There are three movies I remember falling in love with as a kid. The undisputed No 1 amongst these was called `Okavango - The Jewel of the Kalahari´ and it did not feature human beings. Fellow bipeds had their work cut out if they were to come any close to the superheroes of this film who survived the incredible place, which was for one part of the year a scorching desert and the other a savage forest! Only a superhuman act – even by Bollywood standards – could come close.
The other two films were `Mr. India´ and `Chalbaz´ – both featuring Sridevi – my favourite boyhood human moviestar. Her acts would break my heart no matter how many times I had seen these films only to mend it each time. I have been influenced by very strong women, but I think Sridevi was probably the one of the other reasons why I have turned into a fierce feminist. While `Arun Bhaiya´ – Anil Kapoor’s character in Mr. India – needed to shield himself with his father’s invisible bracelet, it was Sridevi’s `Seema Didi´ who merely needed a fruit salad on her head, a Charlie Chaplin mustache and her own courage to tackle the dreaded `Mogambo´. She also brought the kids pastries and samosas!
These memories made me bubble with excitement on my way to den Haag yesterday, when my Australian and Greek colleagues and I went to watch Sridevi’s `English Vinglish´! After all, Sridevi had returned after fifteen years when Bollywood had come to be ruled by male leads and `heroines´ were seldom more than furniture.
She was magic! Once again her act breaks your heart only to mend it. So magical was her act that even my colleagues who do not understand Hindi, and despite only Dutch subtitles, they were “hungry-vungry” for more from Sridevi!
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