The great and much-missed Sridevi had some clearly set goals for her daughters. She wanted them to get the best possible education before joining the profession of their choice. She never wanted to force the acting profession on Janhvi or Khushi. But somewhere in her heart she knew her daughters were going to follow in her footsteps. I remember I once had a discussion with Srideviji about her daughters’ future. At first, she said she had no intentions of watching them being thrust in the acting career.
“Let them first get a proper education. I never had the chance to go to school or college properly. I want Janhvi and Khushi to complete their education, then they can do what they like.” I opined that acting would be their chosen profession and the eternal diva sighed. “You are probably right,” she said. “If Janhvi and Khushi become actresses I want them to be the best what they do, not just props in the plot.”
Janhvi, Sridevi’s eldest born, is anything but a prop in Gunjan Sexena The Kargil Girl. She has the eponymous central role and she lives every moment of Ms Saxena’s flight to the male bastion, capturing all the uncertainties and anxieties of a woman in a traditionally masculine profession, determined to break the glass (cei)ling. Janhvi’s performance just grows on us, softly gently but surely. Sridevi would have been so proud to see her daughter evolve into such a restrained emotive actress in her second film. I know it’s not currently fashionable to say this. But the genes will always tell.