India women pay tribute to Bollywood star Sridevi through cosplay

Traditional saris paired with "Charlie Chaplin" moustaches, elaborate fruit headgear and sparkly outfits were out in all their glory when 500 women from the south Indian city of Bangalore attended a recent cosplay event to honour Bollywood superstar Sridevi.

Sridevi's death in February came as a huge shock to her millions of fans in India and around the world.

Starring in 300 films over five decades, she was one of India's most iconic actresses. Often described as the country's first female superstar, she is widely credited with paving the way for other women in the industry. And her influence on millions of female cinema goers was immense.

Journalist Nisha Susan, the editor of women's website "Ladies Finger" which organised the "Leddies night" event, said the idea was to pay tribute to Sridevi's legacy.

"Sridevi was a comedic genius. She represented a certain type of humour - a woman who took her work very seriously, but didn't take herself very seriously. So we wanted to do something that incorporated wit and laughter, especially given that women's laughter seems to 'super terrify' men," she said.

Ms Susan was referring to recent uproar after female opposition MP Renuka Chowdhury laughed loudly during a speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliament. Mr Modi had likened her laughter to a demon in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, which angered many female activists.

"We wanted to commemorate someone who meant a lot to women, not just through op-eds and obituaries but also through participating in her madness. Sridevi has a beautiful lunatic streak and we felt that this cosplay element for ladies night would allow us to participate in that lunacy," Ms Susan said.

"Sridevi was one of those stars who had tremendous gravitational pull: when she cried, you felt her tears, and when she laughed - and oh, how she could laugh one high-pitched peal after another - you felt like laughing right along," said Shubhra Gupta, film critic for the Indian Express newspaper and author of 50 Films That Changed Bollywood.

And many of her most iconic characters were represented at Leddies Night. Two sisters came as Anju and Manju from the movie Chaalbaaz, in which Sridevi played a double role. Another wore the electric blue outfit synonymous with her nagina "snake" dance. People even combined character outfits from different movies to come up with "fusion" Sridevi looks.

"People just came regardless of whether or not they knew our website. It was more that they wanted to be part of an all-women event and of course pay tribute to Sridevi," Ms Susan said, adding that a dance performance to a medley of Sridevi's songs had been a highlight of the event.

"Many of them who came are regular women with serious lives and serious jobs. Then they put on these clothes which allowed them to become - not other people, but themselves in another way."

Text by Ayeshea Perera, BBC News, Delhi