‘16 Vayathinile’ to ‘Moondram Pirai’, Sridevi’s best performances till date

Moondru Mudichu (1976)

‘Moondru Mudichu’ became an important film for Sridevi and Rajinikanth. The film directed by K Balachander tells the story of college girl Selvi (Sridevi), who falls in love with Balaji (Kamal Haasan). A little later, she discovers that Balaji’s friend Prasath (Rajinikanth) is secretly in love with her. The story takes a drastic turn after Prasath kills his own friend Balaji for Selvi. Upon release, ‘Moondru Mudichu’ became successful at the box office. It was widely appreciated for a superb performance by Sridevi and Rajinikanth. In the Malayalam version, Kamal Haasan played the anti-hero character.

It became a landmark film in the history of Tamil cinema. ‘16 Vayathinile’, directed by Bharathiraja is the story about a sixteen-year-old girl called Mailu (Sridevi) and focuses on her vulnerabilities. Apart from Sridevi, the film is still remembered for a stellar performance by actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, who play Parattai and Chappani respectively. ‘16 Vayathinile’ remains to be one of Sridevi’s best performance till date. The songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja became a smash hit, especially ‘Senthoora Poove’. ‘16 Vayathinile’ was extremely successful at the box office and has achieved a cult status over the years.

After the commercial success of ‘16 Vayathinile’, Kamal Haasan and Sridevi reunited for Bharathiraja’s ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’. The psychological thriller tells the story of a psychopath Dileep (Kamal Haasan), who kidnaps women and kills them. He meets Sarada (Sridevi) at a textile shop and falls in love with her. Dileep tries to kill Sarada after she finds out about his past. Based on the life story of Raman Raghav, the film became an out-and-out money spinner at the box office. It was later remade in Hindi as ‘Red Rose’ with Rajesh Khanna in the lead.

Sridevi and Kamal Haasan once again teamed up for Balachander’s Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu, which dealt with the rampant unemployment issue in the ‘80s. Kamal Haasan played the angry young man Rangan and Sridevi played his girlfriend Devi. After the success of the film, ‘Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu’ was remade in other languages. Even today, the film is cherished by fans mainly for the song ‘Sippi Irukkuthu’. ‘Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu’ became a trendsetter and several films were made on the similar lines.

Sridevi has worked with superstar Rajinikanth in several successful films. Johnny is one such film that explores a love story between Archana (Sridevi) and her ardent fan Johnny (Rajinikanth). Things take a turn when Archana finds about Johnny’s past, a petty criminal. On the other hand, Vidyasagar (also Rajinikanth) is charged with a murder. What happens between Johnny, Vidyasagar and Archana forms the rest of the story. ‘Johnny’ directed by Mahendran was a huge hit at the box office. Sridevi won acclaim for her performance in the song ‘Kaatril Enthan’.

‘Meendum Kokila’ is a homespun story about the lives of couple Kolika (Sridevi) and Subramaniam (Kamal Haasan). The story takes its shape when Subramaniam meets actress Kamini. Sridevi won her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her excellent portrayal of the Brahmin girl Kokila. The song ‘Chinna Chiru Vayathil’ became a lullaby for many. Last year, a digitally remastered version of ‘Meendum Kokila’ hit the screens.

Perhaps the best performance of Sridevi to date. It tells the story of Bhagyalakshmi/ Viji (Sridevi), who suffers from retrograde amnesia. She gets rescued by Cheenu (Kamal Haasan) from a brothel. The rest of the film is a heartwarming love story between Cheenu and Viji. Upon release, the distributing climax of the film left the audience in teary-eyed. Directed by filmmaker Balu Mahendra, ‘Moondram Pirai’ received an overwhelming response from the audience. It was later remade in Hindi as ‘Sadma’ that became an average grosser at the box office. However, the film has a cult following among youngsters.

Kamal Haasan and Sridevi have worked together in most of her Tamil films and ruled the roost in the ‘80s. ‘Vazhve Maayam’ is the Tamil version of Devdas, which was directed by R Krishnamoorthy. It had Kamal Haasan essaying the role of Devdas-inspired Rajasekaran, while Sridevi played his girlfriend Devi. The film became highly successful at the box office. Ironically, the song ‘Devi Sridevi’ was a huge hit.