Director and producer Karan Johar describes the late Bollywood superstar Sridevi as the best mimic in the world. “Sridevi was an actor by observation. She was incredible. She had that potentiality of observing and absorbing the body languages of others. She was the best mimic in the world. She could just mimic anything and anything at all, and it was all due to observation. She was the only actor of the eighties and the nineties who upped her craft through observation. She absorbed the syntax of cinema of the time,” said Johar, while launching the book, “Sridevi: The External Screen Goddess”, by Satyarth Nayak, in Mumbai on Sunday, a few days after the book’s Delhi launch by Deepika Padukone. Nayak’s book is based on the life of the Bollywood icon who is regarded as a female superstar in Indian cinema Karan Johar recalled how, when late actress and producer Sridevi came back from her self-imposed sabbatical of over a decade, she had lost none of her charm and confidence. “She did the movie ‘English Vinglish’ after a gap of 15 years in 2012, and she knew how to face the camera. I would go as far as to say that Sridevi was a genius artist because it takes lots of genius to go through what she did in so many films. Sridevi was a rare actor, who was (at the) top of her game in all the languages at the same time. Whether it was Tamil, Telugu or Hindi, she was on top. I must say (this is) a feat no other actor in India has achieved.” Nayak’s book is based on the life of the Bollywood icon who is regarded as a female superstar in Indian cinema. Snubbing the notion that Sridevi was an “ask mother” actress, Karan said: “I think this was blown out of proportion, because in one interview she just said ‘ask mother’ and media titled her as ‘ask mother’. She didn’t like to communicate with anyone and didn’t like to do interviews. She pretty much knew on her own what she was doing.” Sridevi was found unconscious in her bathtub in Dubai on February 24 by her husband Boney Kapoor. The death certificate said she had passed away due to accidental drowning.