Dancing with Prabhu Deva was scary: Madhuri

She has not been an active part of Bollywood for quite a few years now but that has not diminished her star power and neither has the long break faded memories of her performances on screen. Her dancer numbers are still a hot favourite and her looks still make you go weak in your knees. Yes that happened to us as we caught up with ‘dhak dhak’ woman and mother of two, Madhuri Dixit Nene.

What made you agree to do a dance based show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa?

Dance is up my alley. It is something that I am good at and my comments will have some weight. So I thought it was a good opportunity. Plus TV is a great medium to reach out to the fans and meet them.

This is not the first time you are doing television though. The first attempt was not too successful.

When I had done ‘Shubh Vivaah’ it was a good concept but came too early. Back then reality shows were not so popular and people could not accept it. People had a problem with getting a private thing like marriage on television. The show would have done much better today.

Your dances are still remembered. Interestingly, the best of them were choreographed by Saroj Khan.

Yes that’s right. You know we have a great understanding. There are times when she does not even need to tell me what she wants and I understand. She understands me likewise. That rapport works very well for us. We would have a discussion before every song so that we don’t repeat any step. That helped us in shooting some good songs. And then I am always ready to put in the hard work.

Do you have any favourite dance numbers from all your songs? Also which one song did you have to put in maximum effort into?

Touchwood, I always got good songs hence it is difficult to point any favourite numbers. Back then the beats used to be very good. Talking about difficulties, I think ‘Tamma Tamma’ is the song that I had to work really hard on. Every music piece in that song was done in one shot. There were times when we used strain our knees so much!

You danced with a lot of actors. Who would you consider as a bad dancer?

I have not danced with anyone who is bad. They are all good dancers and have their own styles of dancing. Even Aamir (Khan) is very hard working and does not leave till he gets a step right. I remember we had done ‘Dum Duma Dum’ and we rehearsed a lot for it before he was confident enough.

And has there ever been a time when dancing with someone scared you?

I was really scared to dance with Prabhu Deva. He is such a good dancer and when he choreographed ‘que sera sera’ (Pukar) I remember telling him that it would not be possible for me to match him. But he was very positive and kept telling me that I could do it. The video turn out really well.

So do we see you getting back to films?

Depends on what the film is. It has to be something that has been written for me and suits my image. The character of course has to be in a different mould and not a role of a giggly teenager running around trees. But I don’t wish to do too serious cinema either. I don’t want to do serious or comedy but something that suits where I am now.

What is your most challenging role so far?

That has to be my part in Mrityudand!

How do you look at the change in Hindi cinema over the last few years?

There are vast changes in the way films are being made. Also the variety in the kind of films made is tremendous. We have a Raajneeti as well as a Dabangg and both doing well. The audience is open to watch different films and this is a very good time for filmmakers, actors and actresses.

Finally, which film of late have you loved?

I found Dabangg very entertaining and Salman Khan was very good in it.

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