“I do not wish to be in the rat race by signing films left right and centre”

MADHURI DIXIT tells JYOTHI VENKATESH

Today happens to be the 52^nd birthday of the one and only Madhuri Dixit, the ageless Diva of Bollywood. To mark her birthday which falls today on May 15, we reproduce an interview with MADHURI DIXIT by JYOTHI VENKATESH, which appeared 31 years ago in the now defunct Afternoon Despatch & Courier dt March 31, 1989. On behalf of bollyy.com and Mayapuri, I wish Madhuri a happy birthday

Madhuri Dixit has the film world at her feet. Believe it or not, she recently even had the guts to turn down an offer from none other than Prakash Mehra because he did not agree with her price. Tezaab and Ram Lakhan have made her what she always yearned to be- a, mega star in demand whose very name spells success.Success did not come easily to her. She had to slog for it. As Madhuri puts it, “I am in a state of euphoria. I am thrilled no doubt to be in this position. I had to take sniggers in my stride that I am a ‘flop’ actress, that I am bagging films only because I ‘manipulate’ things etc. Today the very same people who wrote me off are singing my praises and wanting to sign me for their pictures.”

Looking back on her career, Madhuri is quite happy and contented. “I began my career with Rajshri’s Abodh opposite Tapas Pal, who is a top star today as far as Bengali films are concerned. I had bagged the Abodh offer actually because the director Govind Moonis had suggested my name to Raj Kumar Batrjatya of Rajshri Pictures. You see, Bharthi, my sister and Govindji’s daughter studied together and Govindji is a family friend.“Hiren Nag directed Abodh. I had not even passed my 12^th standard when I was offered the role. I remember it was in late 83. In May 84, after my results, I started shooting for the film. In school, I was very good at choreography. Unfortunately the film did not do well at the box office and my career was actually in the deep freezer for quite some time. Meanwhile one after the other, my films like Awara Baap, Swati and Mohre were released and all of them flopped.”

“Luckily for me, I got a fresh lease of screen life when Subhash Ghai spotted me in Kashmir where I was doing a song sequence for Awara Baap with Rajan Sippy. Subhashji asked me to do a small role in his film Karma. I was slated to play an actress taking part in a shooting which was being watched by Jackie and Sridevi, who start imagining themselves to be the hero and the heroine in the same sequence. The rest is history. When people in the industry heard that a maker like Subhash Ghai is promoting me, I started getting meaty offers. And even Subhashji signed me for his Uttar Dakshin even though several actresses were vying for the role in the film, which unfortunately flopped when it was released.”

It is interesting to learn from Madhuri herself what would she have become had she not been an actress. “I’d have become a pathologist because I had always yearned to be one. My eldest sister Roopa is a renowned architect. My only regret is that I could not continue with further studies because I was a very brilliant student in school.”Whether it was her first venture Abodh or Manav Hatya, the film directed by Sudarshan Ratan, which is now being beamed on Zee 5 after it was lying in the cans for the last few decades, because a Shekhar Suman-Madhuri Dixit starrer does not lure distributors, Madhuri has no regret.”No film of mine can be called a ‘mistake’ because I am still learning every day by a process of trial and error. I may err in the selection of films, but then to err is indeed human. Isn’t it?

In a pensive mood, Madhuri says, “Today I am hailed as a potential threat to the No 1 actress Sridevi. It is quite another thing that I do not think that any actress can be a threat to another. I any case, Sridevi is my senior and I have a long way to go. I will never forget that for a while when I was literally down in the dumps, it was Subhash Ghai and Anil Kapoor who stood by me. And had it not been for Subhashji’s offer, I would have been lost to screen life”

“I do not, however, relish it if anyone calls Subhashji my Godfather because the term is very tricky and is associated with a sinister meaning. If Subhashji is my Godfather it does not mean that I am having an affair with him. I respect him as a filmmaker and he in turn is keen to groom and promote my career. Didn’t he promote Meenakshi Seshadri’s career with Hero and also cast Sonika Gill in Ram Lakhan?”

Today, Madhuri has the best banners one could have. “I am working with almost every hero right from Amitabh Bachchan to Aamir Khan. With Amitji, I am working in Shanaqt and negotiations are on for another film. With Vinod Khanna I am working in Paapi Devta. I have always had the best of makers and have been lucky that way. Touchwood!”

“After working with Feroz Khan in Dayavan and Subhash Ghai in Ram Lakhan, I am now working with Ramesh Sippy in Zameen. What I like about Rameshji’s unit is that you are given your dialogue well in advance so that you have ample time to prepare yourself thoroughly for the role. In the industry usually you do not get your dialogues till you are ready to face the camera and hence it is next to impossible for an artiste to be prepared for a role. In any case, I do not believe in rattofying my dialogues by taking them home because in that case, the spontaneity is lost and you tend to sound quite artificial.”

Madhuri continues with an air of confidence that has been acquired after Ram Lakhan and Tezaab clicked at the box office. “I do not wish to be in the rat race by signing films left right and centre. Today I am working with Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Aamir Khan, Jeetendra, Jackie, Sanjay Dutt, Rajanikant, Vinod Khanna and Sunny Deol. What I am interested in is the banner, the set up, the subject and of course the director. It is imperative that you have a director who knows his job thoroughly.”

The middle class Maharashtrian lass who shot to fame with the Ek Do Teen Char number in Tezaab and proved her talent with Ram Lakhan says “I am too career- oriented to think of Mr Right now. As an artiste I have to devote nearly 18 hours to this trade and cannot manage both family and career right now. It is next to impossible to have the best of both the worlds now.”Madhuri, the lass who has proved herself with Tezaab is here to stay!