Sridevi passes away: Some lesser known facts about the screen icon

Sridevi Boney Kapoor, the celebrated Bollywood actor whose contributions to Indian cinema won her a Padma Shri award, died of a massive cardiac arrest in Dubai on Saturday. She was 54.

Here are some lesser known facts about the star:

Born on August 13, 1963

Sridevi Kapoor was born on August 13, 1963. She was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan upon birth. She started her career at the age of four in Thirumugham's devotional film, Thunaivan. She also acted as a child artist in the Hindi film, Julie. She is the first actress to have earned the ‘superstar' tag in Hindi cinema. Her father was a lawyer.

Sridevi was not comfortable talking in Hindi

When she made her debut in Bollywood, Sridevi was not comfortable talking in Hindi. Her voice was mostly dubbed by Naaz. Rekha had dubbed for her in the film, Aakhree Raasta. Sridevi dubbed her dialogues in Hindi for the first time in Chandni. While Rekha was the original choice for Chandni, and Jaya Prada had initially been offered Nagina, both the films eventually went to Sridevi and helped her cement her position in the industry.

Initial days in Tamil cinema

In her initial days in Tamil cinema, she was mostly paired with Kamal Haasan. In fact, Sridevi, Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth did several movies together where Rajinikanth portrayed the role of the antagonist.

In 2013, Sridevi received Padma Shri award

In 2013, the Government of India awarded Sridevi with the prestigious Padma Shri Award. She has won 5 Filmfare Awards for Best Actress in a leading role. Sridevi has two daughters named Jhanvi and Khushi.

Sridevi married Boney Kapoor in 1997

After her marriage to Boney Kapoor in 1997, Sridevi quit acting in films. She made a comeback to Hindi cinema in 2012 with the film English Vinglish. Sridevi tried her hands at television with a series called Malini Iyer in 2004 but it didn't meet with much success. Also a long-delayed film of her, Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin co-starring Akshay Kumar released in 2004. However both Sridevi and Akshay Kumar had disassociated themselves from the film by then.

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