What I learnt in the week that we covered Sridevi’s death
As journalists, we took it upon ourselves to cover the news of Sridevi honestly and accurately, leaving nothing to speculation or rumour mongering
When the Bollywood comedy-drama English Vinglish released in 2012, my parents were probably one of the first few residents from Sharjah to rush to the cinema nearest to our home. The movie starred Sridevi Kapoor, an actor who was one of India’s greatest and most versatile. With English Vinglish, she returned to film acting.
That night my dad had said, “It’s Sridevi’s comeback movie. I’m sure it’s going to be really good.” And with that, he dragged the entire family to the theatre.
I ended up watching the film six more times. Even after the long hiatus from acting, the actor had lost none of her charm.
During a career spanning five decades, Sridevi was a huge box office success who captivated India and I had seen most of her movies. From Sadma to
Mr. India, and numerous Tamil films. All her films had in some way left a lasting impression on me.
So on the late night of Saturday, February 24, when I saw a tweet that said she was no more, I felt shock. I was overcome by the feeling that I’d lost one of my own. A part of my childhood was gone. I alerted my colleagues that she had died in Dubai. It wasn’t easy to fall asleep that night. I kept thinking of the movies she’d acted in and what they meant to me.
The next morning, I woke up to my phone ringing. It was 7.30 am, and I already had six missed calls from my editor, two missed calls from my colleagues, and five other calls from other journalists in the UAE. I was flooded with messages as well. “Is it true Sridevi died here in Dubai? Which hospital is her body in?”
The actor was in the UAE to attend her nephew Mohit Marwah’s wedding. After the wedding celebrations in RAK, the actor came to Dubai.
After it was certain she had passed away — in the bathtub — I knew I had to get to work instantly. Reporters from my team were desperately trying to find where her body could be. We were also pursuing leads with the Dubai Police.
Without a moment to waste, I called a source at the Indian diplomatic mission (Consulate General of India) in Dubai, and he confirmed what the media was saying. However, he added, “She was found dead in a bathroom at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel and her body was moved to Rashid Hospital in Dubai.”
Khaleej Times was the first to report this particular piece of information regarding her death, and though we’d updated this report online, I realised that the story was far from over.
We broke the story on Sunday morning, and what ensued was four nail-biting days of trying to find out more details of her death, and waiting for her body to be repatriated back home to India.
This was one of the most high-profile deaths to have taken place in Dubai in recent times. As journalists, we took it upon ourselves to cover it honestly and accurately, leaving nothing to speculation or rumour mongering. The process was played out on all channels — print, web, and social media.
By Sunday afternoon (Feb 25), we learnt that her body was moved to the Forensics Department.
After that was a long wait. We constantly hounded the police and forensic department officials for comments about the cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it.
We broadcast hourly updates via Facebook. Those were watched locally and internationally, including by our media counterparts in India, who were broadcasting it on their channels. That week, Khaleej
broadcast 30 videos on Sridevi including 25 FB lives for a total viewership of over two million.
On the second day, we did live web blogs. A core team was formed, consisting of two reporters, our principal correspondent for Dubai Police Amira Agarib and myself, our video team editor Abhishek Sengupta, video journalist Rahul Gajjar, and two interns. We became a tight unit and kept a close eye on developments.
On the afternoon of Monday, February 26, an autopsy report was released and the cause of death was confirmed: ‘death by accidental drowning’.
We had camped outside the Forensic Department, and every morning from 8am to 11pm, we waited to provide information to our readers. We spoke to fans who waited outside to pay their respects to the late star, we made connections with forensic department staff.
Police officials told us that protocol was being followed. It wasn’t that they were delaying the process but the long wait led to speculation about the circumstances surrounding her death.
Finally on Tuesday afternoon, the Dubai Media Office revealed in a tweet that the ‘case is closed’.
A public prosecution source told Khaleej Times: “The forensic report showed her death was an accident and foul play has been ruled out so the case has been closed”. Her body was going back home to Mumbai, India, for a state funeral.
As much as Sridevi’s death broke my heart, covering it was something that we, as UAE journalists, took as a challenge. The accurate reportage pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in the UAE media and what was not.