For long she has been the woman behind our man on screen but this week Madhuri Dixit will be the hero of the piece in “Gulaab Gang”. “Yes, the Hindi film heroine is getting empowered. These are interesting times for female actors in the industry. If you remember in ‘Mrityudand’ (the 1997 Prakash Jha film where Madhuri’s character Ketki takes on the corrupt system which includes her husband), the transformation happened in the second half but here Rajjo is empowered from the beginning. And the good thing is she is not an avenger in the mould of heroine-oriented films of yore. Nor does Soumik turn it into a noble women versus corrupt men kind of simplistic fight. She fights against injustice and is for women empowerment through education. She stands for not just underprivileged women but men as well,” says Madhuri on a whirlwind tour to promote the film.
Madhuri says the empowerment is not just on screen, it is seeping behind it as well. “When I entered the industry women were seen as fit for assisting in make-up and choreography. Today from assistant directors to lighting there is hardly any field left where women are not making their presence felt and in significant numbers. It makes a film set a much more inclusive place,” she notes.
It is these changes, adds Madhuri that pulled her back to the sets. “The whole work ethic has improved. From the script to vanity vans to the way technology is being used to accomplish the director’s vision, everything is more organised.”
In “Gulab Gang” she is pitted against Juhi Chawla, who was a tough competitor for her in the ’90s. Madhuri suggests that it is a matter of chance. “Right from the beginning of my career I have not shied away from doing films with the emerging and established actors of the time. Be it Karisma Kapoor in ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’, Preity Zinta in ‘Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke’, or Aishwarya Rai in ‘Devdas’, all had substantial roles. Here I was surprised when I was told Juhi is cast as the villain because I had a cute and bubbly image of Juhi in mind. But the way she has transformed herself is amazing.”
Madhuri is often credited as a catalyst for the middle class girls to dream for a spot in the entertainment industry. Coming from a traditional middle class Brahmin family with a sound academic background, she retained her surname and went to the top of the ladder — and then surprised many by marrying somebody from outside the industry. “My mother always impressed upon me the value of discipline and that has helped in the long run. The difference between on screen and off screen life was always clear to me. Long before me there was Durga Khote who also came from a well-educated Brahmin family and made a name for herself, but yes the ’80s were a different time for a young girl to be in a male dominated film industry. With me things changed and the stigma attached to the entertainment industry is no longer there. You can see it in the proliferation of talent in the reality shows.”
She has come a long way from the days of “Ek Do Teen” and “Dhak Dhak”. In her new avatar, Madhuri is articulating Urdu poetry and revolutionary songs. Madhuri breaks into hearty laughter. “I believe we have enough of western influence in characterisation. Indian characters should be more rooted in the cultural ethos but the overall message of the film should be progressive. I think both ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and ‘Gulab Gang’ have been able to achieve this.”
Some critics found her a little self-conscious with her Urdu diction in “Dedh Ishqiya”. “ In the beginning of my career I took lessons in Urdu and in fact there was a point in time when I could even write some sentences in Urdu. Now because of lack of practice I have forgotten it. So I don’t think there is any basis to this charge.”
After the initial fascination for her smile and dance numbers, Madhuri thinks, the new generation of directors has begun to write characters for her without the baggage of the past and she is looking forward to new challenges.
In full bloomBubbly, effervescent and girl-next-door are some of the adjectives that lazy and not so lazy film writers have heaped on Juhi Chawla all these years. They are not entirely at fault because apart from Onir’s “I Am” and Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Teen Deewarein”, Juhi has largely resisted change. Of course, she is one capable actor who can effortlessly turn the spotlight on herself even as a mother or sister, as we have seen in films like “Bhootnath” and “My Brother Nikhil”, but somehow if there is one attribute that you have to associate with her it has to be happy. .
“The image came naturally to me and I didn’t mind it. Like Amitabh Bachchan is associated with angry young man and Sunny Deol is considered as a protector, I am always seen as an actor who has a sense of humour and who can even laugh at herself. Though I have done a ‘Darr’ here and a ‘Lootere’ there, playing a seductress was always difficult for me. It was the ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke’ kind of roles that I could easily relate to,” admits Juhi displaying a candour that is an increasingly becoming a rare trait in the industry.
So when Soumik approached her for the role of politician Sumitra Devi in “Gulab Gang”, Juhi took time to make up her mind. “I was not sure whether the audience will accept me as a villain and will I be able to pull it off the way it is written. We worked on the character, softened the edges to make it more palatable to suit my image, but in the process we realised it is taking away the zing of the character and the intensity of the film. Finally, we decided to go back to the original thought and I surrendered to Soumik’s vision. I sensed that if we get it right we can come up with a fine film.”
From her standards the character is sounding a little over the top in the promos. “It is. In fact for the first couple of days I kept asking Madhuri if I am sounding correct. I was told there are people who talk like this. Sumitra is a twisted character. Like many politicians there is no direct link between what she thinks, says and does. She says something but does something absolutely opposite.” Juhi agrees that it is a sign of the increasing faith in the audience that Soumik hasn’t given the good looking actress any props to play the evil one. “I am eager to know the reaction. I hope it doesn’t go down as a one-off effort.”
Leading actresses are not usually keen to share space with each other. Juhi nods. “I would not have done this if we were playing two characters out to woo a boy or a married man in a love story. I would have asked a hundred questions. It is because here Madhuri is clearly the hero and I am the opposite that I agreed.” She recalls how she missed out on films like “Raja Hindustani” and “Judaai”, which were first offered to her. “I don’t carry any regrets. I got my share of roles and laurels.”
Juhi feels there is a change in the way film writers are looking at female characters. “There is more importance on relationships rather than marriage, but to say that we were all playing decorative pieces all the time in the ’90s is uncharitable.”
Her contemporaries are still wooing young girls on screen. “It is for the audience to reflect. It is not just an Indian fad, though,” the smile is back. Meanwhile, “Gulab Gang” has given her confidence to try more shades. “I won’t be playing just a happy mother.”
