Iconic actress Sridevi passed away on February 25 in Dubai at the age of 54, leaving the country shocked. Her mortal remains is expected to be flown in today to Mumbai.
Sridevi, dubbed as India’s first female superstar, has acted in over 300 films in Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil. Tributes started pouring in soon after the news of her sudden demise was reported. Through her numerous films, Sridevi won hearts not just in India but across the world.
Here’s a look at some of the tributes that came in the international press.
The international news agency Reuters reported her death giving details of her career and called her the first female superstar of Bollywood. “Through the 1980s and 1990s she charmed audiences in female-centric films such as Chandni (Moonlight) and Lamhe (Moments), drawing praise for her comic timing in Chaalbaaz (Trickster) and Shekhar Kapur’s Mr India, playing feisty characters in contrast to the traditionally coy Bollywood heroine,” Reuters reported.
The BBC described Sridevi as “a fluid talent”, who can simply handle any genre with ease. They dedicated a particular section as fan reaction and displayed tweets from many young celebrities who still adore her. She debuted as a lead actress in Bollywood in 1978, soon becoming one of India’s biggest film stars.
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CNN‘s Hilary Whiteman did a special feature on Sridevi covering her career and added critics like Rajiv Massan’s comments on her successful career. “A great beauty, a talented actress, a brilliant dancer, a delightful comedienne, she is a true legend,” explained by Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at the SOAS University of London.
The Washington Post headlined the news as ‘Sridevi, Bollywood leading lady of ’80s and ’90s, dies at 54’. The obituary said, “first female superstar in India’s male-dominated film industry. She used one name onscreen, like many leading ladies of her generation, and was known for her comic timing and her dancing skills, a great asset in the song-and-dance melodramas that are a staple of mainstream Indian cinema.”
The Guardian, called her death as the ‘grieving day for India’.
Peter Bradshaw wrote: “Sridevi’s face was her fortune: beautiful, with a cherubic guilelessness that enabled her to play romance, musicals, drama, comedy and indeed action. Fantasy and fun were the solvents for her sexiness… She was the nation’s lover, friend, kid sister and then in the 21st century – when she extended her celebrity yet further as a TV sitcom player and reality show judge – she became the nation’s mum, though a mum with an undimmed romantic life.”