Mumbai, 1 Dec    

Madhuri Dixit opened up about her experience working with the late legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra, remembering him not only as a great storyteller but also as a director who uplifted women through his cinema.

Dixit has worked under Chopra’s direction in the film ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’, which also starred Shah Rukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles.

In an interview with Asian News International (ANI), the actress highlighted the powerful presence of women in Chopra’s movies.

“You know, most of his (Yash Chopra) movies, if you see every film of his, a woman plays a very important role in his movies. Like, even in Dil Toh Pagal, I just pointed it out to someone. I said, the girl says that I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have Valentine. But so what? I'll just celebrate Valentine for myself and with myself, you know, like that,” said Madhuri Dixit.

To Dixit, Chopra was far ahead of his time in the way he portrayed women, calling it “graceful, elegant, and enigmatic.”

She described Chopra’s unique filmmaking approach as one focusing on “spontaneity” and “natural performance.” The actress said that the director never believed in over-rehearsed moments.

While fondly remembering Chopra, Dixit said, “Yashji, you know, he is amazing, I still say he is, but he was an amazing person and a director. So he believed in just spontaneity. He never used to do one shot more than four or five times. He used to be happy. Natural lag raha hai (It's looking natural). That's what he used to like be.”

Dixit added that the energy Chopra brought to the sets was infectious. Chopra passed away on 21 October 2012. Dixit will be next seen in the series ‘Mrs Deshpande’, streaming on Jio Hotstar on 19 December 2025.