Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan, Sridevi worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films before entering Hindi films.
She started acting in the late 1960s, but her performance in Malayalam film Poombata (1971) won her the state award for best child artist.
Sridevi made her Bollywood debut as a child artiste in Julie (1975). Her first adult role was at the age of 13 in Tamil film Moondru Mudichu (1976).
Sridevi went on to become one of the biggest female stars India ever had. The government of India awarded her Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, in 2013.
Director Raghavendra Rao made her popular and superstar by pairing her with NTR senior and also Jeetendra. She died even before launching her daughters into the film industry.
Her most remarkable films include Sadma, Chandni, Himmatwala, ChaalBaaz, Mr India, Nagina, Mawali, Tohfa and Gumrah among others. After working in Judaai, she took a 15-year break from movies only to be back to winning hearts in her second innings with English Vinglish in 2012. She was last seen in 2017 film MOM.
Sridevi’s most memorable onscreen pairing was with her real-life brother-in-law Anil Kapoor, while her most successful films were produced by husband Boney Kapoor. She refused to work for popular film Baahubali due to some remuneration issues.
