‘I WORRY ABOUT MY DAUGHTER’S ENTRY INTO BOLLYWOOD’
Like any mom, she is apprehensive, but Sridevi is also supportive of Jhanvi’s career choice
As an actor, Sridevi practically owned superstardom in the ’80s and early ’90s, with films such as Himmatwala (1983), Mr India (1987), Chaalbaaz (1989), and Khuda Gawah (1992). Marriage to Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor followed. In her comeback film English Vinglish (2012), we saw another Sridevi, in a touching performance as a woman who’s hesitant in the big wide world, but is fiercely devoted to her children.
She returns as a mom, in a film named Mom, releasing next month, and she talks to us as a mom, about her elder daughter Jhanvi’s probable Bollywood debut.
The revelation is this: after all these years, Sridevi still feels nervous before the release of a film. “I can say that I feel like a newcomer, as if it’s my first film,” she says.
Her films these days are few and far between — they are, however, impactful — because, she says, “My children (Jhanvi and Khushi) always come first. I shot for English Vinglish during the [school] holidays. Since Balki (the director) is a dear friend of Boneyji, they planned the shooting when the children had a two-month holiday. So, I was in New York, and my kids were with me. The same thing happened with Mom.” That shoot was done in Georgia (in the US) over 20 days.
All eyes are now on Jhanvi, a confident teenager. Mom Sridevi says, “It’s too early for me to talk about her debut, but Jhanvi has chosen her career, and I have to support and encourage her, [the way] my mother supported me.” She worries, though. “The degree of worrying was more when Jhanvi told me that she wanted to be a part of the industry.”
Sridevi is “grateful” to cinema for all that it has given her, but she says, “Sometimes, you don’t want your child to be exposed so much... but their happiness is ours. So, if they’re keen [on anything], as parents, we should support them.”