Sridevi Starrer’s You Probably Missed

1.     Jaag Utha Insaan(1984):  This , according to me, is  the  most neglected  film of Sridevi’s vast and  far-ranging  oeuvre. She  played a Brahmin girl in love with a  Dalitboy(Mithun Chakraborty). Her dancing  with the  South Indian temples as  the backdrop is to die for.  Director K Vishwanath  who normally  preferred to work with Sridevi’s rival Jaya Prada here made an exception that made us Sridevi fans  drool in delight.Very few  films have captured this  classcal  side of Sri’s personality.This one  is  soup  for  the  eyes and  the soul.

2.     Bhagwan Dada(1986) :In this  Rakesh Roshan-produced  film  Sridevi was cast as a con-woman who pretends  to be  a hooker, takes moneyed men into hotel rooms, gets them drunk and runs  off with  their  money.The  role was  great fun to  play  and we can easily see Sridevi  having the  time  of her  life in the company of Rajinikanth and  the  12-year old Hrithik Roshan.

3.     Heer Ranjha(1992): The love legend was brought to the screen on  several  occasions, this  time  by  Hamesh Malhotra who  directed one of Sridevi’s most staggering hits Nagina  .Heer Ranjha was an  ambitious  film featuring Sri with her  future  brother-in-law Anil Kapoor and a terrific music score by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.  But  the  film didn’t work. See  it now  for Sridevi’s ethereal beauty and her  irresistible screen  presence. When she sings  Rab ne banaya mujhe tere liye in Lata Mangeshkar’s pristine voice, time really stands  still. I kid you not.

4.     Chaand  Ka  Tukda(1994): Sridevi possessed  this unique ability to  rise above the most banal  of  scripts. She  didn’t need direction.All she needed was to be told which way the camera was placed.And she  was off. She did two awful films  Chandramukhi and  ChaandKa Tukda  with Salman Khan. I  would go with  the latter to display her wide range , from vivacity to tenacity as she negotiated one  of the many corny  scripts  given to her during her career. Here she is Radha a woman out to usurp millionaire  Salman of his wealth.Who cares what she  was after as long as  we know what we were after. Sridevi never disappointed.

5.     Army(1996): Hold it it  right here.  Sridevi playing Sanjeev Kumar’s  role in  Sholay  hires a bunch of unruly mercenaries to take revenge for her husband’s murder. A routine revenge saga   lifted to  incredible  heights  of  dramatic  velocity by the one-woman army. This is one  Sridevi’s most underrated  performances. One  of  the many pleasures  of watching Army is to see Shah Rukh Khan in their only film together,as  her  husband.Pregnant and  passionate, Sridevi in Army is a  force of nature.Isn’t she always!