In honor of Maduri Dixit’s birthday, first I’d like to wish her one:Ardent Madhuri Dixit fan, Gaja Gamini, from Bollywood-ish Blog, declared it Magic of Madhuri Week. My little contributions are some shocking images of Maduri from Zindagi Ek Juaa (1992) (Life is a Gamble)
The first image of the film is of ye olde Central Jail, so right off you know there’s trouble. Maybe one day I’ll make it Film City or whatever movie studio houses Central Jail.
Now a bit about the film:
After saving the life of his employer, Jagjit Singh alias JJ (Anupam Kher), Harikishan (Anil Kapoor) is promoted with a wage increase that he had only dreamt of. Anxious to please his employer Harikishan agrees to have his name changed to Harry, and does anything that he is instructed to do. Soon Harry realises that he has been aiding his employer in illegal activities. When he tries to break away, he is told that his mom (Asha Sharma) is and will be held captive to guarantee his cooperation. Harry must now come up with a scheme that will guarantee his safety as well as the freedom of his mom, and at the same time save himself from being arrested by the police. (source)
But there’s so much more, and that’s the part about Madhuri’s character Juhi, called Baby by family and friends. Anil Kapoor’s Harikishan ends up falling for the boss’s daughter when she comes back from Europe and dazzles him with her carefree performance at her birthday party.
Very soon after her first meeting with Harikishan, Baby/Juhi becomes the aggressor and makes her lustful feelings very clear:Harikishan is puzzled by her romantic overtures, so the Bollywood cure of the tight slap to the face is used to bring him to understanding:Enjoy Maduhuri’s dance of seduction in Dil To Dil Hai featuring the music by Bappi Lahiri and playback singer Ahsa Bhosle:
One thing leads to another, Juhi ends up pregnant, they get married against her father’s wishes, but Harikishan has to handle some of the illegal drug business in Hong Kong, see you can tell he’s in Hong Kong by the room itself, all oriental in its styling, with the bonus of the awesome cordless phone:Hari’s best friend (Shakti Kapoor) tries his best to watch over Juhi while Hari’s away, but please take special note of the Whitney Houston poster on the wall, as it serves as an ominous warning to what could happen to Juhi. In case you haven’t heard, Houston has fallen on the path of drug abuse, which is the same fate that awaits Madhuri’s Juhi. Eventually she finds out about Hari’s business dealings in illegal drugs, and sends him packing right after she gives birth to their son. Of course after telling him off she has a huge headache and at that moment, she’ s offered some medicine by an evil friend, Mr. Lal:And just like THAT she’s hooked!
So Juhi has sent her husband packing and quickly becomes addicted to her nose candy. A police inspector played by Suresh Oberoi goes to Juhi to find out more about what she knows about Harikishan and notices Juhi’s addiction, meanwhile, I ignored most of that scene and just noticed this great subtitle ripe for a screen capture:
Harikishan realizes his estranged biwi has pushed him out of her life, and decides to soothe his anguish with music, but he’s shocked even more when a drugged up Juhi makes an appearance. Staggering and stoned Juhi plays the trumpet stopping only to smoke. What an entrance! Watch Kabhi Kuchh Khoya with playback singer Kumar Sanu,who incidently I saw in concert with Akla Yagnick a few yers back when I was too new of a Hindi cinema fan to fully appreciate.
Watch here and at about 1:40 the drug fiend Madhuri enters. Pay special attention for her crazy drugged trumpet playing while smoking at 2:09. When Anil’s Harikishan sees that it’s a COMPLETE buzz kill and he realizes, “I married a drug whore! My dealing of drugs brought this all about! The mother of my son uses coke!”
I’d like to bring up Whitney Houston again, who just this week was banned from Prince concerts due to her drug using antics and trying to get on stage with Prince in her altered state. Houston has since gone into rehab. This makes me wonder if that’s how Harikishan felt when Juhi trid to play trumptet while he was jamming with his friend in Kabhi Kuchh Khoya. Poor Juhi did not make it into rehab. She realized her problem, made arrangements to have her son cared for: Then she goes down the self-destructive path of drug abuse.But then there’s a knock at the door!Harikishan pleads with Juhi to stop her drug use.
He leaves, only to return another time…
What happened to Juhi? Watch the movie if you dare to see, or ask me in the comments and I’ll tell you. Let this be a warning to you, don’t do drugs! Thank you for reading this post, but now, with all due respect, all I have to say is…
Report to Bollywood-ish blog for Magic of Madhuri Week‘s FULL LIST BLOG POSTS.
Excellent review. Now I’m pondering if we could cast Madhuri in our self-produced Whitney Houston biopic. I wrote a short post on “Beta”, and there is something weirdly satisfying about these films where a superfierce Madhuri character walks all over another doormat Anil character.
Liz-ji!
Yes, that mildly mentally impaired character that Anil plays so well (a la Beta, Parinda, Yuvvraaj) is great. I like when Madhuri expresses her Sita-Janki falsely accused honor fierce outrage in Lajja:
(she’s so cute when she get’s upset. 😉 )
See my write up on Lajja HERE.
I like your idea of casting Madhuri in the Houston biopic…and Bobby Brown will be played by? I’ll contact my script writers and attorneys and have my people call your people. Now get out!
[…] I also love do her stage shows, as I discovered from YouTube. I might do a post with some more stage shows tomorrow, the 15th (i.e., right on Madhuri’s birthday) or the day after that. But I wanted to get this post out today, May 14, so that it might still count as being part of the Magic of Madhuri Week that was announced at the Bollywood-ish blog, which I learned about from Sita-ji at Bollywood Food Club. […]
Richard-ji Wah Wah! Glad you did a post, going to see it now only…
Looks funny – I might watch this some time.
You didn’t really write, if you liked the film, or you could recommend it – so can you?
Limette-ji,
Yeah, that’s sort of my angle, I write about aspects of films that interest me, or parts that I found funny or peculiar, but unless I LOVE a film, I rarely comment on if it was “good” or “bad” instead I only examine them. I feel it’s not quite right for me to critique a film in that way, since so much hard work can go into them, so even a “bad” film can be good in that way and who am I to judge that in this public way? Anyway, Madhuri’s performance was great, loved the music and wacky dancing in this one, but overall it’s not the best film I’ve seen, but if you’re a Madhuri or Anil fan it’s worth your time for some fun. Thanks for stopping in to comment, and sorry I don’t offer a rating system…maybe I should. 🙂
Ah! I’m so glad you covered this movie. It’s one of my favorite performances of Mads. And yes, excellent music. Dil to dil hai is one of my faves! And yes, I love the significance of the Whitney poster. Hahahaha.
Amaluu-ji,
The mosic rocked! I found a much clearer clip of Dil To Dil Hai here, but didn’t put it in because it didn’t include the suggestive Juhi running her fingers up Harikishan’s back, etc.. Here’s the clearer one, since you may want to listen and watch again and again and again…
Thank for commenting. 🙂 Have you done a Madhuri post yet…clicking over to see.
I love the way you write, Sita-ji. I don’t think the film could possibly be as entertaining as the post. Sorry, I am being rushed away to watch a family film and don’t have time to write any more.
Joss-ji,
You’re too kind! Let me know your impressions if you ever end up seeing it, but as usual, I picked out all the best parts to examine. 🙂
Great review. I can’t believe I have missed this one. Situation to be rectified soon. Just say no! 🙂
sparkle-ji,
You know I was JUST about to start using that medicine, then I saw this movie and was saved from what could have been a really bad trip down a rocky path to destruction. The movies keeps saving me over and over again!
you know i do like Madhuri, but everyone that talks about her says what a great dancer she is. i need some suggestions to look this up, because i cant see any difference between her and alot of other bollywood diva’s. for instance in Devdas, Ash gave as good as she did, i think she’s an ordinary dancer. I am, however, happy to be wrong. all suggestions gratefully received
prima-ji,
Well I’m probably not a good one to ask, since I adore Madhuri, I naturally tend to like everything she does. I think Aish is also a good to great dancer, but there’s something with Maduhri where she has a higher ability to translate emotion through her dancing along with her technical skills, that sets her apart for me. Look at Madhuri here on her recent stint on the Indian dance competition show, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa (Dancing With The Stars) doing some of her more famous dances:
I really love this number from Lajja, “Badi Mushkil”
I’m not as fond of Dola Re Dola (the one with Aish) as her other 2 numbers from Devdas, where she shows so much passion:
So let me know if these help you see anything more outstanding than other dancers. Thanks for you comments and I apologize for my tardy response. 🙂
hey there Sita ji ( btw i love that you call me Prima ji, i’m loving it) i have completely changed my view since i went on a complete Madhuri bender this week. I watched, Laijja, and aaja nachle ( which i have watched the end of about 6 times in the last three days bawling my eyes out at the Laila/Manju play) and have fallen for Madhuri completely. I think its such a shame that Hindi cinema doesnt know what to do with an immensely talented woman like her in her 40’s she still has so much to offer. I love these clips too. i thoroughly am going to try to do my Madhuri dances in the mirror. AAAAACha! you know, half of it is i dont fully understand the elements of classical indian dance, hand movements and stuff, but i watch like 5 – 10 hindi films every week so i’m gonna finally understand the difference between dancers and her. Yaha pyāra Madhuri.
Primaji!
So glad you went on the “Madhuri bender” and saw the light. Check out these blogs:
http://madhurimania.blogspot.com/
http://meranamaprilhai.blogspot.com/
her twitter is @adv7342 and she’s in India now.
I also don’t know much about the elements of the various genres of Indian dance, but I think after seeing so many films I can tell what’s “good” or at least what I like. Thanks for your comment. 🙂
p.s. I love Aaja Nachele too and the ending left it so open to a sequel, hai na?
I loved this version of Madhuri dancing along side the choreographer of the number
LOL, ROFL, you’re too much I’m going to find this, you’ve sold me on it. I love the Whitney reference, only you could point that out lol
bollywooddeewanaji,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, if I made you laugh, my work is done. You know I never really recommend or dissuade someone from watching a movie, I just pick out the amusing parts to post, thus I may misrepresent the overall value of a film. 😉 Interpret THAT as you wish. I really like how unbelievable aggressive “Baby” is, start watching at 1:00:00 in here to see how hot to trot she is for Anil’s character, innit? :
I wonder if that’s what wen doen with Whitney and Bobby back in the day.
Do report back after you watch it to let me know how you enjoyed it and I’ll of course look for a post on your FANTASTIC blog. 🙂
I have never seen this movie. I recently stumbled across the mention of the song Dil to Dil Hai and watched it. I don’t understand a word she said except that dil means heart and pyaar is love. I would like to see this entire movie w/ english subtitles but I cannot find it. Does anyone konw where I could find this movie with english subtitles? I loved how u broke down the movie and explained diffrent parts. Thank you for adding the subtitles on some of the pictures.
Gretchenji! Thanks so much for your comment! I’ve been neglecting the blog lately but I was so happy to see you enjoyed the post. I believe I watched this one through Netflx. Good luck! 🙂