I know you guys at Behindwoods are prone to hyperbole when writing about movies and stars but I just could not read your news item on Trisha titled "Trisha the new Sridevi" and just let it go without putting in my two cents worth. There are three reasons why Trisha will never be another Sridevi. 

Reason number 3: Sridevi was still relatively young when she made her Hindi movie debut and reigned there for almost seven to eight years and exiting only because of her marriage to Boney Kapoor while in her mid 30s. Trisha is already in her late 20s and we know how tough the Indian film industry can be to actresses who reach their 30s. While Sridevi's first few Hindi films were flops before she struck it big, Trisha's first Hindi film was also a huge flop. To make it in Hindi films she has to move there and stay there thus risking her position in Tamil and Telugu films. Is she prepared to do that at this stage in her life and age? It is better to have a bird in hand than two in the bushes. Trisha just has to look at Asin. How many Hindi or Tamil films has she made since she moved to Hindi movies since the release of Ghajini in 2008? One Hindi movie London Dreams that flopped and one Tamil movie Kaavalan that was a hit. 2 movies in three years is a worrying record for any actress what more for Asin who was once a top actress in Tamil? Asin's Hindi career is riding on Ready now and if the film clicks (and there are signs it will because it is a remake of a Telugu movie and Hindi films have forgotten how to make mass masala movies. Plus it stars Salman Khan who might single handedly save (the mass masala genre in Hindi movies) her career in Hindi films for now. 

However the trend in Hindi films now is so westernized that kissing and stripping down to bikinis has become the norm. The Hindi films during Sridevi's era were different -- it was made to cater for Indian audiences and not the NRIs and urban multiplexes. Will Trisha and Asin alienate their conservative fan base in the South by doing the anything-you-can-bare-I-can-bare-better routine? While Trisha is very comfortable doing kissing scenes in Tamil and Telugu movies (Sridevi never did a kissing scene in her movies unlike Madhuri Dixit), the kissing scenes here are mild and very PG rated compared to the kissing scenes in Hindi films while are now no different from the ones one sees in Hollywood movies. While South audiences are quite ok with seeing Hindi actresses strip down etc will they be able to take it when one of their own loved-actress like Trisha or Asin do the same -- especially for Tamil audiences? Don't forget the example of the legendary Padmini who appeared in a see-through wet saree that left nothing to imagination in Raj Kapoor's Mere Naam Joker. The Tamil audiences were shocked and never quite forgave or forgot Padmini for that. Although we are now in the second decade of the 21st century, Tamil audiences are still generally a conservative lot as compared to the Telugu audiences for instance.  

Reason number 2:  Sridevi who did a lot of glamorous roles in Hindi, gave some superlative character based performances in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films which Trisha has not. Who can forget Sridevi in Mundru Mudichu and Pathinaaru Vayathinele where she stood her ground along with Kamal Hassan and Rajini? Or in Mundram Pirai where she practically stole the show from Kamal or Sivappu Rojakkal, Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu etc. And these are just the Tamil movies -- I have not taken into account her strong body of work in Malayalam and Telugu. Can Trisha ever match up to the dramatic histrionics of Sridevi? To be fair to Trisha, she came into Tamil movies at a time when the heroine was relegated to the five songs and some scenes category. Very few directors think of giving a heroine more scope in the movies and that is the modern tragedy of Tamil movies and stars like Trisha, Tamannah, Hansika Motwani and even the earlier ones like Simran, Jyothika etc all fall prey to this plague that has fallen on Tamil movies. I just read in your website that Trisha said no to Sasikumar who in his movies does try to give the heroine some more scope. One wonders why? This would be a great opportunity for Trisha to scale back her glamorous role and do a meaty character driven role as is seen in most Sasikumar movies.  

Reason number 1: The main reason why you cannot even mention Trisha's name in the same breath as Sridevi is because Sridevi DUBBED IN HER OWN VOICE in all the languages that she acted something which Trisha has done only rarely. In her more than 10 years in Tamil films, Trisha, a Tamilzhici has only dubbed in her own voice for 3 movies -- Ayutha Ezhuthu, Abiyum Naanum and Manmadhan Anbu.(Whether we will hear her voice in Mankatha remains a mystery). A mark of a true actress is when she can also "act" in her own voice because voice also gives weight to the character that an actress plays. Facial emotions alone do not make the character great. By right, film  awards should not be given to actresses who have their voices dubbed over. Do you give awards to best singers to actors or actresses who lip sync to background singers? No! Then why the double standards for acting?  

Sridevi when she entered Hindi had to resort to dubbing her voice initially because she was not well versed in Hindi (that's understandable because Hindi is not widely spoken in Tamil Nadu) but she learnt Hindi quickly and dubbed on her own for Nagina which went on to become a super hit. Trisha, born and bred in Tamil Nadu where Tamil is spoken widely -- except perhaps in Trisha's middle-class Convent educated-English speaking circles -- has not in all these years bothered to even hire tutors to improve her Tamil diction. And Tamil cinema is one of her main bread winners! Obviously for Trisha the "seiyum thozhille deivam" concept does not apply!