It is Madhuri Dixit’s 53rd birthday today and she is celebrating it in the way that she loves most – with her husband and children at home. Although she made her debut with Aboudh in 1984 opposite Bengali actor Tapas Paul, our memory of her first film goes back to the blockbuster Tezaab in 1988 when she became a rage with Ek do teen….
She continued to deliver hits thereafter and establised herself at the top with her impeccable acting and dancing skills in films such as Dil, Beta, Khalnayak, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Devdas, Ram Lakhan, Dil To Pagal Hai and many more. She also starred in many critically acclaimed movies. Lets go on a trivia journey of ten of her best films. She chose to get married in 1999 when she was at the peak of her career and disappeared into oblivion in USA only to bounce back in 2009 with Aaja Nachle and judged dance shows on TV. Twitter is full of loving messages for the iconic star from her fans today, wishing her love and luck for the coming years.
Let us look at her journey.
Tezaab
N Chandra gave Madhuri her the first major hit. Her role of Mohini and her dance Ek do teen took the nation by storm and established her as a dancing star. Saroj Khan- Madhuri duo went on to give us numerous dance hits.
When Tezaab released, Madhuri had gone for a family vacation to USA. When she returned she was greeted at the airport by thousands of fans who kept on screaming “Mohini, Mohini”.
Ram Lakhan
Subhash Ghai had shelved Devaa starring Amitabh and on the advice of Boney Kapoor made Ram Lakhan as it was expected to be commercially safe. This movie was loosely inspired by Deewar. It had Gulshan Grover in the role of Kesariya Vilayati with his dialogue “Bad man” which he repeated in many movies.
Dil
Madhuri won her first Filmfare award for Dil, in which she plays a rich and spoilt girl. Originally, it was a movie planned by Chandra Barot, who had made Don and had planned a movie starring Shashi Kapoor, Rohan Kapoor, Farha and Tabu. When it got shelved, Indra Kumar remade it as Dil with Aamir and Madhuri.
Saajan
In Saajan, Sanjay Dutt plays a lame poet named Aman or Sagar. Aman’s character is inspired by writer Reema Rakeshnath’s own life as she had broken her leg, and her doctor was concerned that no one would marry her. The original choice for the role of Aman was Aamir who did not see himself connecting to the role. Sanjay got it and did a superb job. Madhuri plays the love interest opposite Sanjay and Salman.
Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
The first Hindi movie to cross Rs 100 crore, MF Hussain reportedly saw it 85 times and not only made several paintings on Madhuri, but also made the box-office disaster movie Gajagamini. This movie had 14 songs with Lata Mangeshkar singing 11 including Didi tera devar deevaana, which is one of India’s favourite wedding song even now. Reportedly later, after the movie’s release, Madhuri adopted Tuffy the dog.
Khalnayak
Reportedly Subhash Ghai had wanted Nana Patekar to play the main role of a middle-aged villain but later had second thoughts as he wanted a misguided youth instead. This led to huge misunderstanding between Nana Patekar and Ghai.
Madhuri’s song Choli ke peeche is the only song in film history where two singers namely Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun sharing the best singer award. The song was initially banned but later brought back after it was clarified that it was not meant to have a vulgar meaning.
Beta
Beta was a huge hit winning Best Actor (female) award for Madhuri and Best Actor (male) award for Anil Kapoor. Madhuri’s song , Dhak dhak karne laga is one of the all time popular songs and got Madhuri the nickname Dhak Dhak girl. The song is “inspired” from an Illaiyarajaa song featuring Sridevi and Chiranjeevi.
Parinda
Starring Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri, this crime thriller had two of the most romantic songs in entire history of Hindi cinema. Tum se mil ke and Pyar ke mod pe were both enchanting duets of Suresh Wadkar and Asha Bhosle.
Parinda influenced many great filmmakers, including Ram Gopal Verma and Mahesh Manjrekar.
Devdas
Sanjay Leela Bhanshali’s movie won 5 National Awards and 10 Filmfare awards. Madhuri’s role was of Chandramukhi, with SRK playing Devdas and Aishwarya Paro. Her dance Kaahe Chhedd Mohe was choreographed by none other than Pandit Birju Maharaj especially for Madhuri. Her saree weighed 30 kilos and it was a challenge which she accepted. Bhansali also took care to ensure that Dola re Dola was shot perfectly as it had both Madhuri and Aishwarya together.
Dil To Pagal Hai
Karan Johar was SRK’s dress designer for this musical romance, which is Shiamak Davar’s first as a film choreographer. Juhi Chawla was supposed to play Karishma Kapoor’s role but she refused as she did not want to play a supporting role to Madhuri. Both Karishma and Madhuri are terrific dancers and SRK says that he had difficulty keeping up with Madhuri who was so considerate she would pretend the steps were difficult for her too.
Choosing ten movies was difficult as she has so many to her credit and has done many more memorable roles. Happy birthday once again Madhuri Dixit!
