Sridevi’s native village Meenampatti remembers her as child who spread smiles

Meenampatti,
a small village some eight km from Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, is where the veteran
actor Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963. Her father Ayyapan was a lawyer and
mother Rajeshwari, an actress. Sridevi started her acting career at the age of
four with Tamil film “Kandan Karunai”, and went on to rule the cine
world for five decades and acted in about 300 films. She died on February 24,
2018 at the age of 54.

On
Sridevi’s birth anniversary, Opoyi went to her hometown Meenampatti to gather
the memories of the actor loved by millions. Sridevi’s parents fell in love
while they were studying in a law college and soon after got married. The
couple settled in Chennai due to work and the actress grew up in the Tamil Nadu
capital along with her sister Srilatha. The family visited Meenampatti
only for festivals.

“No
one lives in Sridevi’s house now,” an old woman told Opoyi on the way to
the village. Upon reaching the village, a man named Gunalan (74), who was an
aide of Sridevi’s father, said that the house is currently being maintained by
Sridevi’s relative Anandan. He, however, doesn’t remember much about Sridevi – the
celebrated actor – but a child who wore a smile on her face, mostly, and was
kind to everyone.

Gunalan
remembers her as a “very simple” person. “Sridevi’s native house is here, but the her parents moved
to Chennai for work. I saw Sridevi as a child. She would smile everywhere
she looked. She treated everyone with love,” he said.

Sridevi
extensively campaigned for her father when he contested Tamil Nadu assembly
elections from Sivakasi in 1989, Gunalan said, adding that the family stayed in
their native home for 10 days during the elections. Sridevi, he said, always
welcomed people who came to her place with a smiling face.

The
news of Sridevi’s death came as a shock to the village, of which she was a
daughter and a pride statement. Everyone was sad and couldn’t believe that she
was no more, said her father’s aide, who was “very upset” when he could not attend her last rites in person.

Sridevi’s
rise to stardom was an extraordinary chapter in the country’s film industry.
Bejewelled and in shimmering couture, her glittering smile lit up the screen as
it always had.