It is very clear that nothing other than money has lured Madhuri back into the Bollywood fold. Though she may claim that she wanted to return to India to take care of her parents and stay in touch with her roots, the real reason seems to be clearly something else. Dr Nene apparently couldn’t afford her lifestyle and so the dancing diva has had no choice but to return to Bollywood. So long as she was judging dance shows, things were hunky dory. Thanks to her co-judge Karan Johar she landed a role in the movie –Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani.

Now Madhuri's movie “Dedh Ishqiya” is releasing tomorrow (10^th January 2014) and expectations are sky high. Madhuri is now in the eye of a storm after she danced in front of all the UP ministers in the SAIFAI festival. The dance performance by Madhuri , as glimpsed through the TV  channels, looked akin to a cheap dance in front of leering politicians. How the mighty have fallen !

Dancing in the movies and award shows is one thing, dancing in front of a bunch of politicians is another thing. It reminds us of Shilpa Shetty and the movie “Shool” where Shilpa gyrated to the chart burster – “ Dilwalon Ke Dil Ka Karar Lootne Main Ayee Hoon UP Bihar Lootne”. One can understand the likes of Poonam Pandey, Mallika Sherawat, Malaika Arora dancing in front of politicians, but Madhuri…. Has the actress forgotten the superstardom that she once enjoyed? How can she stoop so low and how is Dr Nene is tolerating all this?

It is really sad to see the has-been stars trying hard to fight their age. Why don’t actresses like Sridevi and Madhuri learn lessons from actresses like Kamini Kaushal, Waheeda Rehman, Jaya Bachchan, and Shabana Azmi who believed in aging gracefully? Hema Malini, Sharmila Tagore, Raakhee and Mausmi Chatterjee never felt the need to dance in front of politicians.

Marriage is a huge responsibility. It is an institution that deserves sanctity. After marriage, an actress needs to know how to carry herself. Either you quit the limelight or switch over to roles that suit your age and marital status. Look at Vidya Balan and Tabu – they are a class apart. Somehow, actresses fail to read the atlas and this is the reason why the marriages of most actresses end up in a divorce. Is the lure of arc lights so difficult to resist?  

Even in the case of Kareena Kapoor, she continues to force herself on the audience when the truth is that her time is up. The audience that enjoyed the antics of her mother-in-law belonged to the 70’s. Today the audience taste is fickle. It is jarring to see married actresses forcing themselves on the audience in roles that are ill-defined and discordant. No wonder Kapoor’s latest movie with Imran Khan tanked at the box office.

Mumtaz’s re-entry in the 1989 movie “Aandhiyan” turned turnip at the turnstiles. That Mumtaz chose a movie that dwelved on the incest between a mother and son was awful. Raveena landed the role of an extra in an Amitabh movie when she returned to movies after a long time. Juhi Chawla ended up playing sister to the hero in her comeback movie. Meenakshi had to face the ignominy of playing the lead to Milind Gunaji before she called it a day and settled in the US. Madhoo of “Phool aur Kante” fame continues to be confused and flirts with Tamil serials on one side and inane Bollywood flicks on the other side. She is proving to be a party animal. With Mani Ratnam’s star on the wane, Madhoo can’t even think of a supporting role in any of the movies made by her mentor.

Rati Agnihotri, Poonam Dhillon and Anita Raj ended up in roles in recent Bollywood movies which hardly did justice to the stardom that they once enjoyed. Rati reportedly got an unpleasant shock when Vinod Khanna tried to come too close to her in one of the scenes. Remember Dayavan ? How Feroze Khan exploited Madhuri without her permission by letting Vinod Khanna to indulge in vulgar display of affection in one of the song sequences in the movie! Can Madhuri afford to do a rehash of the same now ? Everyone is not as chivalrous and as broad minded as the Nawab of Pataudi who was a thorough gentleman.

For a married actress to make a comeback in the movies is a humongous challenge. That too - after a gap of five years. She cannot expect that the same roles would be offered to her as with the entry of fresh faces in Bollywood, the younger roles would also go to the latter. If Madhuri gets lucky, she may have author backed roles written for her. But this sort of dirty dancing is certainly not called for….