For Karan Johar, Sridevi’s movies are a window to his childhood and the beginning of his love for Hindi cinema.
Growing up in South Bombay, Karan said not many kids in his locality were interested in Hindi cinema in ’80s but he loved the way Sridevi connected with the audiences. Sridevi passed away in February last year. “For me, today and every moment of Sridevi takes me back to my entire childhood and my entire being and my passionate love for movies and my absolute obsession with Hindi cinema. I think she has a large part to do with it. I can’t recall the moment when I felt madly in love with her. I was her biggest fan,” Karan said at the book launch here on Sunday evening.
Karan, who launched “Sridevi – The External Screen Goodess”, written by Satyarth Nayak, in Mumbai, said while Hindi cinema was a low priority for children around him, he just sat at home and watched movies, including all of Sridevi’s work. “My love story began with her and it just never ended,” he said.
Reminiscing an incident when he chose Sridevi’s film over his father’s own movie, Karan said, his father, late filmmaker Yash Johar, was upset with him as he went to see Mr India instead of Mukkadar Ka Faisla, which was released by his father.
It was during the making of her father’s 1993 production Gumrah when Karan met Sridevi and the director said he found her to be quite reticent.
“I was dying to be her best friend, tried everything, talked to her but she was always quiet. She took compliments and adulation just like how she would treat silence, like it would not bother her.” (PTI)
