When Anil Kapoor got the National award for Rajkumar Santoshi's unjustly unsuccessful Pukar, the film which stands out as the Kohinoor of Madhuri Dixit’s career, the nation and its favourite film critic died laughing.
It was like giving Raj Kumar or Farooq Sheikh the National award for Pakeezah or Umrao Jaan. Or Shabana Azmi being ignored for Arth while Raj Kiran walks away with the award.
In Pukar, Madhuri was impossibly nuanced and luminously layered as a woman who has fallen so hard in love that she can’t see how pathetic she looks down there. From stalking the guy who loves another girl to pleading with him, Madhuri just stripped her soul of all vanity. And tell me very honestly, has she ever danced better than she did here with Prabhudheva on Kay Sera Sera? Such things happen only in the Indian entertainment business. Madhuri Dixit was never awarded for her best performances be it in Pukar or Prakash Jha’s Mrityudand where she blew the screen apart with her portrayal of a Bahu in a traditional feudal family in Bihar who rebels against the patriarchy that threatens to destroy her life.
Shabana Azmi who co-starred with Madhuri in Mrityudand recalls, “Madhuri is extraordinarily camera-friendly. She understands the grammar of cinema and how to surrender and submerge into a scene completely.”
Pitched again the mighty Shabana Azmi in a film about furious feminism in feudal India, Madhuri pulled out all stops to deliver a rousing performance that was at once compelling and complete.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who directed her Madhuri in another fine performance in Devdas, says, “Directing Madhuri was my dream. When I became a director with Khamoshi: The Musical my first and only choice for the lead was Madhuri. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
For months, Madhuri kept Bhansali on hold. They met several times. Finally, Madhuri said she was not “confident” about her character. Of course, she was fully confident about her character in Hifazat, Dayavan, Tezaab, Vardi, Paap Ka Ant, Pyar Ka Devta and the other monstrously misbegotten movies that Madhuri found herself in, for reasons that are as inexplicable as her item song with Ranbir Kapoor in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
Luckily for every five faux pas that she committed, there was a Beta or a Khel where she was splendidly spontaneous and vivacious.
Madhuri came dangerously close to being Sridevi’s closest competitor. But stopped short in her pursuit of big banners which often cheated her. What was Madhuri doing in Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan? The only bright spark for her in Ghai’s Jackie-Anil bromance was the Lata Mangeshkar classic Bada dukh dee na. Ghai gave Madhuri a better role in Khalnayak as an undercover cop slithering and heaving to the raunchy Choli ke peeche kya hai.
Indeed Madhuri’s dance numbers from Laila mar gayi in Uttar Dakshin to Maar dala in Devdas, went a long way in furthering her stardom. But her dancing skills never overshadowed her histrionics. Madhuri never had to dance her away into stardom. Like the other two dancing stars Vyjayanthimala and Waheeda Rehman, audiences came to see Madhuri perform. If they happened to dance it was like a bonus.
After she quit to marry Dr Sriram Nene and migrate to Colorado Madhuri made a disastrous comeback in Aaja Nachle. She even did the cringe-worthy Total Dhamaal and Kalank where she was reunited on-screen with Sanjay Dutt.
Just when her fans thought her best was behind her Madhuri bounced back with the web series The Fame Game where she played what she was born to a star.
No one knows the real Madhuri Dixit Nene. Not even Madhuri Dixit herself. Star by chance, secretive by choice, enigmatic by nature, Madhuri Dixit is one female actor of Indian cinema whom we would like to see doing only quality work. For the rest, there is the residue.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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