Which actress had the better OTT debut? Madhuri or Juhi - Page 2

Originally posted by: diasingh2

Yes, I have always been a fan of 90s queens so I always keep track of what they have been doing.

I have watched almost everything on the list, except Kajol's and Sonali's series, but they are on my watchlist.

I personally enjoyed Aranyak, although Raveena was kinda okay but the overall series was almost on par with Aarya. Pooja surprised me in Bombay Begums, as I had no expectations at all. Check them out whenever you get time.

And if you are a fan of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai or Khichdi, then you are gonna love Happy Family: Conditions Apply too (starring Ayesha Jhulka and other names).

Regarding Sukhee, yes the makers need to let go of the harried housewives troupe. Let's see if Shilpa has some strong role in Indian Police Force, or is it for some kind of token female representation.

I have heard that Urmila has actually shot for her series, but it got shelved during post production.... which is so sad. Her being so underrated and being constantly ignored by Bollywood is so painful. Politics aside, I remember she was the only one who stood up for Bollywood in 2020. She is also very well spoken in real life. Manish Malhotra is the only one who values her even now, and always invites her to his parties because she was the first one to get a makeover from him during Rangeela and hence played catalyst in Manish Malhotra's rise in Bollywood. (It was one hell of a transformation for its times)

I agree, Rani doesn't look like someone who would venture into OTT because she will most likely see it as something beneath her. She is at the most powerful position among all her contemporaries, being a YRF malkin. And actually, The Railway Men was YRF's first OTT series.

Manisha Koirala is another strong actress but she has moved on to doing motherly, age-appropriate or secondary roles in films...so I doubt she would headline an OTT series. I hope she gives it one chance though.

@bold

This sounds like such a brilliant idea. It would be my dream show TBH. Now these actresses are not part of a rat race or the number game, so they should/could work together. I would love to see some collaborations that we have never seen like Madhuri and Kajol in a show, or Urmila and Tabu. That will some seriously strong nostalgia and magic onscreen.

Let us know what you think of Kajol and Sonali's shows when you get around to them.

Raveena has never been a favorite of mine. Very pretty but I didn't grow up with her so the few movies I've seen with her have always had her as a secondary lead playing second fiddle to Sridevi or Rekha who easily outshine her. I know she's never been considered much of an actress so that might be why you thought she was just okay in her series.

Thanks for mentioning all those other series though. I have a long list ahead of me now!

I don't know how picky Shilpa is with roles so I'm also curious if her role in Indian Police Force will be a substantial one or not.

I was glad to hear from Urmila during the whole boycott Bollywood scandal. I also remember that Kangana targeted her and said some very disgusting things about her and I think the industry did come together to defend Urmila. I think what hurt Urmila was that she was so strongly associated with Ram Gopal Varma that it meant she was not given much opportunities outside of him. Even though she was the original choice for Dil To Pagal Hai's Nisha after Juhi turned it down before swapping with Karishma for Judaai. So she almost became a YRF heroine. And even by the late 2000s, she was in demand because YRF was apparently trying to contract her but she turned them down. Not working with the big banners meant she was phased out of the mainstream but the fact that they still wanted to work with her and it was she who was turning them down is a testament to her popularity and stardom.

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/bollywood/1067170/urmila-turns-down-yash-raj

I think another thing that hurt Urmila is that even though she's acted with most of the major leading men of BW, I don't think she's particularly close with any of them. She did the Om Shanti Om cameo for SRK but I don't think they're good friends and I haven't seen her be close to Salman either. Aamir I think held some resentment towards her because she was given more credit for Rangeela's success than he was (and many have speculated that after Rangeela, Aamir made sure to never make films with strong female roles that could overshadow him). I had no idea that Manish Malhotra's success began with Urmila so I'm so glad to hear that he still values her and invites her to events. She looked incredible in Rangeela so that was a winning combo.

Oh, that makes sense that The Railway Men was YRF's first OTT series.

I think Manisha still acts lead roles in independent movies but those are just so few and she probably takes motherly roles in mainstream films just for the money. She's clearly still interested in sticking around to act so I'm sure the right premise would interest her but I also remember hearing that in the 90s she was very arrogant and had feuds with everyone so maybe her ego is preventing her from making the full switch to OTT. Maybe playing mothers in cinema is still considered better in her view than playing leads on OTT.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

This sounds like such a brilliant idea. It would be my dream show TBH. Now these actresses are not part of a rat race or the number game, so they should/could work together. I would love to see some collaborations that we have never seen like Madhuri and Kajol in a show, or Urmila and Tabu. That will some seriously strong nostalgia and magic onscreen.

I forgot to add a small anecdote about Urmila and Tabu's pairing since that's quite inspired. Both of them are seen together in a small sequence of Deewangi Deewangi dancing. The reason for this is because both actresses were shooting at the same time for their individual scenes but they learned Karishma was also enroute. They decided to stick around, even though they had finished their scenes, because they knew it was Karishma's first time dancing onscreen in years and she was nervous so they wanted to give her support and cheer her on.

Madz

Originally posted by: diasingh2

I liked Mentalhood and I would totally recommend watching Majaa Maa.

I just watched Maja Ma, and wow, did I not expect that. I knew the premise of the movie was that her character was caught on video with some secret but I thought it would be like in Sukhee, where it's an old video of her acting like a typical teenage girl which society defames. I was not expecting that twist.

Much praise to Madhuri for not worrying about how fans or society would accept such a role. Even today, very few Bollywood actors play such parts and so for a superstar like Madhuri to shed all her inhibitions and take pride in playing a lesbian was so heartwarming. This is how barriers break down as people who lack understanding or felt revulsion slowly get used to the idea or are willing to take a second glance once they see their favorite embrace it.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

I just watched Maja Ma, and wow, did I not expect that. I knew the premise of the movie was that her character was caught on video with some secret but I thought it would be like in Sukhee, where it's an old video of her acting like a typical teenage girl which society defames. I was not expecting that twist.

Much praise to Madhuri for not worrying about how fans or society would accept such a role. Even today, very few Bollywood actors play such parts and so for a superstar like Madhuri to shed all her inhibitions and take pride in playing a lesbian was so heartwarming. This is how barriers break down as people who lack understanding or felt revulsion slowly get used to the idea or are willing to take a second glance once they see their favorite embrace it.

After watching The Fame Game, I had very little expectations from Maja Maa, but the film surprised me. Also, Kudos to Madhuri for taking up this role and kudos to the makers for showing the LGBT community without going overboard and making a caricature out of them.

So, glad you liked the film too. Its good to know that actresses are not backing from doing unconventional roles.

Kudos to Sushmita for playing Gauri Sawant in Taali. (If you haven't watched it, then watch it)

I hate how some "purists" were against playing Sushmita, because they wanted a real transwoman to play that role. But the same audience was showering praises for Nawazuddin for playing a Transwoman in another series I will never understand this hypocrisy. It just shows that the audience will hate anything involving a woman (i.e, deep-rooted misogyny)

I mean I get the point people try to make about casting of realy Trans folks, and hopefully we will reach there one day, but how many "real" Transwomen actresses in Bollywood do we even have right now, who could headline a webseries/film? For that, people will have to be tolerant and accepting in real life but they won't do that. People don't want to change a thing in society, but they want Bollywood to be perfect. They just want to indulge in outrage for nothing.

Sushmita completely justified her Gauri Sawant in Taali. In fact, Gauri was happy to know that a "miss universe" was willing to essay her character. And there were many supporting artists in the series who were "real" transwomen btw.

I don't understand why the series was not promoted well. Sushmita was also ignored by all the roundtables this year (She even had Aarya S3 this year).

Hope you are planning to watch something exciting soon from the list I shared earlier.. I am planning to watch The Trial (starring Kajol ) and will share my review.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

I forgot to add a small anecdote about Urmila and Tabu's pairing since that's quite inspired. Both of them are seen together in a small sequence of Deewangi Deewangi dancing. The reason for this is because both actresses were shooting at the same time for their individual scenes but they learned Karishma was also enroute. They decided to stick around, even though they had finished their scenes, because they knew it was Karishma's first time dancing onscreen in years and she was nervous so they wanted to give her support and cheer her on.

Wow thanks for sharing this anecdote.

Karisma and Tabu have worked together and I know that they meet and keep in touch socially (although not as close friends but as old colleagues.)

But Urmila and Karisma were rivals at one point ...so interesting to know that by 2007, they grew out of that phase.

I do remember seeing Urmila and Tabu in one frame in the song.They are both such strong actors, and I love that they saw the best of the both worlds (commercial cinema

So glad that Tabu is still going strong. I wish Umrila continued on same path as well. I agree with your earlier point on Urmila that she already did some really strong performance-oriented roles back in 2000s, so she is less unfulfilled. I still wish her OTT series is picked up by some producer and gets to see the light of day.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

After watching The Fame Game, I had very little expectations from Maja Maa, but the film surprised me. Also, Kudos to Madhuri for taking up this role and kudos to the makers for showing the LGBT community without going overboard and making a caricature out of them.

So, glad you liked the film too. Its good to know that actresses are not backing from doing unconventional roles.

Kudos to Sushmita for playing Gauri Sawant in Taali. (If you haven't watched it, then watch it)

I hate how some "purists" were against playing Sushmita, because they wanted a real transwoman to play that role. But the same audience was showering praises for Nawazuddin for playing a Transwoman in another series I will never understand this hypocrisy. It just shows that the audience will hate anything involving a woman (i.e, deep-rooted misogyny)

I mean I get the point people try to make about casting of realy Trans folks, and hopefully we will reach there one day, but how many "real" Transwomen actresses in Bollywood do we even have right now, who could headline a webseries/film? For that, people will have to be tolerant and accepting in real life but they won't do that. People don't want to change a thing in society, but they want Bollywood to be perfect. They just want to indulge in outrage for nothing.

Sushmita completely justified her Gauri Sawant in Taali. In fact, Gauri was happy to know that a "miss universe" was willing to essay her character. And there were many supporting artists in the series who were "real" transwomen btw.

I don't understand why the series was not promoted well. Sushmita was also ignored by all the roundtables this year (She even had Aarya S3 this year).

Hope you are planning to watch something exciting soon from the list I shared earlier.. I am planning to watch The Trial (starring Kajol ) and will share my review.

The Fame Game is next on my list when I get the chance to watch it. Reviews were mixed but the premise is still interesting to me.

I imagine films like Maja Ma could only be done for OTT. I know Karan did Dostana and Kapoor and Sons but those are rarities.

I have not seen or heard of Taali and had no idea that Sushmita played a transwoman. I will have to add that to my list then. The only Indian trans films I have seen are Darmiyaan and Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui. I don't believe in shaming actors for playing these roles because there is already such a stigma and famous faces are the most equipped to breaking these stigmas and allowing audiences to broaden their perspectives and accept and tolerate what they previously did not understand or fear. That rarely happens with unknown faces because there needs to be a comfort level established with the audience beforehand. Like Tom Hanks in Philadelphia when he played a gay man with AIDS which was groundbreaking in Hollywood for the 90s.

I imagine for transwomen like Gauri Sawant, it is a badge of honor to have someone so famous and beautiful playing you. And like you said, if there are real transwomen involved as well in supporting roles, that's a great way to give them exposure and let their work be seen which wouldn't happen if one of them was the lead.

I think Sushmita has never been fully accepted by the industry so that may be the reason why she is getting snubbed. She also has an outsider status further cemented by her affair and then the fact that she chose to be a single mother.

Yes, definitely planning on watching The Fame Game and I hope you enjoy The Trial.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

Wow thanks for sharing this anecdote.

Karisma and Tabu have worked together and I know that they meet and keep in touch socially (although not as close friends but as old colleagues.)

But Urmila and Karisma were rivals at one point ...so interesting to know that by 2007, they grew out of that phase.

I do remember seeing Urmila and Tabu in one frame in the song.They are both such strong actors, and I love that they saw the best of the both worlds (commercial cinema

So glad that Tabu is still going strong. I wish Umrila continued on same path as well. I agree with your earlier point on Urmila that she already did some really strong performance-oriented roles back in 2000s, so she is less unfulfilled. I still wish her OTT series is picked up by some producer and gets to see the light of day.

Yes, the goodwill between Urmila and Karishma surprised me as well but by the late 2000s, when Urmila's career was slowing down and Karishma had already been inactive for years, I guess there was not any rivalry to complicate things. So funny how linked their histories are since Urmila was the original choice for Dil To Pagal Hai and Karishma the original choice for Judaai and they basically swapped roles. Urmila was also the original choice for Fiza. I've heard that she was the original choice for Zubeidaa as well.

I wish all the BTS footage from Deewangi Deewangi was released. They do have scenes in the making of but I'm sure there is hours of footage out there with all of them interacting.

Tabu has managed to keep her career going and even had mainstream success like with Andhadhan. Still hoping Urmila will one day make a comeback. Her item song in Blackmail made me hope she was coming back to the screen but that seemed like a one-time thing. Yes, it would be great if her OTT series wasn't just lost in the void but actually released by someone.