She was in Dubai for a wedding.
On Saturday, Bollywood great Sridevi Kapoor died suddenly. She was 54 years old. The popular movie star was at a family wedding in Dubai when she went into cardiac arrest, CNN reported the following day. An official cause of death was not immediately revealed.
Her family was in shock, with Kappor having no known history of heart disease. “We are completely shocked. She had no history of a heart attack,” her brother, Sanjay Kapoor, told Times of India on Sunday.
Fans flooded her Instagram account, where she posted her final photo two days before her untimely death. The last post to her 1 million IG followers, which was only captioned with a picture of a heart emoji, garnered more than 190,000 likes and over 26,000 comments.
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Most of the remarks said, “Rest in peace” and had cry face emojis. “Miss you a lot true meaning of Bollywood was you RIP,” user vanshika.vats wrote. “We miss u mam,” anna_azyan143 added.
Kapoor had a film career that spanned 50 years, appearing in her first movie— Thunaivan, a Tamil Hindu drama—when she was 4 years old. Her first leading Bollywood role was in the film Solva Sawan. She also went to star in movies like Mawaali (1983), Tohfa (1984), Nagina (1986), Mr. India (1987), Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991) and Gumrah (1993). Her final film, Mom, debuted in 2017.
Known by her first name, Kapoor made more than 300 films in many different Indian languages.
“I think she really was one of India’s first female superstars,” Bollywood critic Rajeev Masand told CNN on Sunday. “It didn’t matter who the male actors where, the movies were shouldered by Sridevi.”
“In commercial films, she was able to deliver great performances. Even when she was doing absurd stuff like playing a snake in the movie Nagina, the performances were amazing,” he said.
Dozens of Indian politicians and Bollywood stars took to social media to mourn Kapoor’s death.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was just one of the people who sent condolences via Twitter. “Saddened by the untimely demise of noted actor Sridevi. She was a veteran of the film industry, whose long career included diverse roles and memorable performances,” he tweeted on Saturday. “My thoughts are with her family and admirers in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace.”
Her body will be flown to Mumbai for the last rites, sources told Times of India. Husband Booney Kapoor and her daughters, Jhanvi and Khushi, survive her.
