Audiences may not have grooved to Aaja Nachle but Madhuri Dixit has turned out to be the biggest draw of dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
She came, she smiled and she conquered. Madhuri dhak dhak Dixit, has the viewers and participants of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa eating out of her hands and hanging on to her Americanised angrezi comments. Dressed in ethnic wear, be it a flowing kurta, churidar or sarees, the actress looks elegant on screen and makes up for the slightly jarring accent with her divine smile. No doubt, Madhuri has every reason to smile. The show opened to a rating of 5.6, the highest among its four seasons and has catapulted Sony to the No.3 position. “My relationship with Sony goes back to a match-making show Shubh Vivah,which I hosted over a decade ago. When they offered Jhalak.. I wasn’t very sure but they came to US and showed me the DVDs of the original show and I really liked it,” smiles Madhuri who was approached last year too for Dance Premier League. It didn’t work out as she couldn’t find a nanny to look after her kids. “I want my children to be very comfortable as they are my priority,” maintains the diva.
As for her two adorable boys, seven-year-old Arin and five-year-old Ryan, they flew down from Denver last week for the Christmas break and watched the dance reality show for the first time. Arin was so impressed that he turned around and told his mom, ‘I never knew you were such a big celebrity!’ Next he asked her to stand beside the TV and clicked a picture! How sweet! However, the kids will be here only for two weeks while Madhuri is going to stay back till March. So, won’t they miss her? “I think boys are different from girls. When Arin met me, he exclaimed ‘Mom, I never realised that I missed you in Denver, now I do!’,” chuckles the indulgent mom narrating the incident.
While it’s Jhalak..that has brought Madhuri back from a three-year hiatus, the actress now plans to be in India for four months and is looking at film scripts. So far, she hasn’t found anything “exciting”. “A role that I would like to put my heart and soul into hasn’t come to me,” says Madhuri who wants to do something like what Meryl Streep did in The Devil Wears Prada. “It doesn’t matter whether you have two kids or where you are, all that matters is the standard (of acting),” she quips. Madhuri, whose last film was the not-so-successful Aaja Nachle, is hopeful of getting a meaty role as she believes the industry has opened up and there are different types of audiences. “With multiplexes, there’s a niche audience and even filmmakers are experimenting with various kind of films,” she reasons.
Amongst the different films, Madhuri found Ishqiya interesting, funny as well as serious. “It was an entertaining film with actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan,” says the diva who is completely bowled over by the younger actress. “Vidya is beautiful and a natural actress, her face speaks,” says Madhuri appreciatively. Another film that she found unconventional was Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year, “which had a different theme altogether”. But it was Kajol’s role in Fanaa that floored her, so much so that she would have liked to step into her shoes. “The role had different shades to it. She falls in love with a guy only to discover that he is a terrorist. It was interesting and Kajol was brilliant in the film,” says the numero uno heroine of her time.
As for the song-and-dance fare, Madhuri, who can still burn the floor with her sensuous moves, as she did in a Jhalak..episode, points out that things have changed. “Item numbers have always been there but some things have changed. For me dancing is not just about the body movements, it’s spiritual,” she explains. Nevertheless, the dancing queen found herself shaking a leg to Munni badnaam hui from Dabangg. “It’s a folksy song with different beats that you feel like dancing to,” smiles Madhuri who loves all the songs from the film, Mast mast tere nain being her favourite. And though she hasn’t caught up with the Dabangg hero and her one time co-star Salman Khan, recently another Khan, Shah Rukh dropped on the sets of Jhalak..to meet her. “It was wonderful to catch up with Shah Rukh. He is such a nice person and has a good sense of humour. We were talking about our kids, how they are growing up etc,” she says flashing her million-dollar smile.
Talking about children, Madhuri has found new skills in cooking, much to their delight. She cooks Indian, Mexican and Chinese food, which she learnt after marriage. What’s more, she credits her husband as being the better cook and digs into his chicken tikka masala. Back home, even as she gorges on bhel puri and soaks in the energy of Mumbai, Madhuri misses her husband and her home in the mountains of Denver.
As for her two adorable boys, seven-year-old Arin and five-year-old Ryan, they flew down from Denver last week for the Christmas break and watched the dance reality show for the first time. Arin was so impressed that he turned around and told his mom, ‘I never knew you were such a big celebrity!’ Next he asked her to stand beside the TV and clicked a picture! How sweet! However, the kids will be here only for two weeks while Madhuri is going to stay back till March. So, won’t they miss her? “I think boys are different from girls. When Arin met me, he exclaimed ‘Mom, I never realised that I missed you in Denver, now I do!’,” chuckles the indulgent mom narrating the incident.
While it’s Jhalak..that has brought Madhuri back from a three-year hiatus, the actress now plans to be in India for four months and is looking at film scripts. So far, she hasn’t found anything “exciting”. “A role that I would like to put my heart and soul into hasn’t come to me,” says Madhuri who wants to do something like what Meryl Streep did in The Devil Wears Prada. “It doesn’t matter whether you have two kids or where you are, all that matters is the standard (of acting),” she quips. Madhuri, whose last film was the not-so-successful Aaja Nachle, is hopeful of getting a meaty role as she believes the industry has opened up and there are different types of audiences. “With multiplexes, there’s a niche audience and even filmmakers are experimenting with various kind of films,” she reasons.
Amongst the different films, Madhuri found Ishqiya interesting, funny as well as serious. “It was an entertaining film with actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan,” says the diva who is completely bowled over by the younger actress. “Vidya is beautiful and a natural actress, her face speaks,” says Madhuri appreciatively. Another film that she found unconventional was Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year, “which had a different theme altogether”. But it was Kajol’s role in Fanaa that floored her, so much so that she would have liked to step into her shoes. “The role had different shades to it. She falls in love with a guy only to discover that he is a terrorist. It was interesting and Kajol was brilliant in the film,” says the numero uno heroine of her time.
As for the song-and-dance fare, Madhuri, who can still burn the floor with her sensuous moves, as she did in a Jhalak..episode, points out that things have changed. “Item numbers have always been there but some things have changed. For me dancing is not just about the body movements, it’s spiritual,” she explains. Nevertheless, the dancing queen found herself shaking a leg to Munni badnaam hui from Dabangg. “It’s a folksy song with different beats that you feel like dancing to,” smiles Madhuri who loves all the songs from the film, Mast mast tere nain being her favourite. And though she hasn’t caught up with the Dabangg hero and her one time co-star Salman Khan, recently another Khan, Shah Rukh dropped on the sets of Jhalak..to meet her. “It was wonderful to catch up with Shah Rukh. He is such a nice person and has a good sense of humour. We were talking about our kids, how they are growing up etc,” she says flashing her million-dollar smile.
Talking about children, Madhuri has found new skills in cooking, much to their delight. She cooks Indian, Mexican and Chinese food, which she learnt after marriage. What’s more, she credits her husband as being the better cook and digs into his chicken tikka masala. Back home, even as she gorges on bhel puri and soaks in the energy of Mumbai, Madhuri misses her husband and her home in the mountains of Denver.
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