Madhuri Dixit on women, ambition, marriage, and the untimely death of Sridevi
Suman Sharma (TIMES LIFE; July 29, 2018)

There’s something overpowering, overwhelming about Madhuri Dixit. She’s constantly on the bounce, willing to push her limits, willing to try something new. We last saw her on screen in 2014 in Dedh Ishqiya and Gulaab Gang. Currently all set to make her debut in the Marathi film industry with Bucket List.

‘BUCKET LIST KEEPS CHANGING’
You wonder whether she keeps a bucket list in real life too. She laughs at that and answers in the affirmative. “My bucket list keeps changing and as things get ticked off, I add new things to it. I love challenges and I try different things,” she says. The primary thing Madhuri has learnt over the years is to be her own person.

She reflects you must pursue your wishes, your desires and respond to your motivations. She says that women get so involved in bringing up children that they feel a sense of loss when the children grow up and don’t need them as much as they did earlier. One way to counter that emptiness is to tend to your own pursuits. “Women should pursue some hobbies, something that they do just for themselves. When you have an identity, then people respect you. Or else you could be taken for granted,” she reasons.

‘RAM IS SO SUPPORTIVE’
Marriage has worked well for her. She says she has discovered herself after marriage. She was only chasing the arclights before but life with Dr Sriram Nene has been an adventure. She loves Ram for being open minded and encouraging. “Ram is so supportive. If I say today I’m gonna be late, he will do everything for the kids. In him, I have a strong support system. That’s why I can do all these things. My mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my mother, they all help me,” she says. Her mother, Snehlata Dixit, has been her inspiration. She reminisces that when she did Abodh (1984), she was thin and would often get criticised for it. That would leave her upset. “But thanks to my mother’s advice, I learnt to turn a deaf ear to that and just be myself,” she smiles.

The industry has changed since her heyday. Prakash Jha’s Mrityudand (1997) was the first film where she came across a bound script. Till then she mostly worked in projects where the story was in the director’s mind and the scenes were written on the sets. These days the writing is better, the roles are better, the pay is better… and so are the expectations, she says.

‘JANHVI’S GESTURE WAS SWEET’
The talk veers to her other projects. She’s doing Kalank, a role offered to her after Sridevi’s untimely death. They were touted to be rivals during the ’90s but Madhuri says they were always cordial towards each other. “I won’t say Sridevi and I were the best of friends. But we held each other in respect. Her passing away is sad, very unfortunate...” she sighs. After a pause she adds, “Because she was so young. It was too early to go and so suddenly. I still cannot believe that this happened.”

When the makers approached her, she was a bit hesitant. “To step into her role was tough… sometimes the thought overwhelms me,” she confides. She was touched by Janhvi Kapoor’s warm gesture of tweeting about her doing the film. “Janhvi was sweet. She tweeted about it and she conveyed her best wishes,” she smiles.