Daily Times

Actress and producer Madhuri Dixit-Nene says she does not believe in adhering to ageist stereotypes and will choose roles which give her the opportunity to do the “unexpected”.

The veteran star, who established herself as a versatile performer with films like ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Tezaab’, ‘Dil’, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?’, ‘Mrityudand’, ‘Pukar’and ‘Devdas’.

In 2007, she returned with ‘Aaja Nachle’ and then again took a break only to return to the silver screen in 2014 with powerful roles in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and ‘Gulaab Gang’.

“Like now that I am a wife or mother of two kids so I have to play only those kind of roles. Just because I am a wife and a mother so I should do only those kind of roles. I don’t believe in that. I believe in doing something different, something that breaks the stereotype. So I did ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, ‘Gulab Gang’, ‘Bucket List’ and ‘Total Dhamaal’. These films put me in a different light. People should expect that I’ll do something unexpected on screen,” Madhuri Dixit-Nene told media in an interview.

She dominated the 1990s as a Bollywood leading lady and after shifting her base back to Mumbai from Denver, United States, she is here to stay.

“I think one has to change with times. I am walking with time. If I am making a film, I have to make a film that is realistic and I know this is something people will like and relate to. I may make an action film. What is most important is your creativity should not go away. You should always be creative, look for new things to do. I should not be afraid of taking risks,” she said.

In 2007, she returned with ‘Aaja Nachle’ and then again took a break only to return to the silver screen in 2014 with powerful roles in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and ‘Gulaab Gang’

Madhuri Dixit, 51, who made production debut with husband Sriram Nene through the Netflix Original film ’15 August’, says her choices are always going to be different as an actor and as a producer.

“For my first film, I wanted to do something that is relatable. Chaawls is a dying culture. There is unity and love everybody knows what is happening in other person’s house. Everyone comes together during happy and sad moments. And my next film ‘Kalank’ is far from simple. The characters are larger than life, there is a lot of angst and there is turmoil. The sets are larger than life,” she said.

‘Kalank’ came her way after the untimely demise of Sridevi, who was earlier supposed to star as Bahaar Begum in the Abhishek Varman-directed film.

“As an actress, it wasn’t difficult to play this role. But emotionally it was difficult as you know something unfortunate had happened so suddenly. I am also a mother, she has two kids, who are so young, so thinking of all that, it was really sad,” she said.

‘Kalank’, which releases on April 17, 2019 also reunites Madhuri with her ’90s co-star Sanjay Dutt. The actress said working with Sanjay Dutt was a great experience.

“We’ve worked together earlier,so there was no re-bonding or awkwardness or anything. I’ve worked with Anil Kapoor and Dutt after a long time and it was great. There’s a kind of comfort and I know how the scenes will be, how the action and reaction is going to be,” she said.