Bollywood superstar Sridevi Kapoor has died after a cardiac arrest at the age of 54.
The actress, who was simply known as Sridevi, died late on Saturday while attending a family wedding in Dubai.
She was arguably Bollywood’s first female superstar and had a career spanning five decades, acting in 300 films and being awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour in 2013.
Sridevi is survived by her husband, producer Boney Kapoor, and daughters Jhanvi and Khushi.
Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, she started acting at the age of four, appearing in several Tamil-language films in the 1960s and 1970s, and eventually dropping out of school for a career in the movies.
She worked in films in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages and made her Bollywood debut in 1979 with Solva Sawan (16th spring).
Sridevi took a break from films soon after she married producer Boney Kapoor in 1996 before making a successful return to the big screen 15 years later in Gauri Shinde's "English Vinglish", playing a housewife taking English-language lessons. Her last screen appearance was in "Mom", as a mother avenging her daughter's rape.
Sridevi Kapoor - in pictures
Sridevi's death triggered an outpouring of tributes from Bollywood colleagues and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Crowds also gathered outside her home in Mumbai.
"I have no words. Condolences to everyone who loved Sridevi. A dark day. RIP," actress Priyanka Chopra said on Twitter.
"She was a veteran of the film industry, whose long career included diverse roles and memorable performances," Modi said in a tweet.
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