Mahima Chaudhry's birthday special: Times she shone through side roles
While Mahima Chaudhry is best remembered for being Subhash Ghai's muse in Pardes, Chaudhry has a filmography stacked with several memorable roles. Even on occasions when she didn't play the lead, she made no compromise with her craft, and her performances are a testimony to the way she has perhaps been underutilized in Hindi cinema. On her 50th birthday, revisit some such roles.
'Baghban'
Baghban had a large cast ensemble, but Chaudhry left her mark even in the supporting role of Arpita Malhotra, the wife of Alok Malhotra (Salman Khan). Even in the scenes where she appeared with legends such as Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, she put her best foot forward, making Baghban one of her most memorable films, despite her limited screentime in the tear-jerker drama.
'Lajja'
Chaudhry held her own in the multitstarrer, feminist film Lajja, where she appeared alongside actors such as Madhuri Dixit, Rekha, Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Manisha Koirala, and Anil Kapoor, among others. She plays Maithili, a woman who is betrothed to a rich man, but faces challenges when she realizes that he and his family demand an unreasonable dowry in exchange for marrying her.
'Sandwich'
In Anees Bazmee's comedy film Sandwich, both Chaudhry and Raveena Tandon play Govinda's wives; Govinda marries both of them in different locations due to unforeseen circumstances. Starring in a two-heroine film can be challenging and there's always some risk of one artist emerging better than the other, but here, Chaudhry completely internalized the mannerisms of a loud Punjabi woman devoted to her husband.
'Dhadkan'
Who can forget when Sheetal Varma from Dhadkan dressed up in all white and sang "Aksar is dunia me anjaane milte hain" during a party that was critically essential to the plot? Chaudhry appears in the film much after Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Suniel Shetty, and Akshay Kumar, but her charm and character presence remain intact. Rewatch the Dharmesh Darshan directorial on YouTube.
