Shekhar Suman has made a splendid comeback with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi. The actor’s performance in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial is much-loved by fans and critics alike. Now, in his recent interaction with Bollywood Bubble, the veteran actor spoke at length about his career. Shekhar Suman, who marked his acting debut with the 1984 film Utsav, shared an interesting anecdote about working with Madhuri Dixit, who was a newcomer back then. The actor shared that he used to pick up Madhuri Dixit on a bike when they started working together. Shekhar Suman said, “Utsav had gotten delayed and in between that and Anubhav, one day I got a call where a director wanted to sign me for a film called Maanav Hatya, where I played a true journalist.”
Shekhar Suman continued, “The director said ‘Paise bade kam hain isme. (I don’t have money)’ He only offered me Rs 5,000. However, I had signed Utsav for Rs 25,000 and was given Rs 10,000 as the signing amount. When he offered me Rs 5,000 for this one, I was a little disappointed and there was no heroine also. He told me it was a new heroine named Madhuri Dixit. I asked him to make me meet her. When he asked me if I would do it, I agreed to do that film.”
Shekhar Suman added, “I said of course I’ll do it. I justified that if Rekhaji could work with me – a newcomer, then me being a newcomer why won’t I work with another newcomer? We went and met Madhuri at her house. She took some time to come out. When I saw her she was resplendent and looked glorious and pretty. I told the director that your film is about to start. And I will do it.”
He went on to add, “It was the second film for both of us individually, and producer aake kehta hai, ‘location ke paise nahi hain, aapka ghar milega to shoot?’ Maine kaha, ‘arey bhai, aisa karo. Thodi dino mein tum mujhse paise lelo and shoot karna. Ghar bhi lelo, kapde bhi lelo, motorcycle bhi lelo. Joh karna hai karlo, joh lena hai leno.‘ Toh woh bola, ‘dhekho, abhi Madhuri ko aane ke liye taxi ke paise nahi hai toh can you go pick her up?’ (The producers said that they didn’t have a budget for a location and requested to use my house. I said take money from me to shoot. Take my house, clothes, bike – whatever you want. Then the producers asked me if I could go and pick Madhuri Dixit, as she didn’t have the money to come to the shoot location).”
After having a nice laugh about it, the actor continued, “Toh main Madhuri Dixit ko motorcycle pe lene jaata tha. Phir bola makeup man ke paise nahi hain… toh mere ko bola ki meri wife, Alka, ko bolo ki wo aachi lagti hai toh woh makeup kar degi. Toh Alka used to do Madhuri Dixit’s makeup. Kapde bhi chhaiye the. Alka used to give her clothes also. Poor Madhuri Dixit, she was such a sweet, naive, Maharashtrian girl … joh bolte thay (producers) woh karti thi. I used to drop her off after shoots and take her to dance practices also. (So I went and picked her up by bike. They then didn’t have money for a makeup artist, so they requested my wife, Alka, to do the makeup. At one point, Alka even lent Madhuri clothes for the movie. Madhuri was so naive, she did everything she was told to.) The film somehow got completed.”
Shekhar Suman said that in his third film Anubhav, he was supposed to share screen space with Madhuri Dixit. But she was replaced by Padmini Kolhapure. The actor said, “My third film Anubhav also had Madhuri cast in it, but two days later, she was replaced by Padmini Kolhapure, who was a much bigger star then. That film became a huge success.”
