Madhuri Dixit On Being Pitted Against Sridevi In The 90s: ‘Our Paths Never Really…’ | Exclusive – News18

Last Updated:November 15, 2024, 23:15 IST

Madhuri Dixit explains why there never wasn’t much interaction between her and Sridevi. However, she says they admired each other.

Back in the nineties, several reports hinted at a possible rivalry between Madhuri Dixit Nene and Sridevi. Gossip magazines were abuzz with stories of how the divas were arch-nemesis, especially after the Dhak Dhak girl replaced the late actor as the top female star in Bollywood. In 1994, in an interview to Stardust, Sridevi subtly pointed how Madhuri had imitated her style of acting in Khalnayak. “A lot of other stars also imitate the distinct styles of prominent stars. What’s the big deal if she did a take-off on me? It is their profession. But frankly speaking, I’d never do it,” she had said.

So, when Sridevi attended Madhuri and Dr Shriram Nene’s wedding reception in 1999, it raised many eyebrows. And interestingly, the only film they appeared together in was Ramesh Sippy’s Zameen (1987). The duo, however, didn’t get to share screen space in it and the film never saw the light of the day. Now, years later, in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Madhuri spilled the beans on her equation with Sridevi.

The Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 actor addressed how they were constantly pitted against each other and told us, “We never worked together. There was one movie that we did long back but even then, we didn’t have any scenes together. We had different scenarios going for us in terms of our careers. Our paths never really crossed in that sense. But, of course, we both had a lot of respect and admiration for each other. I had respect for her as an actor as she worked in different languages – which was amazing – and she was successful across them. She was also very sweet to me.”

Years later, Madhuri worked on Srivedi and Boney Kapoor’s Pukaar (2000). But even then, there was barely any exchange between them. Talking about it, Madhuri said, “Pukaar was Boney ji’s production. So, she was the producer of that film. There was not much interaction between us because she was doing her own thing and I was doing mine. We didn’t really get to talk much.”

But what did Sridevi have to tell her after Pukaar? “After we completed Pukaar and it released, I was married and went to the US. That’s why there wasn’t so much interaction. She entered the industry before I did and she had been working since she was a little kid. She worked really hard to be where she was and I really respected that,” recalled Madhuri.

In a recent interview, Javed Akhtar spoke about how women actors like Madhuri and Sridevi didn’t get big roles as society wasn’t clear about who a contemporary woman was. Reacting to his words, Madhuri stated, “Commercial cinema of that time had many constraints in terms of what will work, what won’t, what’s good, what’s not and if family audiences can watch them. But we still tried to play different characters within those constraints and we did break the glass ceiling and find different kinds of roles, and that’s what makes us women.”