No heroine, in recent times, has got her act together on the silver screen the way Madhuri Dixit has done. Girija Rajendran on the spell Madhuri Dixit casts on the audience.
The admiration for the spell the charmer-performer Madhuri Dixit cast on the audience has not abated. The ultimate accolade came this superstar's way as the Bombay film trade acknowledged her as another Amitabh Bachchan. Every best actress award going was Madhuri's.
No heroine, in recent times, has got her act together on the silver screen the way Madhuri Dixit has done. So much so that Madhuri today is looked upon as a seven-letter synonym for success. Not without reason is M. F. Husain still obsessed with this artiste whom he, not too long ago, literally sketched as ``The Dhak-Dhak Girl.''
Not the least noteworthy part of Madhuri's persona is her ability to carry off a ``Choli Ke Peechche Kya Hai'' situation. THe lady has style. Without style, Madhuri could not have taken over from Sridevi with such poise.
There was a brief spell when Madhuri Dixit looked to be threatened by Juhi Chawla. But along came ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun'' to change it all. Would Juhi Chawla have got as near Madhuri Dixit as she did had Divya Bharati not gone off the scene? Would the path have opened for even Madhuri the way it has done today?
The point is Divya Bharati is gone, and Madhuri has come to stay. One saw the spark in Madhuri in ``Sangeet'' itself. K. Viswanath's deft direction saw Madhuri excel here, in a dual role, fairly early in her career. Madhuri has come a long way since. Today, the first five slots among heroines belong to her. Only after that do others come into the reckoning.
But Madhuri has not let all this upset her achiever equilibrium. Convent-educated and well versed in Kathak, Madhuri speaks of her advance with all the advantage of being well-read and well-bred. As the tide turned for her with ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun'' (the film in which she sported that Rs. 15 lakh worth sari), Madhuri noted: The attitudes and opinions of people changed, the way they looked at me changed, but I refused to change. The only thing that changed in me was my determination. I was determined to be known as one of the best, even the best, among actresses.''
There is ample evidence by now to show that Madhuri Dixit is not only one of the better-looking but one of the better actresses. In the commercial circuit, Madhuri is being spoken of in the same breath as Hema Malini once was.Such was Hema's dominance that Sridevi's initial years were spent in seeing this megastar off. Madhuri, by contrast, has no real competition today. So overpowering is her image that it tends to be overlooked that Madhuri is on top of the film world only after a full decade of slog.
Slog it never looked because Madhuri had this cosy way of sliding into any role. She made her ``middle-class Maharashtrian family'' looks her `girl-next-door' asset. It is on this asset that Madhuri rides the crest of a wave. Yet Madhuri has been compared to Madhubala in looks.
The resemblance is fleetingly there from certain angles. But it would be safe to assert that Madhuri, in the ultimate analysis, has made it by being pre-eminently herself. ``You have to be born with talent,'' Madhuri acknowledges. ``But that talent has to be sharpened, chiselled, sculpted and given a shape.'' Things looked bleak indeed for Madhuri as she did Rajshri's `Aboddh' and ``the film was declared a disaster at the box- office,'' on her own admission. But the same Rajshri people rediscovered her, and how, with ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun.''
In between, Madhuri had the great good luck of being spotted and groomed by a showman like Subhash Ghai ``who taught me lessons I can never forget.'' Ghai's ``Ram Lakhan'' came as a remarkable hat-trick for Madhuri after ``Tesaab'' and ``Prem Pratiggya.''
Likewise, Ghai's ``Khal-Nayak'' signalled a double hat- trick for her in the wake of ``Dil'' and ``Beta.'' Such is Madhuri's aura today that she puts in the shade even the hero playing ``Raja''.
Inevitably, the old movie cliche is being reworked to ask: ``Will success spoil Madhuri Dixit?'' To that Madhuri's counter is: ``I am not crazy about fame, about money, about being the number one.
My happiest moment will be when I am recognised as a great actress. They say I am ``the lady Amitabh Bachchan,'' that I am the only female star who can carry a film. I listen to all this. It sounds nice. But I refuse I repeat, refuse to let any talk like that go to my head.''
Humility is a quality Madhuri can act out by now. But the entire conduct of her career has been such that one believes when she says she is sighting the real peak only now. It is gratifying to know the razzle-dazzle of commercial cinema does not have Madhuri in its thrall, that she wants to grow, if they will let her.
Source: The Hindu & Paralogic Corporation (June 1995)
No heroine, in recent times, has got her act together on the silver screen the way Madhuri Dixit has done. So much so that Madhuri today is looked upon as a seven-letter synonym for success. Not without reason is M. F. Husain still obsessed with this artiste whom he, not too long ago, literally sketched as ``The Dhak-Dhak Girl.''
Not the least noteworthy part of Madhuri's persona is her ability to carry off a ``Choli Ke Peechche Kya Hai'' situation. THe lady has style. Without style, Madhuri could not have taken over from Sridevi with such poise.
There was a brief spell when Madhuri Dixit looked to be threatened by Juhi Chawla. But along came ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun'' to change it all. Would Juhi Chawla have got as near Madhuri Dixit as she did had Divya Bharati not gone off the scene? Would the path have opened for even Madhuri the way it has done today?
The point is Divya Bharati is gone, and Madhuri has come to stay. One saw the spark in Madhuri in ``Sangeet'' itself. K. Viswanath's deft direction saw Madhuri excel here, in a dual role, fairly early in her career. Madhuri has come a long way since. Today, the first five slots among heroines belong to her. Only after that do others come into the reckoning.
But Madhuri has not let all this upset her achiever equilibrium. Convent-educated and well versed in Kathak, Madhuri speaks of her advance with all the advantage of being well-read and well-bred. As the tide turned for her with ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun'' (the film in which she sported that Rs. 15 lakh worth sari), Madhuri noted: The attitudes and opinions of people changed, the way they looked at me changed, but I refused to change. The only thing that changed in me was my determination. I was determined to be known as one of the best, even the best, among actresses.''
There is ample evidence by now to show that Madhuri Dixit is not only one of the better-looking but one of the better actresses. In the commercial circuit, Madhuri is being spoken of in the same breath as Hema Malini once was.Such was Hema's dominance that Sridevi's initial years were spent in seeing this megastar off. Madhuri, by contrast, has no real competition today. So overpowering is her image that it tends to be overlooked that Madhuri is on top of the film world only after a full decade of slog.
Slog it never looked because Madhuri had this cosy way of sliding into any role. She made her ``middle-class Maharashtrian family'' looks her `girl-next-door' asset. It is on this asset that Madhuri rides the crest of a wave. Yet Madhuri has been compared to Madhubala in looks.
The resemblance is fleetingly there from certain angles. But it would be safe to assert that Madhuri, in the ultimate analysis, has made it by being pre-eminently herself. ``You have to be born with talent,'' Madhuri acknowledges. ``But that talent has to be sharpened, chiselled, sculpted and given a shape.'' Things looked bleak indeed for Madhuri as she did Rajshri's `Aboddh' and ``the film was declared a disaster at the box- office,'' on her own admission. But the same Rajshri people rediscovered her, and how, with ``Hum Aapke Hain Koun.''
In between, Madhuri had the great good luck of being spotted and groomed by a showman like Subhash Ghai ``who taught me lessons I can never forget.'' Ghai's ``Ram Lakhan'' came as a remarkable hat-trick for Madhuri after ``Tesaab'' and ``Prem Pratiggya.''
Likewise, Ghai's ``Khal-Nayak'' signalled a double hat- trick for her in the wake of ``Dil'' and ``Beta.'' Such is Madhuri's aura today that she puts in the shade even the hero playing ``Raja''.
Inevitably, the old movie cliche is being reworked to ask: ``Will success spoil Madhuri Dixit?'' To that Madhuri's counter is: ``I am not crazy about fame, about money, about being the number one.
My happiest moment will be when I am recognised as a great actress. They say I am ``the lady Amitabh Bachchan,'' that I am the only female star who can carry a film. I listen to all this. It sounds nice. But I refuse I repeat, refuse to let any talk like that go to my head.''
Humility is a quality Madhuri can act out by now. But the entire conduct of her career has been such that one believes when she says she is sighting the real peak only now. It is gratifying to know the razzle-dazzle of commercial cinema does not have Madhuri in its thrall, that she wants to grow, if they will let her.
Source: The Hindu & Paralogic Corporation (June 1995)
RSS Feed