Sridevi: From botox to bathtub, how media made a mockery of actor’s death

When reports rubbished claims of a cardiac arrest and declared that her death was caused by drowning and that her body contained traces of alcohol, news channels were quick to suggest foul play.

Indian Media on Sridevi : Celebrity deaths are their own brand of pain and sadness. They serve as a reminder of not just our own mortality, but that of our youth – the faces that remain frozen in time, holding on to the last memories of the person you were when you first saw them. These deaths don’t carry just grief with them, though. They catalyse a generation into finding old prints of movies and HD rips of songs they hadn’t heard in years.

That’s what should happen. But that’s not what was allowed to happen. Sridevi’s untimely death at 54 left a generation that wasn’t ready for its icon to die reeling. It wasn’t her time – and no one was quite prepared with words of bereavement for a contemporary. Usually, these deaths come with enough intimation to insulate people from the shock they bring with them. Sridevi’s death came like a rude, uncomfortable reminder of how we haven’t tamed death with the finesse we think we have mastered. It was possibly a combination of this shock and relative, perceived proximity that lead to the vicious dissections of the superstar’s death.

“Her implants, weight loss and excess doses of Botox shots regularly could also be the cause of Cardiac arrest.” Piyali Ganguly’s Comments on Sri Devi’s sad demise.

It started with a viral Facebook post that started doing the rounds on WhatsApp as soon as Sridevi’s death by cardiac arrest was announced. Piyali Ganguly’s paternalistic, contemptuous declaration of Sridevi’s inability to deal with the pressures of staying relevant in the industry spread like wildfire. It accused Sridevi of being weaker than she ‘should’ have been, wondered why Boney Kapoor didn’t ‘stop’ his wife from getting too many cosmetic procedures and going on too many diets.

It ended with a blanket damnation of Sridevi’s failure as what was, according to Ganguly, the most important facet of her being. She was accused of being a bad mother for leaving behind such a tragic legacy for her daughters.

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Sridevi is dead, and so is the self-regulation promise of Indian media

Outrage is not enough; it has to be understood and dealt with, and to some extent, accepted as an inevitable part of a quarter-baked media in a half-baked democracy. 

Indian Media on Sridevi : It is time to face a simple truth after the outrage over Indian media coverage of the death of Bollywood’s first female superstar, Sridevi: that outrage is not enough; it has to be understood and dealt with, and to some extent, accepted as an inevitable part of a quarter-baked media in a half-baked democracy.

In case you have not watched the prurient TV channels that made a macabre masquerade out of a solemn event (I confess even I did not watch much), the news in brief, elaborately tracked on the Web is this: they conjectured that the death was more than unnatural, hinted towards crimes and/or misdismeanours, and created scenarios and digital constructions that included a wine glass near a bathtub, a reporter crouching inside a bathtub, and detailed forensic measurements that would have been better off in a fictional channel specialising in crime.

But there are those who are outraged by the outrage over the media coverage, which has resulted in predictable and understandable articles that deride the fall of balance, ethics and responsibility in journalism. It is necessary to look beyond this outrage, at least to focus on the belief of the channels and their viewers who think they were indeed doing the right thing in “investigating” the death by drowning in a bathtub in a Dubai hotel.

Typically, celebrity death stories have three angles that editors would like to highlight: one is the news of the death itself, second is the manner of the death, and the third would be on obituary references, which in the case of achievers like Sridevi are phenomenal. Ideally, the news of the death would be reported in solemn tones, obituary references in laudatory tones and the manner of death in proportion to the detail.

It is in the last that TV channels have triggered outrage, as they virtually abandoned the first two angles and used recent events like her dancing in a wedding the previous week and her cinematic persona to create a construction that smacks of what they call yellow journalism. We could call it “third degree” journalism, given the channels’ tendency to behave like power-drunk interrogators.

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Sridevi funeral today at 3.30 pm, fans and bollywood pay last respect

The actor passed away late Saturday night in Dubai, where she had gone along with her family for the wedding of her nephew Mohit Marwah.

Sridevi Funeral : Bollywood icon Sridevi’s mortal remains have been kept at Mumbai’s Celebration Sports Club, where celebs and fans can pay their last respect to the actor. Actors Arbaaz Khan, Urvashi Rautela and Karan Johar were among the people who paid their last respect to the veteran actor at the club.

Her mortal remains arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday night and the funeral will take place today at 3.30 pm. Her family announced that Sridevi’s body would be kept at Celebration Sports Club in Lokhandwala for people to pay their last respect before it is taken for cremation.

“On behalf of Khushi, Jahnvi, Boney Kapoor, the entire Kapoor and Ayyappan families, a sincere thanks to the media for your continued sensitivity and support during this emotional moment,” a statement released by the Kapoor family said.

The actor passed away late Saturday night in Dubai, where she had gone along with her family for the wedding of her nephew Mohit Marwah.

Dubai officials handed over the body to her family yesterday after completion of all formalities, which took three days. The Indian embassy in Dubai had worked closely with UAE officials to ensure the process was completed in the least possible time.

The actor’s autopsy report had led to speculations over her death as the report stated that she died due to accidental drowning and not cardiac arrest as reported earlier. However, Dubai police has now closed the case as no foul play was apparently suspected by the investigators.

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Sridevi Funeral: Actor drowned; body still in Dubai

Sridevi’s death case took a new twist on Monday as her autopsy report revealed that she died due to accidental drowning and not cardiac arrest.

Business Standard News :  Veteran actor Sridevi’s mortal remains are still in Dubai, pending paperwork. After receiving the Autopsy report, the Dubai police has started examining the circumstances of the actor’s death. According to media reports, police are trying to recreate the sequence of events leading up to her death and have questioned those accompanying her, including her husband.

Meanwhile, Indian Envoy to UAE Navdeep Suri assured that the Indian embassy was trying hard to send Sridevi’s body to India at the earliest.

“Our embassy and consulate are working closely with local authorities to expedite the return of Sridevi’s mortal remains and also keeping Kapoor family apprised. It is our endeavour to send mortal remains of Sridevi to India at the earliest, ” Suri told ANI.

Sridevi’s death took a new twist on Monday as her autopsy report revealed that she died due to accidental drowning and not cardiac arrest as reported earlier. The autopsy report has also revealed that there were traces of alcohol in her blood.

Today, her body will be moved to the AL Muhaisana embalming unit and will be repatriated to Mumbai once all the paperwork and investigation has been completed.

There have been conflicting reports on the questioning of Boney Kapoor. According to several media reports, Boney Kapoor was summoned by the Dubai police for questioning. However, Dubai-based Khaleej Times reported that Kapoor was not summoned by the police. Kapoor was questioned only at the time of the discovery of Sridevi’s body at the hotel room, the report further said.

Sridevi: From Chandni to Hawa Hawai, five of her best performances

We pick five of her best performances from her long list of films.

Sridevi Death News :  We pick five films that are considered her best work.

1. Chandni: Sridevi won the hearts of millions of Indians through her role as ‘Chandni’ in Yash Chopra’s 1989 romantic drama film. It was one of the biggest box office hits of 1989. Chandni won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film of the year. ‘Chandni girl’ The movie’s music became a rage. Sri Devi gave her voice to the title song with Jolly Mukherjee singing in the male voice. The film became so popular that people would refer to her as the ‘Chandni girl’.

2. Chaalbaaz: In this remake of the 1972 hit, Seeta Aur Geeta Sridevi played a double role as Anju and Manju. This 1989 comedy film was directed by Pankaj Parashar. The film is still appreciated as one of Sridevi’s finest films. The film is a story of twins separated at birth and how they are brought up in contrasting environments.

3. Mr India: Sridevi as Miss Hawa Hawaii in Mr India remains a classic in the Hindi film history. Written by Salim-Javed, directed by Shekhar Kapur, the film was the highest grossing movie of 1987. Thirty years later her performance is still talked about especially her moves in two songs in the film, Kaate nahin katate and Hawa hawai. In a film with Amrish Puri as Mogambo and Anil Kapoor playing Mr India, Sri Devi held her own with her superlative performance.

4. Sadma: Sadma(1983) tells the story of Nehalata (Sridevi), a young girl who regresses to childhood after suffering a head injury in a car crash. Starring opposite Kamal Haasan, Sridevi through her role conveyed all the nuances of her child-woman character suffering from amnesia. Through ‘Sadma’, Ilaiyaraaja marked his debut in Hindi film music as well.

5. English Vinglish: Sridevi returned to the big screen after a long hiatus from the Bollywood film industry. Written and directed by Gauri Shinde, Sridevi plays role of a homemaker, Shashi Godbole, who enrolls in English-speaking course to stop her family from mocking her English speaking skills. English Vinglish remains a critically acclaimed movie in which Sri Devi won the audiences heart as a vulnerable homemaker.

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