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The veteran choreographer is upset over being spoofed in Happy New Year
If there is one thing we’ve come to associate with Farah Khan’s biggest films over the years, it is her penchant for poking fun at industry folks. She did it to yesteryear actor Manoj Kumar in Om Shanti Om. And now, in Happy New Year, she’s done it to choreographer Saroj Khan.
But Saroj isn’t laughing, just as Manoj didn’t, back when OSO released. And before you discount this as Bollywood’s old guard’s inability to laugh at itself, consider this: Saroj got picked on twice, once during a promotional appearance on TV, and later, when upon HNY’s release, it was revealed that comedian Kiku Sharda had done a broad take-off on the famed choreographer.
Upset but unwilling to let her hurt show, Saroj says calmly, “Ask Farah on my behalf: Kyun mere peeche pade huey ho? Shame on Farah and Kiku Sharda and Kapil Sharma (the first spoof happened on his show) for this kind of behaviour. What has Kapil got to do with me? Why is he part of this?”
She goes on, “Farah Khan is so frustrated. I saw what they did on the TV show. Does this kind of behaviour suit her? I really feel sorry for these people. I don’t know what they stand to gain from targetting me in this way.”
Saroj feels Farah’s animosity goes back a long way. “Her brother Sajid keeps talking about this incident during the shooting of Mansoor Ali Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. But it did not happen the way the brother and sister say it did. The dance steps for Pehla Nasha, which Farah claims to have done, were originally mine.”
Saroj feels it’s illogical for Farah to feel competitive. “Now, she is no longer a choreographer. She is a director. I’ve never gone to her for work. Then why do I matter so much to her? Just to stay in the news? I am no more in the limelight. I am out of the film industry now. My focus is on teaching dance to children. I am busy with that. Allah Miyan ne pet diya hai bharega bhi wohi. Why does she feel threatened by me? Why is she feeling so frustrated? I’ve never spoken behind her back. Yet Farah and her brother continue to bitch about me.”
Regarding constant barbs about her weight, Saroj asks, “Why target me? Why not Ganesh Acharya? He’s more overweight than I am. And please come and see me now. I am slimmer than Farah Khan.”
She concludes emphatically, “I think Farah owes me an apology.”
Saroj Khan gives her side of the story about how Farah Khan was brought in for Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. “I was doing that film. We all went to Kodaikanal for 17 days to shoot three songs. This was the film to launch a girl called Girija Shettar. We ended up doing just one song for nearly 17 days. I was pressed for time. I had to go to Shimla to shoot a song with Jackie Shroff for Rakesh Roshan in King Uncle. Mansoor suggested I prepare the steps for Aamir in the song Pehla Nasha, which Mansoor wanted to shoot in high-speed definition. He suggested, ‘Tu ek kaam kar show me the steps, leave your assistants here and you go and come back from Shimla, we’ll do rehearsals with Aamir.’ After composing the steps for Aamir and briefing him on how to shoot in high-speed, I left behind two assistants. On returning to Mumbai, I heard Jo Jeeta… had been stalled because the leading lady had problems. The heroine had to be changed. All the schedules went awry. Eventually, when they were shooting a song with Pooja Bedi, they called me. It was impossible for me to accommodate Mansoor into my date diary. I told them to do Pooja’s song with another choreographer and that I’d take it up from the second song. Because Farah was an assistant director to Mansoor, he told her to pitch in a bit of choreography for the title song. This is what Mansoor told me. After this, I couldn’t go back to do the rest of the songs because of my dates. This is what happened. But Farah and her brother distorted the facts to claim that I had been sacked from the film. When I told Mansoor this, he called up Sajid and Farah in front of me to confront them. I didn’t have dates, so Mansoor got Farah. That’s the truth. Iss baat ko un logon ne kahan tak pahunchaya hai.”
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