Actress Sridevi dies in Dubai of a heart attack at 54

Actress Sridevi died on Saturday night of a heart attack. She was 54. 

The news was confirmed by her brother-in-law, actor Sanjay Kapoor. Speaking to the Indian Express newspaper, he said, "Yes, it is true that Sridevi passed away. I just landed here. I was in Dubai and now I am flying back to Dubai. It happened around 11:00-11:30pm. I don’t know more details yet."

The actress had gone to Dubai with her husband, producer Boney Kapoor, and their younger daughter Khushi, to attend the wedding of actor Mohit Marwah, Kapoor's nephew. Older daughter Jahnvi could not attend the event, which took place earlier last week.

Born Shree Amma Yangar Ayyappan, Sridevi played leading roles in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films before making her debut in the Hindi film industry.

The actress made her debut in cinema at the age of four, in the Tamil film Kandan Karunai (1967). Her first role as leading woman was in the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu (1976). She went on to form iconic pairs with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan through films, and was one of the biggest South Indian stars of her time.

The actress made her first appearance for Hindi cinema in Julie (1975). She would go on to make an impact through some iconic films like Mr India (1987), Chaal Baaz (1989) and Khuda Gawah (1992).

Sridevi won the Filmfare award four times, for Chaal Baaz and Lamhe (1992) in Hindi, for Meendum Kokila (1982) in Tamil, and a special award for her performance in 16 Vayathinile (1977). 

After starring in her home production Judaai (1995), Sridevi took a break from acting. 

She made a comeback to Hindi cinema with Gauri Shinde's English Vinglish (2012), and later starred alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Akshaye Khanna in Mom (2017).

The actress was awarded the fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, by the Indian government in 2013.

Sridevi was married to Boney Kapoor and had two daughters by him, Jahnvi and Khushi Kapoor.