When the first 8 films of Madhuri Dixit flopped

It may not have been possible to survive with repeated failures in the Indian film industry, especially when it comes to heroines. Madhuri Dixit, who turns 53 today, went through this distressing phase at the beginning of her career.

Launched in a big banner, Rajshri Productions, Madhuri's first film Abodh released in 1984 in which she made an appearance opposite Bengali hero Tapas Paul was a failure. The fate was similar for the next seven films till 1988 in which she was paired with a variety of heroes from Jackie Shroff to Anil Kapoor to even Vinod Khanna, but none worked.

It was ' Tezaab' released in 1988 which saved her from oblivion as the combo of director N Chandra, Anil Kapoor and the hit song 'Ek Do Teen ' worked wonders at the box-office. From then on, the see-saw of hits and flops continued with the actress acting in more than 70 films in a career of more than 35 years.

Her last major hit was the multistarrer ' 'Total Dhamaal' considered one of the all-time successes of Hindi cinema. Old timers recall that she had effectively competed with the then Superstarni Sridevi in the 1980s, upstaging her by the end of the decade in which Sridevi was leading all the time.