Kamal Ghorui
At the peak of her stardom and career, Madhuri Dixit made the surprising decision to step away from films and settle into a quieter life in the US with her husband, Shriram Nene. When she got married and left movies, she left the hearts of many fans heartbroken. Interestingly, when the two got married, Nene had little idea about the scale of Madhuri’s stardom in India and had not even watched her films. For Madhuri, that became one of the biggest reasons to choose a life with him, as it allowed her to escape the constant spotlight and experience a more normal life away from the glamour industry.In an old conversation on ‘Rendezvous with Simi Garewal’, Madhuri spoke about the moment Nene truly realised how famous she was. Recalling his reaction during their wedding reception, she said, “I think at our wedding reception. He was like oh my God, there are so many people and I told him that the queue doesn’t end there, it ends all the way there. He didn’t know how big a star I was. He just knew that she is a star in India. He had never experienced a full impact of that.”Since Nene was born in London and raised in the United States, he wasn’t familiar with Hindi cinema or Bollywood celebrities. Madhuri shared that there was only one actor he recognised at their wedding — Amitabh Bachchan.She revealed, “The only star he recognised at our wedding reception was Mr Amitabh Bachchan because he had watched Amar Akbar Anthony as a kid.”Even after understanding Madhuri’s immense popularity, Nene still wasn’t particularly interested in watching Bollywood films. Sharing a funny memory, Madhuri said, “Me and his mom tried to show him one of my films and my song, and he was like, ‘Can’t we do something else? Let’s go out and do something’. He has not watched a lot of Bollywood films. He comes from a different sensibility, but he loved Devdas.”After marrying in 1999, Madhuri shifted to the US and spent more than a decade living in Denver, Colorado, focusing on family life and raising her two sons. She attempted a comeback with the 2007 film ‘Aaja Nachle’, though the film did not perform well at the box office.The actress eventually returned to India with her family in 2011, and her critically acclaimed performance in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ marked a strong second innings in Hindi cinema. Since then, she has appeared in films such as ‘Kalank’, ‘Gulaab Gang’, and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’.Madhuri is now gearing up for the release of her upcoming film ‘Ma Behen’, which also stars Triptii Dimri in a lead role.
