Sridevi fans in Coimbatore reminisce about the doe-eyed beauty

COIMBATORE: The photos may have faded over time, but the moments she spent with late actress Sridevi in nearby Coonoor years ago are still fresh in the mind of Chandra Golecha, a homemaker in the city. She had spent an entire day in Coonoor watching the actress on the set of ‘Mr

Bechara

’ starring Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher, directed by K Bhagyaraj.

Though the actress did not have strong connections with the city, she had spent a good amount of time here shooting for various films, before she became a big star in

Bollywood

, city-based historian CR Elangovan said. “There was a family on the Devanga High School Road that had financed her film Moondram Pirai. Several of her films were shot in the Nilgiris district,” he said.

For Prabhakaran, a businessman here, the news of the actress’s death came as a shock as he had been part of her 50th birthday celebrations held in Chennai. “I had visited Chennai for the celebration and we all took photographs with her. She spoke to all of us very politely and even gave us autographs,” he said.

Pukhraj Jain, a resident of R S Puram, remembers the actress as very quiet, but polite. “I owned a house in Coonoor. ‘Mr Bechara’, the remake of Tamil film ‘Veetla Visheshanga’, was shot on my property as I was acquainted with director Bhagyaraj. The shoot went on for about 3-4 days and she stayed with us. She used to be very quiet, but polite. As soon as the news about the shooting spread, the entire town gathered in front of our house to see her. She was patient enough to take pictures with everyone who came to see her. But, we were in a tough situation as we did not know how to manage the crowd,” he said.

Urmila Chordia

, a resident of the Nilgiris district, said she had fond memories of film shootings where Sridevi was present. “I met her when she came for shoots. She always came across as a very nice person. She had a great charisma and charm that could not be missed,” she said.

Apart from those who met her, Sridevi’s fans here said they would always remember her as the bubbly superstar. “My cousin would not eat her food unless we play the audio cassette of the film ‘16 Vayathinile’. I couldn’t understand that craze until I once saw her at the Coimbatore airport. She was extremely beautiful,” added

Rajesh Govindarajulu

, another resident.