The news of veteran actor Sridevi's death comes as a shock to family members, the film fraternity and fans. The actor, who was 54, breathed her last in Dubai where she had gone to attend the wedding of her nephew Mohit Marwah. The actor started out as a child artiste and went on to become the first female superstar of the Indian film industry. She worked in and conquered Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films with her acting prowess, comic timing and ethereal dancing skills.
In a career spanning over four decades, she delivered quite a few memorable hits including Mr India, Lamhe, Khuda Gawah, Chaalbaaz, Nagina and English Vinglish.
Shekhar Kapur's cult classic Mr India starred Anil Kapoor alongside Sridevi and turned out to be a huge hit in its time. If Anil's magical invisibility created a stir, Sridevi's overwhelming presence in the film garnered attention in equal measures. The film was a commercial success as was its track Hawa Hawai, which went on to be remixed and re-featured in quite a few films thereon. Sridevi plays Seema, a journalist who was referred to as Hawa Hawai in the film. On being alerted about a smuggler's entry in the country, Seema poses as an exotic Hawaiian dancer, who sings in Hindi and tries her hand at uncovering the secrets of the smuggler. Kavitha Krishnamurthy’s vocals, Saroj Khan's catchy choreography, Laxmikant-Pyarelal's doozy music, Javed Akhtar's joyous lyrics, Shekhar Kapur's nuanced direction and Sridevi's mesmerizing screen presence- they all came together and gave Hindi cinema a film for the ages, way back in 1987.
But as it goes, the legacy stays on. The song had a brief mention in Mira Nair's critically acclaimed Salaam Bombay! (1988) wherein a little girl in a brothel dances to the tunes of the popular song.
Later in 2011, Bejoy Nambiar's film Shaitan used a modish recreation of the original track wherein Suman Sridhar and Prashant Pillai had turned the foot-topping number into a seductive song. The song was opened to a mixed response- more on the negative side though.
Amole Gupte in 2014 titled his skating-based film Hawa Hawaai. Arjun, a boy working at a tea stall aspired to become a skating champion and his talent was honed by Aniket, a skating coach.
More recently, Suresh Triveni breathed life into the song again with Vidya Balan taking the centre stage in 2017. The Tumhari Sulu version was perhaps the closest one and managed to retain the essence of the original. A sari-clad Vidya brought to screen a similar energy and mischievous expressions as she shook a leg with Neha Dhupia and Mallishka among others.
Not just Hawa Hawai, Sridevi had an unusual enthusiasm that could light up every song, every frame and every film she was in. Her song Kaate Nahi Kat Te from Mr India was paid tribute to in Sachin Kundalkar's Aiyyaa wherein Rani Mukerji danced to the tunes of the sexually-charged song. A part of the song was also used in Salman Khan's debut film Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989 as part of the Antakshari round and as an answer to the challenge of saying I love you in public. The track was tried to be used in Sonakshi Sinha-John Abraham starter Force 2 but the song failed to create any magic.
Sridevi's apsara look from 1983's Himmatwala was recreated in 2013 for a film of the same name. Starring Ajay Devgn and Tamannaah Bhatia in key roles, the film included remixes of two of Sridevi's popular songs including Naino Mei Sapna and Taki O Taki.
If the players of big screen tried their hands at recreating the magic of Sridevi, the award functions on the small screen were not far behind. Several actors including Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonakshi Sinha have taken over the stage and paid tribute to the original Chandni of the Hindi film industry.
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