Madhuri Dixit Nene has been a star pretty much all her life, but there was a phase in her life when she enjoyed anonymity. After getting married to Dr Shriram Nene in 1999, she shifted to the United States of America for a couple of years.
In Denver, it was smooth and nicer because there were less Indians there. Where she lived, mostly there were Americans. For a long time, they didn’t know who she was, she was Mrs Nene there. She had her kids (Arin and Ryan), she would go to school to drop them. One day, she saw a car would come and stop at their house, then take a round and come back. Her neighbours called her, asking if someone could be trying to rob them, so people are careful. The neighbour asked ‘should I call the cops?; she said ‘please don’t!’ She had to tell them she is a celebrity, and that the people in the car were trying to get a glimpse of her.
Calling this phase of her life away from the limelight ‘liberating’, she continued, “I was free to do anything at any time. I enjoyed so much of ‘me time’ with my kids. It was a big part of my dream in life… that I have a husband who I love, with kids. I was living my dream there.”
Her husband, meanwhile, had no idea about his better half’s stardom in India. Asked about how he finds life in India, Madhuri revealed, “We have been here in India since 2011. He’s more friends with the people of the industry than I am now! He’s even said in interviews ‘I knew she is an actor, I didn’t know how big an actor she is!’ When he came here initially, it was a shock. It’s all good today, our kids are growing up, I have enjoyed playing the character of Rekha in Maa Behen. I am in a good place.”
