Star wars, the real-life version, is currently playing to packed houses in Bombay's tinsel town where an epic battle for the title of number one female star rages fast and furious. What adds pace to the race is the surprising fact that of the four leading contenders, three were comparative unknowns till very recently and the fourth hasn't made a film in the last ten years.
Ahead by a nose (quite literally) is a saucy southerner appropriately labelled "thundering thighs" by the film press, and with good reason. Sridevi, as she is better known, is the sensational sexily-packaged starlet from the south whose meteoric rise to the top has rudely dislodged such established stars as Hema Malini, Rekha and Zeenat Aman.
the skimpily-clad Sridevi gyrated onto the Hindi screen in a soap opera called Himmatwala. The role called for little more than doing a female impersonation of John Travolta opposite the ideal partner, 'Jumping Jack' Jeetendra. It was an explosive formula and the crowds loved every writhe and wriggle. And, the louder the wolf-whistles, the louder the ringing of the cash registers.
Today, a nose job later, Sridevi is the most sought-after actress in Bombay with a string of box office hits behind her and some juicy parts waiting in the wings. In a business where the number one spot is decided largely on the basis of the fee a star gets per film, Sridevi undoubtedly rules the female roost with her asking price reportedly in the proximity of Rs 12 lakh, a figure that even Hema and Rekha were unable to command at the peak of their careers.
Hot on Sridevi's heels, or rather thighs is another import from the ever-productive southern film scene, Jaya Prada.
Says Vinod Mirani of Trade Guide, tinsel town's bible: "Sridevi is an actress for the masses, Jaya is for the classes."
Sridevi may sizzle like a crisp masala dosa on screen, but off it she is a model of chaste decorum. She rarely speaks in public or to the press without first consulting her parents. In stark contrast to her bump-and-grind costumes, or lack of them, on the screen, she is decorously draped in sober saris off the sets, Says film distributor Ramesh Sippy: "It's amazing how she can switch on and switch off."
In a recent interview, Sridevi confessed candidly that despite all the daring and baring she does on screen. her most prized possession was her virginity. Jaya Prada and Meenakshi sport the same philosophy but the phenomenal success of Sridevi indicates that as far as the Hindi films audience is concerned, sex still reigns supreme.
Explains director Ramesh Sippy: "It is wrong to assume that the audience wants the girl next door or the one he can take home to mother. It is the girl he imagines himself with in bed. The girl who makes him feel good." Adds Dimple kapadia: "He is looking for fantasy, someone gorgeous, someone who can deliver the goods. Lots of oomph. Acting is secondary."
Not everybody, however, is impressed. Miaows columnist Devyani Chaubal: "South Indian girls are generally not interested in lovers but in buyers, a producer who comes with green notes wrapped in a hand towel is more important than everything."
PS: 1984 India Today article!! Not some trashy tabloid lol
Pushpa Impossible
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