Madhuri Dixit: The Gorgeous Apsara

Beauty is typically associated with the Aries sign, the sign of Venus. Madhuri was born slightly later and is actually an earth sign - Taurus. I don't think it's any of our business to know the year she was born in, but her debut was a little known movie Abodh.

She got her a big break as a protoge of showman Subhash Ghai who did Uttar Dakshin with her. However, it was N Chandra's blockbuster Tezaab which gave Madhuri her first major hit, especially with the song Ek Do Teen, penned by Shabana Azmi.



In Tezaab Madhuri demonstrated both her dancing abilities as well as her incredible acting prowess. In almost all of her follow-on movies Madhuri had a great song, and often that song was credited with the success of the movie itself!

Movies with a male name in their title were often modified in popular discussions to the female name. For example, Beta, a remake of a South Indian movie, was dubbed Beti by fans crazy for Madhuri's trademark Dhak Dhak song. The song was especially sweet for her since it was originally filmed on her competitor Sridevi in the south Indian version.



Shah Rukh Khan started out in anti-hero roles. One of the more severe was Anzaam which had Madhuri perform so much violence in revenge that she refused to give dates for the movie's completion before she was sued by the producer. Good thing she finished the movie, since it gave the viewers some of the best songs of hers. Here she is enacting the story of a girl lost in chane ke khet.



Hindi movies have often been inspired by Sidney Sheldon's novels. One of his stories had the heroine helping the paralyzed husband get better by forcing him to swim after tipping his wheel chair in water. In Anjaam, Madhuri has to fix SRK before she can enact her revenge and so she does what she does best as seen in the song Barson ke Baad.



Rajshri Productions' Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is considered one of Madhuri's best films, though the entire movie appears to just be about a wedding! Her song Didi Tera Dewar Diwana made the backless blouse very popular in India.



Julia Roberts' Sleeping with the Enemy was remade at least thrice in Bollywood. Madhuri's version - Yaarana - had her trademark dance show song Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (you can see similarities with the much older Tezaab song which stayed with her forever).



Aditya Pancholi has never been a big hit in the movies despite his good looks. But he has definitely been lucky. His movie Sailab with Madhuri was probably his biggest movie and had some great songs from her. Humko Aajkal Hai was her standard item number.



Madhuri also pushed the envelope with her songs going places where it used to be the job of the Helens and Bindus to go to. It had to be the combination of Madhuri and Subhash Ghai again which would create that cultural phenomenon Choli Ke Peechhe with one of her few acknowledged lovers - Sanjay Dutt - in Khalnayak.



While Choli ke Peechhe got all the attention, my favorite song from the movie is Palki Me Hoke Sawar Chali, which made the obligatory Subhash Ghai appearance (he had originally arrived in Bollywood to become a hero!).



Madhuri was blamed for putting on some weight by the time she played with Rishi Kapoor in Prem Granth. But she was still terrific in Jungle Me Sher.



Madhuri's marriage to a doc in Denver broke many a heart. Her return to movies has not been as successful yet but it would be interesting to see if she can recreate herself!