It’s hard to imagine the sheer scale of Sridevi’s superstardom. She wasn’t just an actress, she was an icon whose incredible work ethic defined an entire era of Indian cinema. While her later roles are remembered for their nuanced performances, fans still fondly recall the 1980s, a time when she was working at a pace that’s almost impossible to believe today. The late legendary actress once shared a story from that golden era that perfectly captured the “madness” of her schedule and it’s as hilarious as it is mind-boggling.
The relentless schedule
While promoting her 2017 film ‘Mom’ on the popular Marathi show ‘Chal Hawa Yeu Dya’, Sridevi opened up about the busiest phase of her career. She recalled a time when she was juggling so many films simultaneously that she shot 30 different song sequences in just 30 days.Sridevi admitted that this relentless pace which often had her working multiple shifts a day, led to a very funny problem: all the films started to blur into one.
The ‘hero’s wig’ trick
With scripts and characters merging, Sridevi revealed to the astonished hosts that she had developed a simple yet hilarious trick to figure out which film she was shooting for.She confessed, “After two or three songs, I would get confused about which film it was. I could only recognise it by looking at the hero’s wig.”Laughing, she elaborated, “He keeps changing the wig. So you’d know, this is the second picture, and this is another picture… because the wig has changed!”
A glimpse into the 1980s work culture
This anecdote perfectly highlights the fast-paced, multi-shift work culture of the 1980s, a time when Sridevi, often paired with stars like Jeetendra, would juggle numerous productions simultaneously.It was this tireless dedication that cemented her status as one of the most prolific and hardworking actors in Indian cinema history. The story also stands in stark contrast to the meticulous, one-film-at-a-time approach she later adopted in films like ‘English Vinglish’ and ‘Mom’.
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