The absence of Saroj Khan is like killing the dance
In film industry new stars are made every week and the deterioration of those stars depends not only on the ability of their acting but also on how many songs were filmed and how better they could dance.
Saroj Khan was the master of dance in this film industry. Saroj Khan died in Mumbai on July 3.
Saroj Khan was the dance master who made her dance from Sadhana to Alia Bhatt at her behest.
His contribution to films can be judged from the fact that from the 70s till now, Saroj Khan gave finest songs to the Hindi cinema.
You might have heard the name of the film – Flat number 9 and the song was filmed on Helen. The song was ankhon se maine pee hai, chori to nahi kee hai ( I have drunk from the eyes, I have not stolen anything). Saroj was only 12 years old then.
Saroj’s Guru Sohanlal asked her to dance on this song and was so impressed that he made her an assistant and started teaching Saroj Khan dance from the tender age of 12.
Talking about the past, after the Partition tragedy, his family came to Mumbai from Pakistan and he was born in Mumbai in 1948.
He was fond of dance since childhood, so after consultation, he was sent to films as a child artist.
In 1961, Saroj Khan acted as a child artist in the film Nazrana.
Saroj was around 10 years old when her father died, and at the age of 10, the burden of family fell on her shoulders and she started working as a group dancer. Her life marked a turning point when dance guru Sohanlal saw her and Made myself your assistant.
In the 70s, actress Sadhana gave her break in Geeta Mera Naam as a dance director.
Sadhna made her own film but got recognition. She was in Subhash Ghai’s films Vidhata and Hero when Meenakshi Seshadri sang Tu Mera Hero Hai …
However, Saroj Khan actually joined the big league when she collaborated with Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit to give them strong songs.
Main teri dushman, Nagina, ek do teen in Tezaab, and mere hathon mein nau nau choodiyan hain—though in these songs, Madhuri and Sridevi got accolades, but the hard work behind the curtain was that of Saroj Khan.
The specialty of Saroj Khan was that she put colors from classical to Western to Garba, Lavani, Bhangra in his choreographed songs. She considered different dances of India as her inspiration.
Talking of the 90s, the hero-heroines have worked in their dance direction –Beta, dar, baazigar, mohra, dil wale dulhaniya le jaayenge – the songs that were hit in all these films were Saroj’s behind the magic of dance.
The choreography of Sridevi’s song Hawa Hawaii by Saroj Khan was so amazing that director Shekhar Kapur used to say that he wanted to show closeup of Sridevi in the song but when watching the dance of Sridevi, he was forced to take long shots.
Saroj Khan was known for her dance, she was also famous for her tough style and discipline on the set.
Once in the interview, he told that on the set Raveena Tandon did not greet the Guru before a dance, after which he left the film itself, although his relationship with Raveena was always good.
With the changing times, Saroj Khan slowed down his pace or say that new choreographers also started coming into films.
In the last 10 years, very few films were done by Saroj but Kalank, Tanu Weds Manu, Love Aajkal, Rowdy Rathore were included in her list.
