When Sridevi campaigned for her father in 1989 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu

Though Sridevi always stayed away from politics, she once campaigned for her father in 1989 assembly elections.

Mumbai: Sridevi, the iconic Bollywood actress who enthralled millions through her stunning looks and acting prowess, had a brief brush with politics, though it was almost forgotten in view of the her colossal success in the film world.

According to a report by TNM, the actress had briefly campaigned for her father when he was contesting the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in 1989.

Sridevi had campaigned for her father K Ayyappan, who was fielded by the Congress party as its candidate for the Sivakasi Constituency in the 1989 Assembly elections.

Interestingly, 1989 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu was the first after the demise of MG Ramachandran.

It turned out to be a hotly contested election, witnessing a four-way fight in almost all constituencies. 

DMK, Congress, and the two factions of AIADMK - one led by Jayalalithaa and the other led by MGR’s widow Janaki Ramachandran - had fought independently.
The Congress party had sprung a surprise by nominating Ayyappan as the candidate. 

Ayyappan, who hailed from a family of Congressmen, had not been in active politics before that. 

The naming of Ayyapan as the party candidate had triggered resentment among the party workers so much so that the then Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president GK Moopanar had spoken about the Congress high command's decision.

Though a novice in politics, Ayyappan was fairly well known in some areas and was believed to be hand-picked by Rajiv Gandhi.

Ayyappan is reported to have met Rajiv Gandhi during the latter’s frequent visits to Tamil Nadu in 1988.

In all probability, the 1989 assembly elections was the one which saw a galaxy of stars trying their luck in politics, and the presence of Sridevi, though indirectly, added some glamour to it. 

Speculations were rife then that Sridevi might be roped in by Congress for campaigning. 

However, Sridevi refused to be drawn into the murky world of politics and restricted herself to campaigning only in Sivakasi constituency. 

Sridevi did not address any election rally, but accompanied her father on his campaign trail through the constituency for three or four days, before going back to Bombay. 

Her father Ayyappan lost the election by a margin of more than 5,000 votes to DMK veteran P Sreenivasan.

Ayyappan’s defeat in the assembly elections also crushed his political ambitions.

Sridevi died due to accidental drowning in the bathtub of her hotel room and not because of cardiac arrest, her autopsy report has revealed.

Sridevi's autopsy report was released by the Ministry of Health, UAE on Monday.  

The Padma Shri recipient was in Dubai to attend the marriage function of actress Sonam Kapoor's cousin Mohit Marwah, along with husband Boney Kapoor and younger daughter Khushi. 

Born in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu on August 13, 1963, Sridevi began her career at the age of four in the devotional film "Thunaivan". That marked the beginning of a journey in filmdom that saw her work across Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi productions, leading her to become one of the most formidable actresses of the 1980s and 1990s in Bollywood -- in fact, the only female "superstar" the industry has seen. 

She is remembered for her performances in some of the iconic Bollywood films like "Mr. India", "Nagina", "Sadma", "ChalBaaz", "Chandni", "Khuda Gawah", among many others in different Indian languages.

Sridevi, who made a comeback to Bollywood in 2012 with "English Vinglish" after a long break of 15 years, was last seen in "Mom" in 2017.