Kiran Kumar is grateful to his friend and late filmmaker Mukul S Anand who lobbied for him to play Pasha, the villain’s role in his 1992 action epic Khuda Gawah. The role was initially written for the late legendary actor Amrish Puri, but Kumar is grateful it fell into his lap because it allowed him to work with two of the greatest actors of all time — Amitabh Bachchan and the late Sridevi.
“Sridevi ke sath mera ek salaam-dua ka rishta raha hai (I just had a cordial relation with Sridevi). She didn’t let anyone come too close to her. So I only used to greet her on set. But whenever she used to perform, I admired her,” said Kumar. He recalled his only longer interaction with Sridevi while filming the climax of Khuda Gawah, in an interview to Red FM.
“In the climax, I’m running. Amit ji and Sridevi are riding horses on either of my sides. They lift me up and then throw me off a mountain. That’s how Pasha dies. But as they lifted me up and continued to ride the horses, one of the horse knuckles hit my leg which then swelled up,” recalled Kumar.
“After the shoot, Sridevi got off the horse and asked, ‘Kiran, are you okay? You hurt your leg.’ I said, ‘Ya, it’s okay. It’ll get better.’ She said, ‘You should be careful. Why didn’t you get a duplicate for this shot?’ I said, ‘Madam, you lifted me up in this shot. It was great fun. Please don’t bother. Thank you very much.’ That was the only interaction I had with Madam. But that was more than enough,” added Kumar.
Kiran Kumar also hailed Sridevi as a versatile actor. Kumar quoted three films in which Sridevi plays characters completely different from each other — in a dramatic role in Balu Mahendra’s 1983 romantic drama Sadma, Pankaj Parashar’s 1989 comedy Chaalbaaz, and an action role in Khuda Gawah. “What has she not done? It’s sad she had to go so early. Her last film, Mom, was also really wonderful. I just wish she’s happy wherever she is,” said Kumar.
Sridevi died in 2018. She posthumously received a National Award for her final performance in Ravi Udyawar’s 2017 crime thriller Mom. She is survived by her husband and veteran producer Boney Kapoor, and daughters Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor, who also became actors after their mother’s death.
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Janhvi made her debut soon after that with Shashank Khaitan’s 2018 romantic drama Dhadak, backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. Kumar claimed Janhvi isn’t in the movies because of nepotism, but because she’s a beautiful and talented actor who’s handling her career really well. Khushi also followed suit, making her debut with Zoya Akhtar’s 2023 coming-of-age musical The Archies on Netflix India.
