Book on late actress Sridevi launched in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: A book on the late Bollywood actress Sridevi was lately released in the capital city. Authored by Satyarth Nayak, launch of the book ‘Sridevi, The Eternal Screen Goddess’ took place during the monthly literary event 12th KLF Corner,  at the Oxford book store in the city. Ollywood actress Anu Choudhury was also present on this occasion. Debashis Samantray and Debamitra Mishra managed the event on Sunday.

Satyarth Nayak is known for his bestselling novel ‘The Emperor’s Riddles’.

Speaking on the occasion Nayak averred that Sridevi had even refused to act with Amitabh Bachchan for many years, saying she would accept a role opposite Big B only if the  female lead character has a central role to play as per the script.

Many years later, Amitabh Bachchan had to send a truck load of flowers to Sridevi to her movie set, to get her on board for the movie ‘Khuda Gawah.’

The success of Bollywood flick ‘Mr India’ made late actress Sri Devi conscious of her choices and she started demanding stronger roles for her films, the author added.

Again, when Sri was offered the role that was played by Juhi Chawla in ‘Darr’, she refused the offer saying that she was better suited for the character played by Shahrukh Khan, revealed Nayak.

Better Script Choice, Poor Diet Selection 

Sridevi managed to stay on the top despite her entry into the silver screen in an early age because she always chose better scripts than her counterparts in the Hindi movie industry.

The fact that Sridevi chose to come back after a gap of 15 years for the movie ‘English Vinglish’ reveals that she was waiting for a perfect script, where she could play a central role. Despite her better decisions while signing up a movie, she sometimes chose diets that had adverse effects in her health.

“She had issues of low blood pressure and many a times she would go for salt-free diet which was suicidal for her health. She had fallen many a times in bathroom earlier also, before that unfortunate event where she breathed her last,” Nayak said.

The author had started working on the book following Sridevi’s death. He managed to collect the lesser known facts about the ‘Chandni’ actress from her family members and close friends.

Sridevi was a compassionate person and even after being successful in Bollywood, she always feared public speaking. Whenever she was approached by a political party, she refused the offer saying she does not know what to speak to the public, said the biographer, who was born at Cuttack.

Directed by Rashmi Ranjan Parida ‘KLF Corner’ is a monthly literary meet that is being organised by the KLF team in association with Oxford book store.