Sridevi tribute: Five amazing Sridevi movie songs

What are your favourite Sridevi songs? There are many intense memories I possess of the two-month-long summer vacations that we spent down south at my grandmother’s village in the early nineties.

One clear recall is my first vacation in 1992 as a ten-year-old. Yash Chopra’s Lamhe had released in November 1991 and all through April 1992, on power cut induced candlelit evenings, my similarly-aged cousin sister from Mumbai unfailingly danced to Chudiyan Khanak Gayeen (the bangles clinked…).

For a boy who loved to play cricket and run about, this untiring, enthusiastic dancing began irritating me after a week. Unfazed, the cousin sister kept at it, singing the song and swaying in every direction, every evening, with an unconscious, uninhibited flow that only children possess.

Now that I can calmly look back at it, the effect of Sridevi’s amazing dancing abilities on a ten-year-old girl was quite phenomenal. Sridevi’s onscreen connection with the young and old was uncanny.

Madhuri Dixit vs Sridevi? 
Was Madhuri Dixit the better onscreen dancer or was Sridevi the best?

It’s hard to decide, that debate will never cease. Also, don’t forget the directors, choreographers and cinematographers who played a huge part in creating the persona.

Anyway, here is my list of the best danced, choreographed and picturized Sridevi songs.

It took years of repeat viewing from adolescence to my teenage years to realize what exactly transpired in those five odd minutes. The minutes when Mr.India momentarily transformed into a movie for a “not so young” audience. What magical, seductive moments when Sridevi sways to Kate Nahin Kat Te Din Ye Raat with Anil Kapoor appearing, disappearing at will!

Sridevi has been drenched a lot onscreen in her 80’s films, sometimes to vulgar, provocative effect. But here the visuals and situation hold back any rash lovemaking scenes, with Sridevi having to imagine an invisible Mr.India dancing with her. She pulls it off with a breathless, scintillating burst of youth, pure sensuousness and a touch of scandal. You just can’t look away!       

Another song about clinking bangles echoes through generations of Hindi film song lovers.

The song is still referenced and celebrated. In Tanu Weds Manu (2011), Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) sits quietly by a bonfire with Manu (R Madhavan) and then gleefully blurts,”Looking at this lonesome jungle, this fire, this ambience, are you wondering if you are Lamhe‘s Anil Kapoor and me Sridevi and that I will start dancing to the Peacock song?”

For all the song and dance I was subjected to by my cousin sister way back in 1992, this is not an out and out dance song. Yash Chopra infuses a solemn silence into it with the desert night setting.

Sridevi queens the proceedings, attired traditionally, a painting-like ambiance to it, apart from the rare sight of a mustache-less Anil Kapoor and folksy Ila Arun.

It’s an iconic image, Sridevi standing out like a famous statue, a work of sheer art and womanhood at full bloom.

Sridevi’s ‘waiting for the lover’ expressions has its layers, as revealed later in this underrated, unconventional movie. Anil Kapoor’s character sees her in another light.

Chudiyan Khanak Gayee is a beautiful palette of longing, simply unforgettable.

Hawa Hawai 

Mr.India (1987)

Kavita Krishnamurthy/Javed Akhtar / Laxmikant-Pyarelal

A classic 80’s case of strange costumes, outlandish settings, frowning villains, absurd situations and in the middle of it all, Sridevi knocking this right out of the cinema hall.

No other female lead actress, except for Madhuri Dixit during that era, raised the bar as Sridevi did with her multiple comic expressions and moves.

Playing up a bit of Charlie Chaplin as she does in the film later, echoing Kishore Kumar’s madness, the rest is choreographer Saroj Khan and Sridevi’s daredevilry at work.

A mad, fun, freaky yet harmless joy of a song sequence.

Check the background dancers’ cheeky costumes out. A weird, birthday party vibes to it, going with the movie’s kid-friendly theme.

Chandni O Meri Chandni

Chandni (1989)

Jolly Mukherjee, Sridevi / Anand Bakshi / Shiv-Hari

The song perks up the film’s meandering proceedings in flashback mode and was very popular back then, especially for Sridevi’s impish, funny rendition of the female vocals.

On screen, the Rishi Kapoor-Sridevi interplay is great, despite the redundant dance routine, even as Yash Chopra pays tribute to his new-found mistress…Switzerland.

Other Notable Mentions   

The Kamal Haasan – Sridevi brilliance in the songs of Sadma (1983), the rage of hatred and revenge exuded in the songs of the big disaster Roop Ki Rani, Choron Ka Raja (1993), lots of awe-inspiring, superb dancing in ChaalBaaz (1989).

Now that she is suddenly gone at 54, her body reduced to ashes today, the celebration of her talent and apparent timelessness will continue.

Sridevi’s unexpected early demise has ensured her immortality in the hearts of millions of Hindi film lovers.