I was told that I can't make it big in B-town: Madhuri

Madhuri Dixit, who ruled the hearts of the audience in 80s and 90s, says when she started her career, people tried to pull her down by saying she won't be able to make her place in Bollywood.

"Being a woman you always go through something or the other. When I made my debut in Bollywood, many people told me I can't do, it's not a good place, I can't make my position in this industry. But that time I had faith in myself and worked and proved everyone what can I do," Madhuri said at an event here yesterday.

"When you push yourself you rise up to the challenge and you realise your strength. When adversity comes that's when one stands for themselves," she added.

Madhuri made her acting debut with 'Abodh' in 1984 but the film failed at the box office. Her next release 'Awara Baap' (1985) also turned out to be failure. In 1986 Madhuri starred in 'Swati' and 'Manav Hatya', both the films being declared as flops.    She had three releases in 1987 – 'Mohre', 'Hifazat' and 'Uttar Dakshin', which also did not do well.

After a series of consecutive flops, she finally attained stardom with 'Tezaab' in 1988. The film went on to become that year's highest grossing movie. Thereafter she delivered hit films one after the other, including 'Ram Lakhan', 'Prem Pratigyaa', 'Tridev', 'Parinda', 'Dil', 'Saajan', 'Beta', 'Mrityudand', 'Dil Toh Pagal Hai' and others.

After her marriage in 1999 to Shriram Nene, a US-based surgeon, she did Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Devdas' in 2002. She then took a break and staged a comeback with Aditya Chopra's home production 'Aaja Nachle' in 2007.

Despite missing from the silver screen, the 46-year-old film star was very much present on small screen. She appeared as one of the judges in TV dance reality show, 'Jhalak Dikhla Jaa' in season four, five and now six.

After marriage, Madhuri relocated to the US for almost a decade. But in 2011, she shifted her base back in Mumbai along with her family. Madhuri will feature in the upcoming film 'Gulab Gang' directed by newcomer Soumik Sen, which also stars Juhi Chawla, Mahie Gill, Shilpa Shukla and others. The other is Vishal Bharadwaj's home production 'Dedh Ishqiya'.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha looks all charged up for his first upcoming film as a producer 'Gulaab Gang' as he plans different marketing and promotion strategies.
The first such initiative being called 'Believe', a campaign that celebrates triumphs of women of India and their stories.

A press conference was arranged last evening to launch this initiative, along with Sinha and the two leading ladies of the film - Madhuri and Juhi.

"We decided to shoot few documentaries, which will be of six to seven minutes in length. In these short films, we will feature women, who had gone against the odds and have done something which brought a change in their lives. In India, we have so many women, who have so many stories to tell," Sinha said.

While making 'Gulaab Gang', Sinha thought about this initiative as the film is on women. "We have so many women who have stood for a cause for themselves and made a different story. Unless and until you push yourself, you don't realise what you can actually do," Juhi said.