Sridevi Rose to Enviable Heights Due to Her Dedication, says S Gopal Reddy

Sridevi, who would have turned 60 years today, left an indelible mark on Indian cinema with her acting repertoire. The renowned actress passed away in 2021. She was an A-lister in Tollywood after blockbusters like 'Vetagaadu,' 'Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari,' and Devata' before conquering Bollywood.

 "Surely, the film industry is missing one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema," says legendary Tollywood cinematographer-turned-producer S Gopal Reddy, who produced an interesting Telugu film 'Kshana Kshanam' with Nagarjuna and Sridevi in the lead. "She was a thorough professional and disciplined to the core and was a producer's actor. She managed to allocate good number of dates for our relatively small film 'Kshana Kshanam' amidst her big ticket Bollywood movies like 'Khuda Gawah', 'Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja' and 'Chandini," he says and adds, "She was also mentally strong and committed about her work. During the shooting of our film, she lost her father, Ayyappan, and her mother, Rajeswari, took ill. Yet, she completed our film in 10 months since she didn't want a producer like me to suffer, and that attitude took her to enviable heights."

He also recalls working with her as a child artiste too. "As I worked as an assistant, I could observe her natural performances as a child artiste in movies like 'Badi Panthulu' and 'Amma Mata,' and we could spot a spark in her, and she proved all of us right," he adds.

On her making waves in Bollywood in 80 and 90s, he says, "She is a talented actress and could express a gamut of emotions with ease. Besides her gorgeous looks, she was also a wonderful dancer, and both combined, she could scale new heights in Bollywood, despite hailing from the south," he informs.

He recalls how she would sob while mugging Hindi dialogues on the sets of the Hindi film 'Inquilab'. "I happened to go behind the sets for setting up lighting as a cinematographer, and I was shocked to see Sridevi in tears. She told me that the film was taking longer than usual because she couldn't deliver her dialogues in Hindi properly. It was a different story that she soon mastered the Hindi language with her commitment to overcome any hurdle in life and proved her mettle," he concludes. This incident has a close resemblance to how the actress gets a hold over a foreign language in her film English Vinglish with her strong will and determination.

Meanwhile, her husband, Boney Kapoor, took to Instagram to post a throwback photo with Sridevi and wrote, "Happy Birthday." Their younger daughter Khushi Kapoor also shared a throwback photo of the late actor. She wrote 'Happy Birthday Mama' and added a white heart emoji in the post. Janhvi reposted her father's post on her Instagram story.