Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit have made valuable contributions to Indian cinema over the years. They have each carved out a unique place for themselves in the industry, with their distinct styles and versatile acting abilities. However, there was a time when the two powerhouse actresses had a heated rivalry.
In an interview with Lehren Retro, director Dharmesh Darshan recalled the time when he wanted to cast Juhi as the lead in the 1996 romantic film Raja Hindustani after collaborating with her in his directorial debut, Lootere (1993), which went on become a blockbuster.
But Juhi wasn't sure of the genre as it wasn't an ensemble masala film like Lootere. Dharmesh tried to convince her by comparing Raja Hindustani to Sooraj Barjatya's 1994 film Hum Aapke Hain Koun!, which featured Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the lead.
Juhi then turned to Dharmesh and said, 'But you’re not Sooraj Barjatya.' This response from Juhi hurt his ego and sentiments. Something got to him and he gave it back to her saying, 'You’re not Madhuri Dixit.'
"On that little thing, she said no to the film. But she's educated, so next day, she apologised and asked me to see her again,” Dharmesh said. He then added that right when he was supposed to meet Juhi that day, he narrated the story to Karisma Kapoor instead and she was eventually finalised for the film.
Even Aamir Khan, who played the lead role in Raja Hindustani, approved Dharmesh's choice. Along with Juhi, actresses like Pooja Bhatt and Aishwarya Rai were also considered for the role but they couldn't do the film for various reasons.
Juhi and Madhuri buried the hatchet in 2010 when they worked together in Soumik Sen's 2014 action film Gulaab Gang. On the work front, Juhi was last seen in Friday Night Plan while Madhuri was last featured in Maja Ma.
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