Kamal Haasan on working with Sridevi:”Her astounding talent was not luck. It was well deserved”

Kamal Haasan, who worked with Sridevi in nearly 27 films including classics such as Moondram Pirai and Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu, released an emotional video message yesterday expressing his condolences.

“Sridevi Kapoor’s astounding talent was not luck. It was well deserved and she worked for it from her childhood. I’ve known her from her teens. She was still a child when she came to work with me and Mr. Balachander, my mentor, who sometimes gave me the responsibility of working with her, correcting her acting and shaping even her dance moves. When she came, she was not as talented as she later emerged out to be. But she learned every day. I was astounded by her climb. And every step of it, she worked for. She was very fond of me. I’m also very fond of her. Our paths diverged when she became a superstar in Hindi. She has acted in almost all the languages in India and has done 27 films with me. The moments we’ve had together were all in film shootings. We were working so continuously that our personal lives were on the periphery. The kind of dedication she had truly matched mine. So, it’s no wonder that we were fond of each other. I think I saw her last month. We were not prone to showing emotion but somehow we both hugged each other. I’m very grateful for that hug,” he said in his video message.

Sridevi succumbed to a massive cardiac arrest in Dubai on Saturday 11 PM when she was there to attend the marriage of her nephew and actor Mohit Marwah. Her funeral is expected to take place in Mumbai today.