Saddening, shocking and disturbing, Sridevi’s death has sent the whole nation into mourning. Cinema lovers cannot believe that the actress who charmed her way into our hearts for close to five decades is suddenly no longer with us. To say that Sridevi was magical was an understatement. I remember seeing her twice and being awestruck. One of the actors who is extremely saddened by her demise is her Malini Iyer co-star Mahesh Thakur. He romanced her in the sitcom, which was produced by husband, Boney Kapoor and directed by Satish Kaushik. Mahesh is also in a state of shock but says that he has very fond memories of her.
In an EXCLUSIVE statement to Bollywood Life, Mahesh said, “I remember her as this very charming, beautiful, talented and caring woman. Though she was a huge Bollywood actress, she had huge respect for TV. She had absolute respect. For her, it was work. In fact, she would say why don’t they make bigger TV sets, we are doing such a nice show with such nice sets. Malini Iyer was shot as a film. I remember we had gone to Canada and were shooting at this spectacular mountain range. We were one of the first shows to film abroad.” Like millions, Mahesh also felt that the news was a hoax at the start. (Also Read: Sridevi passes away: Arjun Bijlani, Gautam Rode, Karan Tacker shocked and deeply saddened)
He said,”I only took it seriously after it was flashed on some reputed news channels. It is not expected. She was so young. This was not her time to go. 54 is no age. It is unusual to hear of women dying from heart attack. It is not normal. I feel God has bigger plans for her. India has lost an icon.” Going down memory lane, he says, “Our best episode together was the party one where she gets a bump on her hand that goes bigger. The episode is on YouTube.” He says the first day was tough for him as a co-star. He says, “The first day was tough as I had to do romantic scenes. You know, you have to get physically close to do such scenes. I was worried what if I held her and she thought badly of me. I was trying to romance in the most decent way. She understood my nervousness and slowly put me at ease by talking about stuff other than work.”
He reveals that off the screen she spoke of family, education, kids just like any normal person. “That really set our chemistry. I have too many memories to put across in words. We worked together for two years. I met her recently where we exchanged pleasantries. I said we should catch up soon and she happily agreed. That meeting has been left unfinished. She was a gem of a woman. A wonderful wife and mother.”
Mahesh also reveals that she hated doing scenes where she did have to get angry and contort her face. “She was very graceful. She often said I hate screaming as the face gets contorted and can look very ugly on camera. It is a lesson for me. Till date, when I do an angry scene I check in the camera if my face is not looking contorted or funny,” he says. Truly, we have lost a nuanced performer. Stay tuned to BL for more scoop and updates…