindi cinema.
03:27
How she became a force to reckon with, how she became bigger than all the heroes, which
03:31
again was a very new phenomena in Bollywood for an actress becoming so powerful that she
03:36
could call the shots in, you know, in a studio.
03:38
So, all of that I wanted to be very clear in the book that that journey, how she inspired
03:42
a whole generation.
03:43
I mean, when she passed away and all the obituaries that came, everyone was like, thank you,
03:47
Shri Devi, you inspired me to be a woman.
03:50
And that was because of the way she, you know, she conducted her career and her life.
03:54
So, that for me was a very important and integral part.
03:56
I think that for me, that's the biggest takeaway of this book.
03:59
That how she empowered women.
04:00
I get that a lot as well.
04:02
The moment you know that you've written a book on her, the first thing is asked, you
04:04
know what happened in Dubai?
04:05
I get that asked a lot as well.
04:07
So, and I definitely wanted answers because that had to be the last chapter and I wanted
04:11
some kind of a closure that I could.
04:14
So, I spoke to Goni sir.
04:15
I spoke to people that she was close to.
04:17
And they've all given me a reason, which is there's nothing dramatic, nothing salacious
04:22
about what happened, which is the version that I have got.
04:24
And these are people who are credible voices.
04:26
You know, these are, whether it's a family, whether it's someone like Nagarjuna, who is
04:30
such a credible, superstar and credible voice down south or a director like Pankaj Parashar,
04:35
who directed her in Chal Baaz.
04:36
You know, those are people who have spent time with her, who know the kind of health
04:40
issues that she was facing.
04:42
And they have spoken about that, they have voiced their concerns.
04:44
Like, for example, Pankaj Parashar told me that when they were doing the film with her
04:48
after Chal Baaz, on the first day of the shooting, she did not turn up and they were all waiting
04:53
for her on the set.
04:54
And then news came that she had fainted in her bathroom.
04:56
And so, Pankaj told me that when I heard about her death, immediately that memory immediately
05:02
came back to me.
05:02
So, she had always had low blood pressure issues, you know, throughout her career.
05:07
And fainting spells for something that was very common to her.
05:10
And like I said, this is not an investigative book where I go and investigate what happened.
05:13
This is a book where for me also as an admirer, I wanted a closure like so many of her fans.
05:18
And since these are credible voices telling me a story about her health issue, I put that
05:22
in the book, which is what you will get in the book.
05:23
And I really sincerely feel that is what we should leave it at that and we should not
05:27
really investigate because I don't really think there was anything dramatic or melodramatic
05:31
or controversial or anything about that.
05:34
I think what happened was a very unfortunate accident.
05:37
And yeah, we just have to leave it at that.
05:39
This is a book that really talks about not just the star that we know and we love but
05:44
also the woman, the person that she was behind that persona of hers and how she battled patriarchy,
05:50
how she came to industry that was ruled by men and then how she became the number one
05:55
star and how she started eclipsing her male heroes, I guess.
05:58
That for me is a big, big takeaway.
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