Mumbai: Bollywood’s ‘Dhak Dhak’ girl Madhuri Dixit, who delivered several blockbusters and ruled millions of hearts for over three decades, was once called a ‘jinxed girl’ in the industry.
Madhuri, one of the most successful actresses of her generation, started her career with a string of flops. The actress made her Bollywood debut with Rajshri Productions’ Abodh in 1984, but the film bombed at the box office.
Her other movies including Awara Baap, Swati, Manav Hatya, Hifazat, Uttar Dakshin, Mohre, and Khatron Ke Khiladi, also turned out to be duds at the box-office.
Revealing how people labelled Madhuri as a ‘jinxed girl’ and advised him not to work with her, filmmaker Indra Kumar told Siddharth Kannan during an interview, “When I signed her for Dil with Aamir Khan, it was still fine, but when I signed her for Beta too, everyone said, ‘Paagal ho gaya hai tu, iski koi film nahi chal rahi (Are you mad? None of her films are working).’ By that time, an interview had come out saying, ‘Madhuri is a jinxed girl. Whichever film she is in, it turns out to be a flop.’ Still, I started working on both Dil and Beta in 1988 with Madhuri. I had confidence in her. There was something in my heart that said, ‘Yaar, isme baat hai, kuch hai isme (She has something special).’”
Recalling how the actress’ “bechaari flop” image changed after the release of Tezaab, he said, “After that, I was also lucky. I started the film in October, Tezaab was released in December 1988, and in January 1989, Ram Lakhan was released. Madhuri ka jo ‘bechaari flop’ wala impression tha distributors ka, woh change ho gaya (Distributors’ impression of her as a flop actress changed). My next schedule was directly after six months from October. By then, Madhuri had become a superstar. She was down to earth on her first day, and she still is. There is no change.”
Madhuri delivered her first commercially successful film Dayavan in 1988 and this was followed by Tezaab, Vardi, and Ram Lakhan, making her one of the most sought-after actress’ of her generation.
Recently, Madhuri Dixit was seen in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, which also featured Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan and Triptii Dimri. Despite clashing with Rohit Shetty’s multi-starrer cop universe Singham Again, the film left cash registers ringing at the box-office.
