Is Madhuri Dixit even worth Rs 5 crore today?

New Delhi: Hers was a smile that launched a thousand ships in the 80s. The smile is as electrifying as ever in 2011, but has the legend of Madhuri Dixit lived out its course?

Dixit, who still has a huge fan base in India, is said to have asked for Rs five crore for any film she signs. Her publicist says the actress is entirely justified in asking for the whopping fee given her popularity.

She may have been Bollywood's dancing queen extraordinaire in her prime but let's face it - the mother of two and wife of 12 years is beginning to show the stresses of time in crowfeet around the big doe-eyes.

A prospective fee of Rs five crore will put Madhuri in the same league as Bollywood's current top actresses such as Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.

Producers are skeptical about whether Madhuri's yesteryear charm will translate into Box Office returns since a large section of movie-going audience is under 20 and will be unable to relate to her.

When Madhuri returned after a hiatus of six years to shoot for dance drama 'Aaja Nach Le', a hungry media high-jacked the movie publicity to focus mainly on the actress, which is also believed to be one of the reasons the film bombed at the box office, unable to deliver after the hype it created around Dixit.

However, people loved her on the small screen as a judge on a dance reality show.

The pin-up girl of the 80s is 44 years old and fans (men and women) who followed her career faithfully over three decades remember her fondly as a classic heroine, during a time India cinema was undergoing a tectonic transition in technology and content.

But will she be able to match the act of today's actresses - in daring shoots, sizzling chemistry or raunchy music numbers such as 'Munni' or 'Sheila'?

In the age of keeping cinema 'real', as more and more actresses opt for de-glamourised or negative roles, Bollywood has gained a host of actors willing to do off-beat cinema. It has lost a breed of actors whose electrifying screen presence alone could see a film to its fourth week in theatres.

Madhuri is one such actor who, through the late 80s and early 90s, gained a cult-like following for her sheer on-screen presence. It didn't matter who her male lead was if she appeared in a tight-fitting bodice to gyrate to "dhak dhak karne laga..."

Hair cut in layers of cascading curls got renamed as the 'Madhuri Cut' and tailors were swamped with requests of recreating the famous green bodice and flowing white skirt with the silver trimmings as the official 'Hum Aapke Hai Kaun' party dress.

Hers was a generation when breast enhancement, facial nips and tucks were the last resort of actresses past their prime and not the first option for young starlets readying for the long haul in the industry.

They rode horses, danced on the streets of Paris, wore wet and transparent saris, wooed and outshone some of Bollywood's best looking men and lived a larger-than-life image that became a part of the urban legend. They wouldn’t have it any other way.

But could Madhuri have pulled off a 'Saat Khoon Maaf'? Would audiences enjoy seeing her playing the deglamourised role of a 60-year-old serial killer going through life looking for love? Probably not.

Madhuri, who still looks better than some of the starlets combined, is better remembered from fading VCDs and Sunday blockbusters on television as an actress who knew when to bow out gracefully from the big screen.