Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi remembered at the 90th Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS) paid its tributes to Indian stars Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi in the In Memoriam section of the Oscars. The In Memoriam segment of the annual Academy Awards remembers artistes who died in the past one year.

Shashi Kapoor was primarily known as the charming, classic actor in Bollywood for his roles in the ‘70s and ‘80s commercial films such as “Deewar”, “Kabhie Kabhie”, “Namak Halal” and “Kaala Patthar”. The veteran actor, who died on 4 December last year at the age of 79, was, however, one of the few crossover stars who went on to play a proactive role in presenting India on the world map through Ivory-Merchant productions such as “The Householder”, “Shakespeare Wallah”, “The Guru”, “Bombay Talkie” and “In Custody” (Muhafiz).

Shashi Kapoor, along with his wife, actor Jennifer, revived his father actor Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai in 1978. In the same year, he set up his production house, Film Valas, which produced acclaimed projects such as “Junoon”,”Kalyug”, “36 Chowringhee Lane”, “Vijeta” and “Utsav”

Sridevi, inarguably India’s first female superstar, was also remembered at the 2018 Oscars. The actor, whose sudden death at the age of 54 on 24 February in Dubai sent shock waves around the world, was a rare artiste whose career spanned for 50 years across multiple languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam.

Sridevi ruled the commercial cinema space in the ‘80s and ‘90s like no heroine had done before and was a force to reckon with both in terms of her craft and box office appeal.