Struggling Star

Juhi wasn't an overnight success. Long before her megahit film Quyamat Se Quyamat Tak, she struggled to make an impact in a string of forgettable films like Goonj, Love Love Love, Karz Chukana Hai, Bhabhi, and a half-dozen others.

In fact, if it wasn't for her appearances in films like Sultanat (her nonstarter debut) and Chandni,Chandni, we wonder if Juhi would have even bagged that QSQT role in the first place.

This is not to say she isn't talented. The little-girl accent, the wide-eyed innocence, the peaches-and-cream complexion, the astonishing depth of emotional maturity as an actress, all these winning qualities were already there, waiting to be tapped. It just took the right film to bring them out in their full glory.

If QSQT was the film that launched Juhi as a stellar leading lady, then Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke was the film that established her as a screen icon. While she did have a fair share of success between the two films, including varying successes such as Pratibandh, Aaina, Andaz Apna Apna and Arjun Pandit, it was this Mahesh Bhatt-directed vehicle that endeared her once more to desi audiences.

Surprisingly, Juhi is one of the few major heroines who doesn't have a string of big name films to her credit. Her claim to fame rests more on her own unique persona and her always dependable turnout. She's had her share of hits, but they haven't really been money-spinners of the level of Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or Dil Toh Pagal Hai.

In fact, except for Darr, Ishq and Yes Boss, she hasn't really had a big big hit to her credit for some years now. Yet even her flops or also-rans like Bol Radha Bol, Deewana Mastana and Duplicate won her a surprising amount of media attention and filmgoers affections.

When the rumours began to surface of her affair with longtime boyfriend Jay Mehta, everyone assumed that Juhi was retiring and settling down to a life of matrimony.

But they had underestimated the brown-eyed damsel.

She announced a career move that amazed industry watchers and stunned her critics.

Along with partners Shah Rukh Khan and director Aziz Mirza, Juhi launched a corporate entertainment company named Dreamz Unlimited. The company took the world by surprise, coming as it did in the wake of the failure of so many mega-entertainment failures like ABCL, JSEL and Sridevi Securities Ltd.

The company's first production, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, had even more tongues wagging. The film, an ambitious attempt to combine a scathingly contemporary attack on the modern media with a fiercely patriotic storyline, raised a lot of expectations. And the greater the hype, the greater the fall.

Juhi's winning smile and sincere warmth won her few direct criticisms. All the attacks seemed to be directed mainly at her co-star and partner, Shah Rukh, whose openly arrogant over-promotion of the film backfired completely.

But Juhi was careful not to let the hype get ahead of reality for her next Dreamz Unlimited production Ashoka The Great. The film is being made under a careful veil of modest secrecy.

Despite the backlash to PBDHH, there's no doubt that Juhi's decision to join the Dreamz bandwagon was a wise one. As most people who know her personally have attested over the years, Juhi, off screen, is a very intelligent and savvy woman, totally unlike her innocently unaware screen image.

She had a game plan ready to put into action. The fact that the launch of PBDHH coincided with her secret marriage to beau Jay Mehta around the beginning of the millennial year 2000 was no coincidence. As the world embarked on its third millennium, Juhi had embarked on her newest and most ambitious avatar.

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