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Both actresses made their debuts in Indian cinema as child artistes 20 years apart. Vyjayanthimala started out at 13 in Vazhkai (1949), while Sridevi was only four when she acted as Lord Muruga in Thunaivan (1969). Given her age, Vyjayanthimala quickly graduated to leading roles while Sridevi continued as a child artiste in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films.
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Vyjayanthimala's first film in Hindi came just two years after her debut as child artiste. The blockbuster Vazhkai was remade as Bahar (1950) with the teenage heroine. Vyjayanthimala's success in Hindi paved the way for other Southern actresses to make the transition. Sridevi’s first film in Hindi as a lead actress, Solva Sawan (1979), was a remake of her own Tamil film 16 Vayathinile (1977) in which she starred with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. She was 16 when the film released. Earlier, she had a small role in Julie (1975) as the heroine Lakshmi’s younger sister.
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Madhumati (1958) and Chaal Baaz (1989) were pivotal films in Vyjayanthimala and Sridevi's respective careers. Both films featured the lead actress in a double role. As Madhumati and Madhavi in Hindi cinema's first film on reincarnation, Vyjayanthimala was lauded for her performance and nominated for a Filmfare award. Meanwhile, Sridevi’s turn as the separated-at-birth twins Anju and Manju ranks as one of her best. She was feisty and funny as the fearless Manju and played her polar opposite, the meek Anju, with equal conviction.
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Both actresses appeared in successful films revolving around a snake. In the musical hit Nagin (1953), Vyjayanthimala had a breakthrough role as Mala, the Naga tribal chief’s daughter who falls in love with a rival tribal chief’s son, Sanatan. In Harmesh Malhotra’s Nagina (1986), which released at the height of her popularity, Sridevi was Rajni, a snake who transforms itself into a human to avenge the death of its mate. She followed it up with a sequel, Nigahen: Nagina Part II (1989).
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Both Vyjayanthimala and Sridevi were outstanding dancers and most of their films, like Amrapali (1966) and Chandni (1989), featured iconic dance sequences. Vyjayanthimala was a trained Bharata Natyam dancer whose performance in ‘Hothon Mein Aisi Baat’ was the highlight of the suspense thriller Jewel Thief (1967). Sridevi’s songs in Himmatwala (1983), Tohfa (1984) and, especially, ‘Hawa Hawaii’ from Mr India (1987) showed why she was the top actress in the 1980s. In Jewel Thief and Mr India, the respective actresses perform the dances as a distraction from the real action.