Bollywood icon Sridevi passes away

MUMBAI, Feb 25: Bollywood actor Sridevi passed away on Saturday night after a cardiac arrest, confirmed her brother-in-law Sanjay Kapoor. She was 54.

“Yes, it is true that Sridevi passed away. I just landed here, I was in Dubai and now I am flying back to Dubai. It happened roughly around 11.00-11.30. I don’t know more details yet,” Sanjay confirmed.

Sridevi was reportedly with her husband Boney Kapoor and daughter Khushi at the time of death. They were with the entire Kapoor family in UAE to attend the wedding ceremony of Mohit Marwah.

Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan, Sridevi worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films before entering Hindi films. She started acting in the late 1960s, but her performance in Malayalam film Poombata (1971) won her the state award for best child artist.

Sridevi made her Bollywood debut as a child artist in Julie (1975). Her first adult role was at the age of 13 in Tamil film Moondru Mudichu (1976). Sridevi went on to become one of the biggest female stars India ever had. The government of India awarded her Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honor, in 2013.

Her most remarkable films include Sadma, Chandni, Himmatwala, ChaalBaaz, Mr India, Nagina, Mawali, Tohfa and Gumrah among others.

After working in Judaai, she took a 15-year break from movies only to be back to winning hearts in her second innings with English Vinglish in 2012. She was last seen in 2017 film MOM.

Sridevi is survived by Boney Kapoor and two daughters – Janhvi and Khushi. She was Boney’s second wife. Her elder daughter Janhvi is set to make her Bollywood debut this year with Karan Johar’s directorial Dhadak. AGENCIES