She’s the quintessential dance queen and still manages to make hearts go ‘Dhak – Dhak’ with her dance moves. Her role as Bahaar Begum, in Kalank, is proof that no one can beat her, when it comes to dance. That’s probably why, Varun was very serious even as a kid when he was asked by Madhuri to show her his dance moves!
We remind Madhuri about that incident and she laughs out loud! Then goes on to tell us how that happened. “We were shooting for Yaarana, and Davidji had brought both his sons; Varun and his brother along with his wife to Switzerland during the shoot. There were no vans then and we had to wait in a bus, Varun was just a kid and he would get restless. His dad had told me that he dances well, so I asked him if he knew how to dance and he said yes. So I told him to show me his dance and he used to do the steps and I would give him marks for it! I would fool and give him 5 out of 10 and he would try harder. That’s how we kept him occupied,” says Madhuri.
Little must they have known that they would be sharing screen space as mother and son in a film some day. Life has come a full circle for both of them, as this time it was Varun who watched her dance as Bahaar Begum! When I tell Madhuri that her co-stars, Alia, Varun and Sonakshi said that they had so much to learn from her, she very humbly says that it goes the other way round too. She says, “When we work with youngsters we get to learn so much more from them, like how they handle their social media, marketing. Varun is so good at marketing, he is a marketing expert as we call him. When I watch them and see them do things, it inspires me also. I imbibe them to my own life as well. I have also started enjoying stuff like social media etc.”
Madhuri sure seems to be getting digitally savvy as she turned producer with her Marathi film 15 August, that was released on Netflix. When questioned as to why she chose to turn producer with a digital film she explains, “We were already on the digital platform with Dance With Madhuri, on platforms like Airtel, Videocon, Tata Sky, D2H, so the next logical step for us as producers was to venture into digital films. That’s how we released 15 August on Netflix. We had two options either the theater or digital platform but as Marathi films have a very niche audience and we hardly get to reach to an audience so we decided to go with Netflix. That way more people can watch and in different languages as they all have subtitles.”
We’ve seen her do a variety of roles in the past, and even now she has been experimenting with the roles she plays in films. She’s done everything from serious roles to out and out slapstick comedies. When I ask her what genre she enjoys more she says she cannot decide as she loves both serious and comedy genres. “But yes, I love over the top comedies, it’s great fun doing them. Having said that I love to do different things.”
She also feels that she has been very fortunate as an actor because of the kind of films she has been offered. “I have been very fortunate that things have gone right for me. Even back then, I got the right opportunities at the right time, I got good directors and choreographers. I am very thankful for that. I always tried to do different films then too, I did Mrityudand, which was not exactly a commercial film, but it was a very good film and appreciated by all. The good thing is, now there is no demarcation between art films and commercial films, and that is great. Even now, I’ve done a variety of films from a Dedh Ishqiyan to a subtle serious role like Kalan and an out and out comedy like Total Dhamaal,” she added.
We sure hope the talented and gorgeous Madhuri with the 100 watt smile, keeps entertaining us with a variety of roles!
