Through her more than three-decade-long and illustrious career, actor Madhuri Dixit Nene has seen how Bollywood has evolved. According to her, the industry is now considerably more organised than it was when she first began. “When I started [out], the industry was very unorganized, from the way shootings used to happen to films taking up to seven years to complete. Nothing was planned. We just knew what the story was going to be. We didn’t know the dialogues or when it was being shot. It was all very haphazard,” Nene, who made her debut in 1984 with Abodh, tells us.

She adds that actors today have it much easier, which helps them “maintain their focus on the craft”. “Now, it is much more organized and streamlined. Every project has a budget. We know how many days we are going to shoot for. The script, your look, and the costumes are ready. The preparation is there. So actors can be completely consumed by the project they are making [and not let other things distract them],” shares The Fame Game actor.  

The Padma Shri recipient, who is also exploring singing and released her second song, Tu Hai Mera, last month, calls it a “very different time” to be in the industry. However, social media pressure is something she is not a big fan of: “There’s a lot of social media...There’s so much to do in a day, just before any release. In the past, we used to do a little bit of promotion where we used to give a few interviews and maybe a movie premiere was organized. That was it. But today, there are so many avenues because of social media!”

Ask if she enjoys exploring social media otherwise, and she says, “I love doing the reels. I enjoy doing them because I feel it’s an extension of what I do.”