Earlier this morning, woke up to read the sad news on social media that legendary Indian choreographer Saroj Khan is no more.
In the pantheon of greatest choreographers in the history of Indian cinema, Saroj Khan's name will shimmer and shine, whirl and twirl among the very best. If not the best...
It is with such sadness we scrolled through the news that the iconic dance instructor to every leading lady in Bollywood since the 1960s is no more. She died age 71 of a major cardiac arrest last Friday, as per reports, confirmed by her daughter. The news broke earlier today as the family kept it under wraps for a few days to let her rest in peace.
Fact of the matter is; when she stopped dancing, she stopped living. It was in her heart and soul.
Though she had many detractors and critics in a career spanning over sixty years (she started dancing as a child-artist - her earliest film credit is in the movie Kalpana (1960! - as "assistant choreographer"!), there is no debating the fact Saroj Khan enlivened the Bollywood experience with her dance direction. There were major highs and lows, but Sarojji sailed through like a battalion ship. Watch her documentaries on YouTube, her interviews on BBC, her Ted Talk; her life was anything but smooth. Her choreography however, was.
It was slick. It was current, she set trends, she invented the hook step, she revolutionised dance, she created item numbers before the phrase was coined and later corroded - she molded the concept of a Number One actress; you had to know dancing or you were not even a contender.
As musicals died out in Hollywood, she ensured that the same fate did not hit Bollywood; her songs were a highlight, she became invaluable on a film set. She met with producers and directors and came up with concepts, art direction, even camera angles - she brought in the ideas of month long rehearsals, shoots for a dance that lasted a week, different looks, changes, novelty in every number... There are endless reports about leading ladies requesting she and only she direct their dances.
Khan kept up with the times, she knew and understand every phase of what was in trend in dance and she adapted to it. Whether it was a purely classical number that she choreographed for Malayalam films or her take on a Janet Jackson number for Bollywood in the 1980s, she worked both with equal ease.
Saroj Khan had what many others didn't; range and versatility. She was a task master, she was a disciplinarian but she cared, cared deeply for her dance troupes, the dancers, the dance union, her leading ladies and even the petrified men who shivered when she came at them with a stick!
Khan kept up with the times, she knew and understand every phase of what was in trend in dance and she adapted to it. Whether it was a purely classical number that she choreographed for Malayalam films or her take on a Janet Jackson number for Bollywood in the 1980s, she worked both with equal ease.
Saroj Khan had what many others didn't; range and versatility. She was a task master, she was a disciplinarian but she cared, cared deeply for her dance troupes, the dancers, the dance union, her leading ladies and even the petrified men who shivered when she came at them with a stick!
The infamous reports of scared stiff Sanjay Dutt during the making of Tamma Tamma is of film folklore! She was also famed for her temper and temperament, if she disciplined a newcomer on set, she also scolded the biggest stars in equal measure; they all genuflected to her when she taught. She fought with many celebrities on and off set - but she made up with every single one of them. She was the definitive Master-ji!
The greatest dance she choreographed for Sridevi was... well, there were two we think; the finale number of Nagina, Main Teri Dushman, and Chandni's wedding anthem Mere Haathon main.
For Madhuri Dixit, its one hell of a long list... but we think its unquestionably Humko Aaj Kal Hai from Sailaab - for pure invention, ease and elegance.
The most epic, large-scale, difficult, National Award winning mother of all dances is, of course, Dola re Dola from Devdas that Saroj Khan helmed. With two leading superstars - Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit-Nene at their finest - and over a hundred background dancers in perfect unison, synchronicity and dexterity. We've seen hundreds try to emulate that number and... fail to match up in one measure or another.
When she saw the calisthenics, acrobatics, the Western influence on Indian dance reality shows, Khan famously quipped, "Yeh nachna hai yah circus?" [Is this dancing or a circus act?] In the winter of her life as assignments petered down, she kept her humour, if not her spirits, up.
Saroj Khan had always refused to state who her favourite dancer/star/student was, but over the years listed Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai as "simply the best".
The greatest dance she choreographed for Sridevi was... well, there were two we think; the finale number of Nagina, Main Teri Dushman, and Chandni's wedding anthem Mere Haathon main.
For Madhuri Dixit, its one hell of a long list... but we think its unquestionably Humko Aaj Kal Hai from Sailaab - for pure invention, ease and elegance.
The most epic, large-scale, difficult, National Award winning mother of all dances is, of course, Dola re Dola from Devdas that Saroj Khan helmed. With two leading superstars - Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit-Nene at their finest - and over a hundred background dancers in perfect unison, synchronicity and dexterity. We've seen hundreds try to emulate that number and... fail to match up in one measure or another.
When she saw the calisthenics, acrobatics, the Western influence on Indian dance reality shows, Khan famously quipped, "Yeh nachna hai yah circus?" [Is this dancing or a circus act?] In the winter of her life as assignments petered down, she kept her humour, if not her spirits, up.
Saroj Khan had always refused to state who her favourite dancer/star/student was, but over the years listed Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai as "simply the best".
From the guys, her answers have varied over the years but generally she repeated the names of Aamir Khan [for staying in character of the film even when dancing], Hrithik Roshan [for the technical perfection] and her all-time favourite was, Govinda [for skill, ease and most importantly, joy of dancing]. Of other choreographers... well, she spoke well of perhaps only her son Raju Khan and on occasion Shiamak Davar. Her tiffs with Farah Khan, Chinni Prakash, her contemporaries and her competitors made for great tabloid headlines and soap-operatic snippets on chat shows.
Famously she was asked, in the 90s, during the peak of the alleged rivalry between Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, if she had to choreograph one or the other, who she'd pick; "I'd give up both films, but I won't let it spoil my equation with either."
In an earlier feature, we had listed Sridevi's Top Ten Dances of all-time. It is of no particular surprise to anyone who knows dance that eight of them were directed by Sarojji.
We've heard 'end of an era' so often these past few years in obituaries of one celeb or another, but with the passing of Saroj Khan, a rich chapter of Indian cinema closes forever. Dance's greatest exponent wisps away to the great beyond.
RIP Saroj Khan. Rest in Peace indeed.
Above: Saroj Khan and Sridevi on the sets of Waqt ki Awaaz (1988)
Below: Sridevi with Saroj Khan on the sets of Chand Ka Tukda (1994)
Famously she was asked, in the 90s, during the peak of the alleged rivalry between Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, if she had to choreograph one or the other, who she'd pick; "I'd give up both films, but I won't let it spoil my equation with either."
We've heard 'end of an era' so often these past few years in obituaries of one celeb or another, but with the passing of Saroj Khan, a rich chapter of Indian cinema closes forever. Dance's greatest exponent wisps away to the great beyond.
RIP Saroj Khan. Rest in Peace indeed.
Above: Saroj Khan and Sridevi on the sets of Waqt ki Awaaz (1988)
Below: Sridevi with Saroj Khan on the sets of Chand Ka Tukda (1994)
Above: Saroj Khan with Sridevi on the sets of Mr India (1987)
Below: The song and dances choreographed by Saroj Khan for Sridevi, most memorably in Mr.India, Chandni, Nagina, Lamhe and Chaalbaaz.
Below: The song and dances choreographed by Saroj Khan for Sridevi, most memorably in Mr.India, Chandni, Nagina, Lamhe and Chaalbaaz.
No comments:
Post a Comment