Madhuri Dixit: Women Are Not Caricatures In Films Anymore, They Are Humans

The first female superstar who was earning more than her male co-actor in the 90s, a name that could have resolved border tension between India- Pakistan (Read the war of words during Kargil War)) and the heroine who becomes the highlight of the popular Govinda song from ‘The Gambler’, Madhuri Dixit is a phenomenon. No matter how old you are or where you live, if you are a Bollywood fanatic then you will definitely know Madhuri Dixit.

The actress, who started her career in 1984 with ‘Abodh’, went on to become the first female superstar with films including ‘Tezaab’ and her super successful movie ‘Hum Aapke Hai Kaun’.

The 55-year-old later did critically and commercially successful films in the 90s and became a craze for her infectious smile and stellar dance performances. The Padma Shri award is now ruling the OTT space with her stellar performances and headlining the compelling storylines.

After making her digital debut with ‘Fame Game’, she is now gearing up for Prime Video’s First Indian Amazon Original Movie- ‘Maja Ma’ in which she will be seen as a Gujarati housewife who is also a caring wife and lovable mother. She is introduced as a perfect family member in the trailer of the film but the actor believes that nobody is perfect in this world.

“Perfection is just an illusion and I think everybody has some ups and downs. Yes, you try to be perfect, you want to be perfect but perfection is a thought, it's an idea but it's not real," she tells the writer. Having said that, Madhuri says that she enjoyed playing the role of Pallavi Patel in Anand Tiwari’s directorial project which also stars Gajraj Rao, Ritwik Bhowmik, Barkha Singha and Srishti Srivastava in other important characters.  “It’s a beautiful role, very layered and I think I have enjoyed playing it," says the actor, who in real life is also a mother of two sons.

Madhuri, who married a cardiovascular surgeon based in Denver, USA, during the peak of her career and shifted to the US, feels fortunate to be doing the kind of roles she wanted to do since her return. “I couldn’t have asked for more. I enjoyed doing the 'Fame Game' and I enjoyed working on this movie as well,” she says and adds that “What is heartening is that the kind of scripts being written now for women are not caricatures or they are not either victims or avengers. I think finally women are people, they are human in movies and that is what is wonderful about the new writers. It's a great time for a woman in films.”

During her shift to the US, Madhuri didn't continued her association with the entertainment industry by turning host for a matchmaking show titled, ‘Kahin Na Kahin koi hai,’ a guest on ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, and taking the guest seat in Karan Johar’s talk show, ‘Koffee with Karan,’ among others.

Almost a decade later, Madhuri shifted back to India and made a comeback in films with YRF’s ‘Aaja Nachle'. So far, she has been part of over 70 films, the majority of them being success stories.

However, there are a few things that she finds difficult about today’s entertainment industry. “When I started working, the only source of entertainment was movies. As an actor all I had to do was work on my films, do a little promotion and then we used to have premier night and that was about it.”

“But now there are some many avenues you are exploring, you have to be on Instagram, you have to be on Twitter and then you have to do this and that so there are so many different things that stars are doing today so in that sense, life is little more difficult today than it was,” she says and adds that “our life was difficult because it was a very disorganized kind of industry, but now the industry is very organized but along with it there are so many other things that you are expected to do so in that sense it's difficult now but I think the kind of roles being written for a woman is amazing. I see so many different kinds of subjects being touched upon.”

'Maja Ma' stream from October 6.