Age definitely teaches a few good lessons to everyone. Madhuri Dixit Nene, who used to be the numero uno female actor in Bollywood in the early 1990s, hardly had any female friends within the Industry. However, she now seems to be seeking female buddies by the handful!
Back in those days, such was their rivalry that you could never be friends/fans of all the three leading ladies of Bollywood – Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla; you had to choose one.
In one of her very old interviews, Madhuri had agreed and said that “I don’t trust easily. I have never attempted to make friends. Probably under different circumstances I could have been friends with say Neelam, but because of our busy schedules and time constraints…”
Note that Neelam was a far smaller actor then, and Mads didn’t utter the names of Juhi and Sridevi at all.
In one of her recent interviews, Juhi chawla had agreed that she was affected by their rivalry back in the nineties. It seems, in the rivalry, Juhi was the one who was more stressed out, whereas Madhuri seemed to be unaffected (or rather better one in the fight). And while Juhi has always heaped praise for Madhuri, whenever asked about their rivalry, Madhuri never did that.
No 4.AM Friends
Madhuri confesses that she doesn’t have very close friends in the industry, nothing like those 4.AM friends, despite being in the industry for so long.
One of the resons for that is because she doesn’t like to go for parties. When she started out, Madhuri hardly went to parties, despite the fact that its pretty much a norm in Bollywood. Dixit says she used to feel uncomfortable and out of place. “I used to enter from one door saying ‘hello’ to everyone and leave from the next door”. At other times, most are busy shooting, either indoors or outdoors.
That’s why she doesn’t have many friends within the industry, but Madhuri says that she definitely has pals outside of the industry, whom she’s more comfortable with and enjoy their company.
Doesn’t Networking Help?
But are you not supposed to network in the Industry to get roles? Though its true, Madhuri relies on her talent, rather than networking, to win roles.
Madhuri says that the roles that were offered to her recently was not because of networking, but because of here abilities & talents. “Filmmakers know that when I do a film, I am very committed to the role. I am well-disciplined. So my reputation precedes me and that’s why makers come to me with the scripts. And not because they are my friends”.
Though Juhi Chawla recently admitted to a rivalry with Ms Nene at the peaks of their careers, she also mentioned that she was thrilled to get an opportunity to work with Dixit. Things have changed now, probably because they all know that they’re no longer in the race for the ruling diva of Bollywood, and there’s really no scope/reason for professional jealousy. Nevertheless, its good to see that Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, who once could not see eye to eye, are working together and are quite comfortable with each other.
