“If reviews were good, we used to…”: Madhuri Dixit recalls how dad’s newspaper ritual shaped her taste in films

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 1 (ANI): Bollywood icon Madhuri Dixit Nene recently looked back on her childhood influences that shaped her taste in cinema.
The actress, while speaking to ANI, shared a sweet memory of how films became a part of her life long before she entered the industry, thanks largely to her father’s weekend ritual with a newspaper.
Recalling those days, Madhuri said that she and her family would go to the theatres only after checking the reviews in the paper. Giving a glimpse of that era, she described how her father would sit with the paper, and if the reviews were favourable, if they were “good”, the family would head out to watch the film. She spoke about growing up watching a wide variety of cinema, from mainstream entertainers to serious parallel films. She also recalled how she grew up watching more of Shabana Azmi’s movies and classics from the art-house space because those were the films her father preferred.
“And to tell you the truth, I grew up watching more of Shabana Ji’s films and those kinds of films because my dad used to sit with a newspaper, and if the review of the film was good, we used to go and watch it. So, I had seen both sides of it,” she said.
Madhuri fondly remembered watching big commercial entertainers too, saying that they had seen Amar Akbar Anthony in the theatre, but also films like Nishant, Bhuvan Shome, and others that defined parallel cinema. Because she “grew up on both kinds of movies,” she said, there was always a deep desire to explore different genres and roles as an actor.
“…We watched Amar Akbar Anthony in the theatre. And then we watched Nishant and, you know, all those movies, Nishant, Bhuvan Shome. I grew up on both kinds of movies. So for me, there was always this thing about wanting to do these kinds of films too. Because I grew up watching them and appreciating them. And hence, I think there was always this thing where I did Prahar, I did a cameo in Dharavi, and I did Mrityudand and all these kinds of films where you got to have these silences, in a very different way,” she added.
Madhuri Dixit, considered one of Bollywood’s most iconic stars, has appeared in over 100 films and won six Filmfare Awards. Honoured with the Padma Shri in 2008, she is celebrated for her remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. Madhuri made her acting debut in ‘Abodh’ (1984), but it was her breakout role in ‘Tezaab’ (1988) that launched her to fame. She went on to dominate the industry with hit films like ‘Ram Lakhan,’ ‘Parinda,’ ‘Ilaaka,’ and ‘Khalnayak.’ (ANI)