Bollywood Stars

Sridevi ‘s Himmatwala (1983) was a super hit. Himmatwala remake (2013) was a super flop.

Many film critics predicted that Himmatwala (2013) would be completely  surpassed by Amitabh Bachchan’s legendary comeback film after the accident  happened  on the sets of the same film, Coolie.

But despite all odds, the film became the fourth highest box office grosser in 1983.

The producer Sajid Khan has given huge effort to Himmatwala remake. It was a big budget film. Everyone predicted that it would a blockbuster.

Why then was the movie super flop? Because Tamanna Bhatia is not Sridevi.

Watch well the performance of Sridevi in her old movies. She was so impressive and so good in acting skills. Tamanna is attractive and has perfect body shape but she does not have the magic of Sridevi.

I was a college student when Sridevi was on her peak. When any Sridevi movie like Justice Choudhury, Mawaali or Inqilab was released, all tickets were sold at cinema halls. We used to watch her films sometimes on VCP at a congested room paying 5 rupees for 2 movies.

Sridevi was on her peak was a bigger actress than contemporary Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma. Srivedevis movies used to grosser between 5 to 9 crores in the early 80s. When inflation is adjusted the figure would somewhere between 150 to 200 crores.

There was limited possibility of overseas grossing. There was no digital distribution of movies. Grossing would be many times higher if internet were present at that time.

I was a young boy that time. I have seen how popular Sridevi was at her peak. Every young man had a Sridevi photo in his wallet.

Some people consider Hema Malini as the first female superstar of Bollywood. Hema’s Seeta Aur Geeta was compared with Sridevi’s Chaalbaaz as both the actresses had played double roles in their films. Hema Malini entered film industry before Sridevi. She was a great star, too. But if compare the popularity between the two, Sridevi had an edge.

I think, Sridevi is not just the first female superstar but probably the biggest female superstar of Bollywood.