Sridevi was ‘bright, sharp' but had to ‘play dumb' to avoid male actors' unwanted advances, recalls Poonam Dhillon: ‘She would say ask mummy'

Indian Express

01-07-2025

Bollywood actor Sridevi's stardom would make even top leading male actors burn with envy. Veteran actor and Sridevi's co-star, Poonam Dhillon, recently shared that despite being at the peak of her career, the late actor sometimes had to 'play dumb' in order to be accepted in the male-dominated film industry.
In an interaction with ANI, Poonam Dhillon shared that female actors often had to act naive and ignore lewd jokes made by male stars just to avoid unwanted advances. She said, 'The moment you start backslapping and cracking non-veg jokes with them, they used to think that it's a signal that you are a little more than willing for certain things. Being dumb was very convenient for years.'
Poonam admitted that even a superstar like Sridevi had to resort to the same tactic. She shared, 'Sridevi is such a brilliant actor, she cannot be so brilliant if she was dumb. Media would say she is dumb, because she would say, 'Ask mummy, ask mummy.' That was a ploy. She's a very bright and sharp girl. Otherwise how can she be such an amazing actor? I refuse to believe that that woman could perform on screen the way she did if she was dumb. It has to come from some space and it came from her mind.'
Poonam also spoke about working with Sridevi and how she admired her even before she became a major name in the Hindi film industry. Poonam recalled acting in the Hindi remakes of Sridevi's South films and said, 'I was a fan because I did 2-3 remix of her South Indian films. I starred in films like Judaai and Karma but she was this most subdued person.'
Neeta Lulla, who had worked extensively with Sridevi, had also lauded the actor's understanding of fashion and colours. She shared, 'The thing with Sridevi was that she was very particular about the colour she wore and the whites that she wore. And that was very challenging. She is the one person I have learned a lot from. I learned about styling, colours, which colour will go on an outdoor shoot and which will go during indoor shoot. Also, the kind of fabric that I should be using. She was very evolved in her mindset on every aspect of her character narrative, be it colours, makeup, fabric, anything.'
Sridevi passed away at the age of 54 after suffering a cardiac arrest in 2018. She was married to producer Boney Kapoor, and the couple had two daughters — Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor.