Indra Kumar recalled the time when Madhuri Dixit was considered a ‘jinxed’ actress early in her career.
With her million dollar smile, impressive acting chops and graceful dancing skills, Madhuri Dixit ruled Bollywood in the 90s. The actress is celebrated as one of the biggest female superstars in Indian cinema, and has been hailed as an inspiration by many new-age actors.
But way back in the 80s, there was a time when Madhuri was considered as ‘jinxed’ and no one wanted to cast her in films. In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan on his You Tube channel, Indra Kumar recalled the actress’ struggling days in the film industry. He also shared how everyone warned him against signing her for Beta since the actress was having a flop run at the box office. Ironically, Beta turned out to be huge box office success and even got Madhuri the moniker of Bollywood’s ‘dhak dhak’ girl.
The filmmaker said, “When I signed Madhuri for Dil with Aamir Khan, it was still fine, but when I signed her for Beta too, everyone said, “Paagal hogaya hai tu, iski koi film nahi chal rahi.”
He continued, “By that time, an interview had come out, claiming, ‘Madhuri is a jinxed girl.’ Whichever film she is in, it turns out to be a flop. Despite all the speculations, I started working with her on both Dil and Beta in 1988.”
Kumar said that he had confidence in the Hum Aapke Hain Koun actress, and refused to change his decision. He added, “There was something in my heart that said, “Yaar, isme baat hai, kuch hai isme.”
The director revealed that the ‘flop’ tag began to fade away and the industry changed their views about her after she delivered blockbuster films like Tezaab (1988) and Ram Lakhan (1989).
“After that, I was also lucky. I started the film in October, and Tezaab was released in December 1988, and in January 1989, Ram Lakhan was released. Madhuri ka jo ‘bechaari flop’ waala impression tha distributors ka, woh change ho gaya,” Kumar shared.
The filmmaker revealed that when the actress arrived to shoot for his film’s next schedule after six months, she was already a star by then. He added that despite her stardom, the actress was down to earth and even now, she stays the same.
On the film front, Madhuri Dixit was last seen in Kartik Aaryan-Vidya Balan’s blockbuster horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (2024).
