Why Priyanka Chopra is making a US sitcom about Madhuri Dixit – the 90s superstar who traded Bollywood fame for suburban marriage
Madhuri Dixit was one of the most successful actresses in Indian cinema, but traded it all for marriage and motherhood – now her story is set to be brought to the masses, with a dash of comedic flair, for ABC
Iconic Indian actress Madhuri Dixit steps sure-footedly into her mid fifties – she celebrated her 53rd birthday on May 15 – with no signs of slowing down in the notoriously sexist and ageist Bollywood industry.
Here's a look at the ultimate dancing – and smiling – diva.
From humble beginnings to a booming career
After an audition and screen test, 17-year-old Madhuri Dixit entered Bollywood with a box-office flop, the hardly seen Abodh (Innocent) released in the summer of 1984. For years, she played the second lead starlet to a handful of other actresses for years. She had barely-there roles in nearly a dozen movies and was so low on the pecking order of actors listed in a film that the first chapter of her historic Hindi film career is remarkable for its paucity of proper roles.
At the end of the 1980s, her career was put to the acid test in the 1988 film Tezaab (Acid) where the alchemy between choreographer Saroj Khan and dancer Madhuri Dixit produced box office gold. The film, and more importantly a seven-minute song and dance sequence shot over a period of a week, catapulted Dixit from ingénue to movie star.
She joked that she became an “overnight sensation” except for the fact she’d been working in the industry for half a decade. The most iconic dance from that film currently has more than 97 million views and counting – a song released 31 years ago which still beats most contemporary tunes by a mile.