Beloved Bollywood actress Sridevi dead at 54

(CNN)Veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi has died suddenly in Dubai at the age of 54.

Citing family sources, the Press Trust of India reported Sridevi died late Saturday night after suffering a cardiac arrest in the United Arab Emirates city, where she was attending a family wedding.

Born August 13, 1963, Sridevi made her Bollywood debut in 1979 with the Hindi film "Solva Sawan," but broke through to the list of Bollywood's most highly sought-after actresses with the film "Himmatwala," four years later.

Sridevi's credits include some of the most watched films of the '80s and '90s, including "Mawaali" (1983), "Tohfa" (1984), "Mr. India" (1987), "Chandni" (1989), "Lamhe" (1991) and "Gumrah" (1993).

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Sridevi took a break from the limelight to raise two children with her husband, producer Boney Kapoor, before returning to star in the 1997 film "Judaai." In the film, she plays an ambitious housewife who inadvertently marries a man who can't afford the lavish life she aspires to lead.

The film was a box office hit, but it was Sridevi's performance in Gauri Shinde's 2012 hit, "English Vinglish," that really confirmed her comeback as one of Bollywood's most treasured and enduring talents.

Sridevi took the starring role of Shashi, an Indian housewife who only speaks Hindi but is thrust onto the streets of New York to help arrange her niece's wedding. After a series of humiliations, Shashi decides she needs to learn English and enrolls in a four-week crash course.

Sridevi, right, with daughters Jhanvi, center, and Khushi in 2012 at the premiere of "English Vinglish."

"The way the character has been crafted by Shinde, and interpreted by Sridevi, is gloriously feminine, and uniquely Indian," a review in the Hollywood Reporter said at the time.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent condolences to Sridevi's family on Sunday, saying he was saddened by her "untimely demise."

 

 

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