Talk:Sridevi

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Could someone verify the "Steven Spielberg" assertion in this article please, and if this is not possible, then may I suggest that it be removed. Splashprince 07:17, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how reliable IMDB biographies are, but take a look at http://university.imdb.com/name/nm0004437/bio -- Arvind 14:24, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for your response, Arvind. I think perhaps we should cite that IMDB website where that statement appears in the Sri Devi Wiki. However, I feel it is best to remove that statement altogether. Note that it mentions that she is the only Bollywood/Indian star who has been approached by Spielberg (Spielberg is misspelled in the Wiki). This is not verified by the IMDB source. Splashprince 13:38, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

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[edit] actor/producer

it is written that her occupation is actor. but she has retired as an actor. another thing: isn't she today working as a producer along with her husband? sridevi productions (incl. shakti etc.) --Dhirad 10:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I had read somewhere she was married to Mithun. On IMDB it says so too. Shakirfan 00:19, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Major rewrite

Someone had filled the article with fangush emphasizing her work in South Indian movies. I removed most of that material, and reformatted the South Indian filmographies. They need dates, and to be re-organized by date. I removed all the material re her co-stars. This article is about her, not about Kamal Hassan, etc. I also re-added the Mithun Chakravorty marriage, though I think we need some good sources for this. All I could find was a Telegraph India gossip column, and the trivia on IMDB. That's user-contributed, so not very reliable. Zora 20:23, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

This is ridiculous -- Sridevi acted in South Indian films from the time she was 10 years old till she was 25.. her best acting efforts were in South Indian films. Her Hindi film career, while certainly distinguished, is no comparison with her performance in South Indian films - either in range or in enabling her to show her acting talent. Please take the time to see some of her classic movies from earlier times before making comments. Also, I had the actor names next to these movies to show who her co-stars were, no intention to minimize her importance.

It's your personal opinion that her best efforts were in South Indian films. If you want to include more about her South Indian film career, then get us quotes from reputable critics and reliable sources. But -- I'm afraid that South Indian films just haven't had the world-wide visibility of Bollywood films. The English-speaking people reading the Sri Devi article are much more likely to have seen her in Lamhe or Mr. India than in a Tamil or Telegu film. So I think the Bollywood stuff should come first, by WP rules for notability. However -- if you can get quotes, or box-office figures, that would indicate which of her South Indian films were the most popular or got the best reviews from critics, then those would be a good addition to the article, as it might tempt Sridevi's Bollywood fans to look outside Bollywood. What was there was just a list of films, not readable and not enticing.
If you want to talk about who appeared in the film with her, then write articles about those films. It's not clear to me that her co-stars are in any way relevant to HER. (More South Indian film articles would actually be a good idea!)
We really can't have a career section that consists solely of "She appeared in X with Y and she was stupendously great in X. Then she appeared in Z with A, and she was amazingly good." There's no point in having a "career" section that merely repeats the filmography, with added star worship. There should be some analysis or narrative involved -- from notable critics, if possible.
It would also be a good idea to re-order all the South Indian films by date, rather than alphabetically. That gives a much better idea of her career. If you can find the info, box office figures for each film would be a useful addition. We aren't doing that now, but it would be so much more accurate than saying that something was a "hit" or a "flop" without any evidence given.
I'm sorry if your introduction to WP consists of having much of your work deleted -- however, I'm sure that with a little extra work, in terms of getting quotes and such, a lot can be restored. Zora 04:49, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

There is a lot of information about these South Indian movies of Sridevi. I will update once I gather it. I don't think Wikipedia's intention is to be "friendly" to a Western audience. The intention is to accurately reflect information. From that viewpoint, the substantial career that Sridevi had in South Indian movies, where she is still remembered as the most important actress of the the 1970s and 1980s needs to be correctly represented. Just because you are ignorant of south Indian movies, is not a good reason to misrepresent the artiste's career. - SudhirFX.

It's not just the "Western" world -- it's Bollywood that's popular in Russia, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, etc. South Indian movies just haven't traveled as far. You are probably right that there are gems of South Indian films that would be loved if known. However, your presentation was not such as to encourage people to find them!
I think it would help readers to visualize her work if you could dig up some information on just how she managed to appear in so many films. What was her filming schedule like? How much traveling did she do? Where did she live before she married and left the film world? Also, where do she and her husband live now ... Mumbai? Where in Mumbai? Can we get a picture of her house? Some information on her work as a child artiste would be nice too. How did she get into films if her father was a lawyer? Usually child artistes are recruited from film families. Human touches like that would make the article come alive. Just be sure to have good sources for anything you find. Zora 09:03, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
True, Bollywood is more popular than South Indian movies, but that is not the issue we are debating. The question is one of accurate representation of the career. Moreover, you already deleted one biographical truth that I had put in there. Her mother was an actress in Telugu movies - that is how she started in movies. SudhirFX.

[edit] Unmarked reversions

I pruned the career section until the South Indian section was the same size as the Bollywood section. I did so mainly by removing lists of films (that's covered in the filmography) and removing lists of co-stars. Why should anyone care about who appeared in a movie with Sridevi? This article is about her, not about male South Indian stars.

I also put all the filmographies into the proper format. Someone reverted to the older version without marking it as a reversion. That lost a lot of work, some of which was completely uncontroversial, and restored a version of the article in which the South Indian sections were too large and completely unreadable.

Lists are unreadable. That's why we have filmographies, or put lists in bullets. Editors, please consider that we are writing to be read. Write something of publishable quality, something that doesn't bore readers and cause them to just bail out of the article. Zora 23:05, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Important information deleted by Zora

I think many readers (including myself) like to know for example who are the directors who played an influential role in bringing forth her career, who were the co-stars (often even to check out videos or DVDs it is good to know the co-stars - sometimes they list only actor not actress names). Her South Indian career was much longer, involved more movies than her North Indian career - so it is quite natural that her South Indian career should be given a greater length.


The text deleted by User:Zora was this:

Many of her Malayalam movies were directed by I. V. Sasi. Some examples of her notable Malayalam movies are: Aadhyapaadam, Aalinganam, Kuttavum Sikshaiyum, Aa Nimisham. In 1976, she got her first big break in Tamil movies as a heroine in K. Balachander's Moondru Mudichu, where she starred opposite both Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth. In many ways, this movie was a landmark in Tamil filmdom. It was also one of Rajnikanth's first major movies. After Moondru Mudichu, Sridevi had a succession of huge hits with both these Tamil superstars. With Kamal Haasan, she acted in movies such as Guru, Sankarlal,Sigappu Rojakkal,Thaayillamal Naanillai, Meendum Kokila, Vaazhve Maayam, Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, Neela Malargal,Moondram Pirai,16 Vayathinile. With Rajnikanth, she acted in movies such as Dharmayuddham, Priya, Pokkiri Raja, Tucker Raja, Adutha Varisu, Nan Adimai Illai, etc. She was the number one actress in Tamil during the period 1975-85.

And I understand the problem:

  1. Some examples of her notable Malayalam movies are: What makes them notable? If no source of a reputed critic of a major newpaper is provided, this is completely POV.
  2. In many ways, this movie was a landmark in Tamil filmdom. Why? See above.
  3. It was also one of Rajnikanth's first major movies. Does not belong into Sridevi's article.
  4. both these Tamil superstars. Pov.
  5. With Kamal Haasan, she acted in movies such as Guru, Sankarlal,Sigappu Rojakkal,Thaayillamal Naanillai, Meendum Kokila, Vaazhve Maayam, Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, Neela Malargal,Moondram Pirai,16 Vayathinile. With Rajnikanth, she acted in movies such as Dharmayuddham, Priya, Pokkiri Raja, Tucker Raja, Adutha Varisu, Nan Adimai Illai, etc. Already mentioned in filmography and in the articles of those movies.
  6. She was the number one actress in Tamil during the period 1975-85. POV. Please provide sources for that.

IMHO, the entire paragraph isn't in a very neutral way and not exactly mentionable. Plus, it's unsourced.

Best regards, --Plumcouch Talk2Me 00:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, Zora has deleted # of days run for various South Indian movies - all of that information was sourced within Wikipedia itself. Earlier he had demanded information on box office records. Also, it is quite fair to talk about which movies of hers are important and calling out her co-stars. Moondru Mudichu launched 2 major careers in Tamil movies - that of Sridevi and Rajnikanth - as such it is worth mentioning it. You guys seem to want to avoid mentioning any other stars or directors in her page. That attitude is ridiculous. It is worth knowing for example that I. V. Sasi directed almost all her initial movies as a heroine in Malayalam movies. It is also an interesting fact that many of here Telugu movies and initial Hindi movies were directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. All that information is lost by Zora's deletions.
Zora has also deleted links within Wikipedia that appear to have been added to south Indian movies in the list by various people. I browsed through several other actor's pages in Wikipedia, and found that mentioning directors who influenced their career, listing their costars are all normal. In reply to Plumcouch's issue:
  1. With Kamal Haasan, she acted in movies such as Guru, Sankarlal,Sigappu Rojakkal,Thaayillamal Naanillai, Meendum Kokila, Vaazhve Maayam, Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, Neela Malargal,Moondram Pirai,16 Vayathinile. With Rajnikanth, she acted in movies such as Dharmayuddham, Priya, Pokkiri Raja, Tucker Raja, Adutha Varisu, Nan Adimai Illai, etc. Already mentioned in filmography and in the articles of those movies.

While those movies are listed in the filmography, the co-stars aren't. It is worth calling out these blockbusters in a summary, just like you guys have called out Lamhe, Judai etc. Where is the proof that Judai was a big hit? It seems that your standards of proof for South Indian movies are higher than for North Indian movies.

It is OK for you guys to spend paragraphs on rumors related to Mithun etc. whereas we can't mention who she acted with (facts). If this continues, I suggest that we have separate pages for Sridevi's south Indian and north Indian movies. It looks like you guys want to think that she is like Hema Malini, Vyjayanthimala etc - other south Indian stars who had primarily Hindi careers. That is not the case with Sridevi. Hindi came at the tail end of a distinguished career in South India in Sridevi's case. Face it, guys. {SudhirFX 01:12, 22 January 2007 (UTC)}

Who appeared in her movies with her belongs in articles for the movies, not in her article. Male stars don't cast any reflected glory on her. Put some of this energy into making articles for her movies. Instead of just claiming that her career was superrrific, how about some quotes?
Put the darn filmography into a table -- I've been too busy to do it, add a column for days that the movie ran and/or gross receipts. Some perspective added near the table might be a good idea, as establishing whether or not a film could be considered to have done well. All the days, and the figures, should have references! Actually it would be a good idea to do this for all films -- add as much financial information as possible, instead of saying HIT or FLOP, as all too many editors do. The lack of references, lack of context, and the spottiness of the info was what led me to remove the days run thing. Non-Southies have no idea whether or not X day's run is a good thing.
It might also be a good idea to write an article on the finances of South Indian films. From what I've read, nobody really knows. The producers cry poor to the tax collector and boast of big receipts when they think it helps. Stars don't get fixed salaries, they get shares of the receipts. At least that's what I've read. If you can get referenced info on all of that, it would help a lot. Hey, and a comment on Bollywood and Bengali finances would be great too!
Sure, I'm more familiar with Bollywood films than I am with South Indian films. But that's the state of the world. Bollywood is just plain bigger, however much you hate it. The one Indian store in Honolulu that rents Indian videos is 80% Bollywood films, because that's the market. (And it's not because the proprietors are from the north; they're from Fiji!) If you want to change that, you're going to have to do some outreach, some explaining, some research, and some writing that makes people want to read it. You can help make an audience for your star by making people want to watch her films. The text that you keep restoring doesn't do that. Zora 10:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move page

I think this page should belong at Sridevi. That is by far her most popular name. A quick google test shows around 1000 results for Sridevi Kapoor vs 388000 results for just Sridevi. For anyone who objects to the move, please discuss here. I will wait for around 3 days before moving the page. - Aksi_great (talk) 06:56, 6 May 2007 (UTC)