Bhubaneswar, January 5 : The success of Bollywood movie ‘Mr India’ went into the head of Bollywood actress Sri Devi. She then refused to act even with Amitabh Bachhan for many years, said Satyarth Nayak who has authored- Sri Devi- a book on her.

“Sri Devi had even refused to act with Amitabh Bachhan for many years, saying she would act with the top star only if the lead female character has a central role to play in the script,” said Nayak while speaking to the audience on 12th KLF Corner, a monthly literary event at the Oxford book store, here on Sunday.

Many years later, Amitabh Bachhan had to send a truck load of flowers to Sri Devi on her movie set, to get her on board for the movie ‘Khuda Gawah.’

After Mr. India, Sri Devi had started demanding stronger roles for her films, said Nayak.

Similarly, when she was offered the role of Juhi Chawal in Darr, she refused the role saying she was better suited for the character later done by Shahrukh Khan, revealed Nayak, the Cuttack born biographer who was also the screen writer of successful TV series Poros.

Better Script Choice, Poor Diet Selection

Sri Devi managed to stay on the top despite her entry from early age because she always chose better scripts than her counterparts in the Hindi movie industry.

“The fact that Sri Devi chose to come back after a gap of 15 years for the movie English Vinglish reveals that she was waiting for a perfect script, where she could play a central role.

Despite her better decisions while signing up a movie, she sometimes chose diets that had adverse effects on her health.

“She had issues of low blood pressure and  many a times she would go for salt-free diet which was suicidal for her health. She had fallen many a times in bathroom earlier also, before that unfortunate event took place,” Nayak said at the KLF Corner event , where Ollywood actress Anu Choudhury participated.

The author had started working on the book after her death and came to know about the details from her family members and close colleagues.

KLF director Rashmi Ranjan Parida thanked all the stakeholders for successive organisation of the event for a year-long period and wished that the initiate would go a long mile. Debashis Samantray and Debamitra Mishra managed the event on Sunday.