Mystique that lives on still

Ask Mummy was her nickname among the film press primarily because that would be her answer to most questions directed at her during interviews Mildly ironic that Mai for mother became her popular sobriquet in the film industry that she practically ruled as the first and perhaps the only proper panIndian star with 300 films in five languages over 50 yearsIts only befitting that the national movie heros epithet went to a selflearnt songanddance sensation For thats what has traditionally united India through its cinema culture mdash regardless of the region Just her reacutesumeacute would be hard to fit into text having worked six shifts a day for years on end How does one even sit down to write about such a prolific career let alone build a believable portrait given the mystique around the painfully elusive Sridevi mdash who continued to confound fans with mysteries surrounding her sudden death as wellWriter Satyarth Nayak has indeed attempted a diligently researched deeply felt entirely fanzoned filmled biography Sridevi The Eternal Screen Goddess PenguinEbury Press which I speedread over the weekend only to realise there is in fact no way to encapsulate Sridevis life and times without mythologising it furtherHow else do you decode the incredible rise of a star who started out playing the male Lord Murugan a role that got associated with her while she was only four years old mdashhiding behind her mothers pallu on the first day of shoot She starred in her first Hindi film in 1972 And yet for 20 years after despite a busy career in Bollywood she lived out of a hotel Centaur and Sea Rock while in Mumbai mdash flying in and out of MadrasRekha she once said was her only friend in the film industry Her mother Rajeshwari took care of all her business dealings She barely spoke with coactors between shots on the set Some of this reticence could have to do with language issues since Sridevi for the most part was fluent in neither English nor HindiBut this overall shyness with interacting with people in general and guarding her personal space might be natural for someone whod only lived in public glare since childhood Surely you begin to crave anonymity from a life thats been so incessantly public Also achieving unprecedented stardom mdash where the simple fact of her being on a films poster could guarantee masses in theatres mdash one would assume makes you wary of the perennially fawning fellows in the film industry as wellIts not like Sridevi had no rivals Madhuri Dixit more or less took over from Sridevi pretty much after the commercial success of Raja 1995 mdash a film that was centred on the female lead and a role that Sridevi had turned downLikewise Jaya Prada also from down South was a hard competitor who eventually lost out after Nagina 1986 that skyrocketed Sridevis fame into cult status with a part that Prada had first refused On pure returns on investment Nagina was a bigger hit than SholayBut what Nagina also did Nayak argues in his biography is deeply endear her withing the vast LGBT community mdash among whom Sridevi youll notice retains the topshelf space still There was something in the dual icchadari naag character dealing with inner demons and taking on the oppressor with an electrifying energy of song and dance that the gay community instantly identified withOf course there are plenty of memorable Sridevi movies before and after Nagina that one can make Bollywood top10 lists of mdash starting with Mr India 1987 Khuda Gawah 1992 and Lamhe 1991 on my page But to associate cosmic stardom with movies is missing the woods for the trees Nope it isnt about acting either Surely there are lots of great actors going to work on any given dayIts the myths folklore and legends that survive For Sridevi shoulders above her contemporaries at the boxoffice mdash taking on Amitabh Bachchan at the marquee starring opposite three generations of superstars both in the North and the South taking on nine double roles in her career possibly a world record mdash who went into a complete hibernation for 15 years leading a fully domesticated life added to an aura that was already impossible to beatThen she made a striking comeback with English Vinglish 2012 and Mom 2017 both deeply resonant with audiencescinema that had changed so much And then she disappeared For good Without notice of any sort What remains as reminisces are smatterings of trivia as folklore mdash her love for ice cream and anarkali her favourite drink pink walls and teddy bears in her home her obsession with horror films and resultant nightmareshellipThis is that sort of oldworld mythical stardom totally impenetrable for public access that I can see growing with each year that Sridevis no more Its also the kind of stardom that were unlikely to see repeated in the age of overinformationMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and 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