5 minutes agoAuthor: Ifat Qureshi
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Actress Madhuri Dixit, famous as Dhak Dhak Girl in Hindi cinema, has turned 57 today. Even at this stage of age, Madhuri is active in films. In 2022, Madhuri was seen in the theatrically released film Maja Maa and the Netflix film The Fame Game. These days she is seen as a judge in the reality show Dance Deewane 4.
Madhuri’s initial journey in films, which was released in 1984 with Abodh, was very difficult. Many of his films flopped and he started being given side roles. Onlookers said that this girl is not heroine material. Then Madhuri got herself a place at the top with her skills.
This was the reason why Madhuri was paid more than Sanjay Dutt in the film Saajan and Madhuri was paid more than Salman in the film Hum Aapke Hain Koun.
Madhuri, who became an example of beauty and dance, was the highest paid actress of the 90s, due to which her name is also recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. At one time, Madhuri’s popularity was such that she had to go to watch her films wearing a burqa. Madhuri’s fans include not only Indians but also Pakistanis. This was the reason why during the Kargil war, Pakistan had demanded Madhuri Dixit in exchange for stopping the war.
Today, on Madhuri Dixit’s 57th birthday, know the story of her becoming a Dhak-Dhak girl with selected stories related to her-
When Rajshree Production people suddenly reached home
Madhuri Dixit’s elder sister’s friend was the daughter of a person working in Rajshree Productions. At that time Rajshri Productions was looking for a new girl for the film Abodh. When word got out, Madhuri’s elder sister suggested her name and a friend passed her address on to the production people. The 12th exams were over and it was summer vacations when one day suddenly the casting team of Rajshree Production reached Madhuri’s house.
As soon as the family members came to know that they wanted to cast Madhuri in films, they clearly refused it. He did not want Madhuri to work in films. The production people had made up their mind to cast Madhuri in the film, so they called Madhuri’s family to the production office, where after a lot of convincing, her family agreed.
Madhuri signed the film, but till then she had no special interest in becoming a heroine. After finishing the shooting of the film Abodh during the summer holidays, Madhuri took admission in Sathaye College, Vile Parle.
When I got offers from big films, I left college in 6 months.
After taking admission in college, Madhuri’s film Abodh was released on 10 August 1984. The film proved to be a flop at the box office, but Madhuri caught the attention of many filmmakers by playing the role of Gauri. This was the reason why he started getting offers for films continuously. Seeing this, Madhuri also left her college studies incomplete and chose film career.
Madhuri first signed the 1985 film Awara Baap. In this film, Rajesh Khanna and Meenakshi Sheshadri were in lead roles, while Madhuri had a side role.
The film Awara Baap was shot in Kashmir. Where at the same time the shooting of Subhash Ghai’s film Karma was also going on. Actually, in a song of the film Karma, it was to be shown that Sridevi and Jackie Shroff get into those characters after watching the shooting of a song. For the shooting scene, Subhash Ghai was looking for a girl who knew how to dance well.
Meanwhile, Subhash Ghai’s hair dresser showed him some pictures of Madhuri and told him that she dances excellently. Without wasting any time, Subhash Ghai immediately called Madhuri on the set, because she was also shooting for Awara Baap in Kashmir.
After seeing the small role, Subhash Ghai had said- She is the star of tomorrow
On the set, Subhash Ghai introduced Madhuri to Saroj Khan, who was the choreographer of that song. Without hesitation, Saroj Khan immediately asked Madhuri to show her a small dance. Madhuri presented a dance example on the sets of the film Karma and was cast in the song.
Madhuri was given only 1 line in the song, which she completed in just 2 takes. Everyone was praising Madhuri after seeing her expression and dance on the set. Subhash Ghai and Saroj Khan were also included among them. After seeing Madhuri’s shot, Subhash Ghai had said at that time, She is the star of tomorrow.
A few days after the shooting, Subhash Ghai signed Madhuri in the film Uttar Dakshin. After signing the film, Subhash Ghai had removed Madhuri’s scenes from the film Karma. This story was narrated by Subhash Ghai during a conversation with Wildlife Films.
After Awara Baap, Madhuri Dixit’s next films Swati (1986), Manav Hatiya (1986), Hifazat (1987) and Uttar Dakshin (1987) also flopped badly at the box office. Meanwhile, discussion started in the film corridors that Madhuri Dixit is not heroine material. Madhuri was definitely hurt by this, but she continued working. Madhuri Dixit had told this in an interview given to Simi Garewal.
When Madhuri’s manager fought over writing her name after Neelam Kothari
Dharmendra, Chunky Pandey, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit and Neelam Kothari were in important roles in the 1988 film Khatron Ke Khiladi. For the first time in the film, Madhuri was cast with Sanjay Dutt and both got the second lead role. When the promotion of the film started, Madhuri’s name was written last in the cast.
Madhuri’s manager Rikku Rakesh Nath was very angry with this. He told filmmaker T. Rama Rao that Madhuri’s name should be written above, because she is playing a more important role than Neelam in the film. He got the reply that the names were written according to seniority. When the manager said that Madhuri was senior, the filmmaker asked him for proof.
To explain his point, Madhuri’s manager Rikku got the release dates of Madhuri and Neelam’s first films and showed them to T. Rama Rao. His hard work paid off and in the next promotional ad, Madhuri’s name was written above Neelam’s. This story was narrated by Rikku Rakesh Nath in an interview given to Reddit. Sadly, the film Khatron Ke Khiladi also flopped and Madhuri could not get any recognition.
Madhuri became a star overnight due to acid attack in 1988
Rikku Rakesh Nath had told in an interview given to Reddit that he was the manager of Madhuri as well as Anil Kapoor. One day he met his old friend N. Chandra in the office of Rajshree Production. N.Chandra told Rikku- I am signing your hero Anil Kapoor in the next film. Rikku already knew this.
During the conversation, N. Chandra said that he is looking for a girl for the film Tezaab. On hearing this, Rikku immediately handed over Madhuri’s pictures to him. He liked the pictures. N.Chandra said that he wants to see Madhuri’s acting. Rikku showed him some scenes from Madhuri’s first film Abodh in the office of Rajshree Production. Impressed by the role of simple Madhuri, who played a young bride in Abodh, N. Chandra decided to cast her.
Got recognition by the name Mohini after one-two-three songs, fans did not know the real name
The film Tezaab was released on 11 November 1988, which proved to be a blockbuster. Madhuri Dixit was not in India at the time of the film’s release. His manager told him on call that Acid has become a blockbuster. This was Madhuri’s first blockbuster film. As soon as Madhuri returned to India, a crowd of people started gathering at the airport to see her.
Many people came to take Madhuri’s autograph. While giving her first autograph, Madhuri realized what the real meaning of getting recognition is. Although it is also true that people started recognizing Madhuri’s face, but many did not know her real name.
In an interview given to Simi Garewal, Madhuri had told that some children had come to her to get autographs. As soon as he wrote the first letter of his name as ‘M’, the child showed it to his friend and said, look, M is written, did you say that her name is Mohini.
After gaining popularity from the film Tezaab, Madhuri Dixit appeared in superhit films like Ram Lakhan, Kishan Kanhaiya, Dil, Thanedaar, Saajan, Beta, Raja, Dil To Pagal Hai.
Madhuri Dixit was cast in Rajshri Production’s film Hum Aapke Hain Koun. It has been claimed in many media reports that Salman’s fee in this film was only Rs 30-35 lakh, while Madhuri got Rs 2.75 crore.
The film Hum Aapke Hain Koun is the first film in India, which collected more than Rs 100 crore. Madhuri was the highest paid actress in the 90s, due to which her name is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Pakistani soldier demands Madhuri in exchange of Kashmir in Kargil War
In the year 1999, there was Kargil War between India and Pakistan on Kashmir issue. During this war that lasted for about 2 months, Pakistani soldiers had captured the positions of Indian soldiers. When Indian soldiers were advancing on Moscow Valley to counter-attack, a Pakistani soldier from near a bunker shouted, give us Madhuri Dixit, we will leave from here.
At that time Captain Vikram Batra retaliated and said, With love from Madhuri. Let us tell you that the Kargil War ended on 26th July, which is celebrated as Vijay Diwas.
The film Shershaah has been made on Captain Vikram Batra of Kargil War, in which this scene was also shown. Earlier, the same scene was recreated on Abhishek Bachchan, who had earlier played the role of Vikram Batra in the 2002 film LOC Kargil.
Madhuri herself has talked about this in Simi Garewal’s chat show. Simi Garewal had asked Madhuri in the chat show- So when the Pakistanis said they would give up Kashmir in exchange for you, were you upset?
On this Madhuri had said- Oh my God, I wasn’t upset, I was confused by that.
Simi Garewal had shared this episode 12 years ago on her official YouTube page.
Wanted to reject the film Devdas for marriage
Sanjay Leela Bhansali had offered the film Devdas to Madhuri Dixit in the year 1999. He had written the character of Chandramukhi in the film only for Madhuri Dixit. However, when he approached Madhuri with the offer, she rejected the film in favor of marriage.
Actually, Madhuri Dixit married Dr. Shriram Madhav Nene, a cardiovascular surgeon from South California, in 1999. Madhuri wanted to take a break from films for marriage. However, she agreed after being persuaded by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Husband Doctor Nene was unaware of Madhuri’s stardom
Madhuri Dixit had an arranged marriage with Dr. Nene. When the two met for the first time in Southern California, Dr. Nene did not know that Madhuri was a star. Madhuri agreed to the marriage in the very first meeting and both of them got married on 19 October.
Madhuri Dixit had told Simi Garewal that all the celebrities of the film industry had attended her reception. Although Dr. Nene did not know any of them. He could only recognize Amitabh Bachchan. Seeing Amitabh, he said that I have seen this person somewhere.
Took a break from acting after Devdas, now returns with Nachle
After marriage, Madhuri Dixit shifted to Denver, Colorado. While there she gave birth to both sons Arin and Ryan. After leaving India, Madhuri made an acting comeback with the 2007 film Aaja Nachle. Madhuri returned to India in October 2011 after living in Denver for about 10 years.
After returning to India, Madhuri worked in the song Ghaghra from the 2013 film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. She was further seen in the 2014 films Dedh Ishqiya and Gulab Gang.
Also read these stories related to Madhuri Dixit’s shooting-
call- The song Kismat Se Tum Humko Mile Ho from the film Pukar was shot in the glacier area of Alaska. In the song, Madhuri Dixit was dressed in a chiffon saree, while the temperature at that place was minus 40. It was so cold that as soon as the shooting started, Madhuri’s body started getting cold and her lips turned blue. When the condition worsened, the shooting had to be stopped and doctors were immediately called.
Devdas- Madhuri Dixit was pregnant during the shooting of the film Devdas. For the film’s song Kahe Chhed Chhed Mohe, she was made to wear a 30 kg lehenga, in which she was facing difficulty in dancing. Later that lehenga was made to weigh 16 kg. Everyone was surprised to see Madhuri’s performance during pregnancy.
Sahiba- Madhuri Dixit was shown playing with a rabbit in a song from the 1993 film Sahiba. Carrots were kept near the rabbit to keep him entertained. As soon as the shooting started, the rabbit left the carrot and bit Madhuri’s thumb, due to which Madhuri screamed during the shot.