Subhash Ghai on Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala, Mahima Chaudhry: 'Not one of them has kept in touch with me'

Subhash Ghai, who turns a year older on January 24, has a penchant for naming his heroines with the letter ‘M’. Meenakshi Seshadri’s real name is Shashikala and Mahima Chaudhry is Ritu in real life.

What’s with this ‘M’ fixation, I once asked Subhash Ghai?

He chuckled, “I don’t know.It just happened that way. When the name Meenakshi Seshadri worked in Hero,it became a kind of tradition to give my heroines names beginning with the letter ‘M’ right up to Mishti in Kaanchi.”

In Pardes, Ghai’s financiers wanted him to cast Madhuri Dixit. Since Madhuri was under contract with Ghai, he could have easily signed her for Pardes. But Ghai was sure the girl in Pardes had to be played by a newcomer,.Ghai took up the challenge of turning a very Westernized veejay Ritu Chowdhary into a very Indian pahaadi girl in Pardes.

It had to be newcomers Meenakshi Sheshadri and Manisha Koirala in Hero and Saudagar. Ghai has never hesitated in casting newcomers in his films and he has never compromised on the budget just because a film stars newcomers.

Ghai revealed in an old interview with me that Meenakshi Sheshadri and Madhuri Dixit were very raw on camera. “When I did Hero with Meenakshi she didn’t have an iota of romance in her entire being, on her face and in her body language. And there I was, making an intense love story. It was the biggest challenge of my career. All the romance came in the presentation and the music.”

Most startling of all was Ghai’s revelation that Madhuri couldn’t dance when he signed her. “When I re-introduced her(after a flop debut in Abodh) she had no idea of film dancing. I had to travel to Chennai with Saroj Khan and train and rehearse with Madhuri. Only after that did Madhuri manage Laila mar gayee in Uttar Dakshin and Ho ramji bada dukh dina in Ram Lakhan.”

When I presented Madhuri in Uttar Dakshin, she was so raw and inexperienced she didn’t know how to walk or dance on screen.I remember how appalled I was on the first day of shooting. I remember sitting her down and telling her how important the walk is. I had to create an entire persona called ‘Madhuri Dixit’ in Uttar Dakshin and Ram Lakhan. She had the biggest of co-stars in these films. She couldn’t appear inexperienced before them.”

Ghai also revealed Manisha Koirala the stunner from Mani Ratnam’s Bombay and Sanjay Bhansali’s Khamoshi: The Musical couldn’t act. “Manisha was a complete non-actor. Her co-star Vivek Mushran was a better actor. Manisha had a terrific face. But her energy level was very low. She had no interest in being an actor. She was pushed into it. Even if I told her to shake a branch on a tree, it was an ordeal for her. Later, when I saw her in Mani Ratnam’s film, I was blown away by how a complete non-actor could transform into an actor….or how a non-dancer like Madhuri could become dancer.”

On the other hand, Isha Sharvani was purely a dancer and not at all an actor in Kisna. Ask Ghai how many of his discoveries have stayed connected with him , and the mentor grows silent. He had finally blurted out. “Shall I tell you the truth? Not one of them has kept in touch with me. I don’t blame them. Everyone grows in life and moves on. I’m happy to have given the film industry these talented actresses. I am that school teacher whose students leave him after Class 10. But yes, I do feel bad when I try to meet my actresses for a role and they refuse to meet me.”

Ghai says his male actors have stayed connected with him. “Whether it is Anupam Kher, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan , Salman Khan or Sanjay Dutt…they’ve stayed in touch. The male actors have given me respect, the female actors have not. Women are emotionally equipped to move into difference relationships very fast. Aap dekhenge bidaai ke waqt ladkiyaan khoob roteen haain. Ek hafte baad wohapne maa-baap ko bhool jaatee hain (you must have seen how much brides cry while leaving their parents’ home , a week later they forget their parents).”

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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