Dubai: At that time we didn’t know that this would be the last time that Gulf News tabloid! would interview Sridevi over the phone.
But every sentence uttered by the icon — who died on February 24 in Dubai due to accidental drowning last year — gains new meaning.
In this phone interview, the late superstar Sridevi is predominantly speaking about her role in revenge thriller Mom, which won her the first National Award of her career posthumously.
She played Devaki, a step mother who avenges the gang rape of her teenage daughter on her own as an avenging vigilante.
“Being a mother helped me understand the emotions of my character [in Mom] better … Devaki is a strong mother and is very protective about her children … She can go to any extent for her children. I am protective about my kids and my concern for the kids, for their safety,” said Sridevi at that time.
She claimed that her personal experience of being a mother helped her play the role better.
Be warned, hearing the audio notes of this interview may be grimly disturbing for an ardent Sridevi fan, even morbid.
But listen carefully and you may just get a peek into the woman that Sridevi was.
She was house-proud and despite being 300 films old, she always gave her family her first priority. The 54-year-old even took a 19-year sabbatical from the world of films to focus on raising her two girls and that says something for a woman who gave up her life in the spotlight.
'My only request: Your children come first'
Asked if women can have it all in today’s age, Sridevi was staunchly positive.
“Yes, of course. They are working women today who are doing well. They are balancing both which is tough since you have to give you best for both. My only request: your children come first.”
She led by example, as this interview proves. Despite ruling the Bollywood industry for several deades, she claims she feels like a debutante with Mom perched to release in the cinemas.
“I don’t remember anything. It feels as if it’s my first film releasing … I feel odd watching myself on TV. I am a simple, ordinary mother.”
