The passing of iconic choreographer Saroj Khan (1948-2020) marks the end of not just a legend. A legacy, a history and the joy of dance songs in Hindi films has dimmed, now that she is gone.
Song and dance are an inseparable, if often overdone part of commercial Indian movies.
From the golden age of Hindi cinema (1950-1980) to the present, dance sequences have become a less frequent feature, though popular regional cinema makers continues to groove to the beats.
Saroj was a dancer and choreographer for over six decades, having taught hundreds…probably a thousand or more leading artists, many of them immortalized on film, adding to the glittering careers of innumerable actors and actresses, notably Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit.
I went down memory lane, watched some memorable Saroj Khan songs again, and found more about her life. I was shocked and inspired by what I learnt.
The Saroj Khan story is an astonishing, inspiring, lonely climb to the top, a story to be celebrated, and danced to.
Her love for dance helped her live through the death of her children, poverty, tragedy, trauma and physical pain.
Like the many wonderful artists we have lost from Hindi films this year, her loss is irreplaceable.
Thank you Saroj Khan for the beauty, courage, grace and the joy!
Ten
Saroj Khan’s steely, gritty attitude was reflected in a quote that featured in Nidhi Tuli’s documentary, The Saroj Khan Story (2012):
“I have learned from life only. Never depend upon anybody. Whatever you can do, only you can do. Nobody is there to help you…and since I have taken this lesson I feel very nice and relieved.”
Nine
Saroj Khan has written for Hindi films too, over a dozen of them!
The most famous of these is the Akshay Kumar comedy-suspense blockbuster Khiladi (1992), where she is credited for story and screenplay.
Eight
When Saroj was three years old, her mother observed that the little girl was making strange movements while watching her own shadow. As nobody in the family had any relation to art, ever, her mother thought Saroj had gone mad and took her to a doctor.
The doctor said there was nothing to worry, if she wants to dance, let her dance.
As the family didn’t have much money, the doctor (who knew people from the movies) suggested that they can let Saroj join the film industry.
Seven
Saroj was a child star at the age of five, playing Lord Krishna’s lover Radha in a song sequence for Aagosh (1953). Even at five, she was an expert, inborn dancer.
Six
A few years later, a 10 year-old Saroj became a group dancer, her first dance was with the mesmerizing Madhubala for Howrah Bridge (1958). Can you spot the young Saroj in the song?
Saroj was only ten and half when she lost her father. She now had a mother and five siblings dependent on her.
For a few years after her father’s death, the family subsisted on the leftovers of bhajiyas (fried snacks) and bread provided by a snack-selling neighbour.
Five
Before Saroj was fifteen, she could copy the dance steps of an entire song sequence and repeat it exactly as it had been choreographed. Her amazing talent led her to be the assistant to famous dance choreographer Sohanlal from 1962 to 1973. Sohanlal went on become her guru, mentor and husband. Saroj went on fall in love and marry the 43-year-old Sohanlal when she was 13. The marriage ended in four years.
Four
Saroj has also done a six-month course as a nurse and worked at King Edward Hospital, Mumbai, when she couldn’t find work in films for a time.
Three
Saroj was grateful to film director Subhash Ghai who first pushed her to be an independent choreographer for his Jackie Shroff-Meenakshi Seshadri starrer Hero (1983).
Saroj said later in an interview, “Nobody has helped me…except for Subhash Ghai. I was in the film industry…people knew me, but I didn’t earn that name that I should have.”
“People started recognizing me as a good choreographer, because ‘otherwise Subhash won’t have taken her.’ That was the point. Then I got Ek Do Teen, then there was no looking back.”
Two
It was Saroj Khan who convinced the censors who wanted to clip off the bust movement scenes in Dhak Dhak for Beta (1992) .
Khan cheekily made a female censor board member walk in her high heels to show her that body movement was natural to human beings, and that Dhak Dhak was a heartbeat sound and had to involve the bust inevitably. The censors relented and Madhuri Dixit became a dancing legend.
One
Saroj Khan was not a mere film-based choreographer, watch the amazing Indian classical dance-based choreography she did for the Tamil movie Sringaram (2007) – a masterclass, a master at work.
This is an irreparable loss in richness, expressions, nuances and heritage of dancing in India.
There won’t be another Saroj Khan.
As director Sanjay Leela Bhansali said about her, “We don’t find them anymore.”
Really a great inspiration
Yes, it's a epic story of courage under fire, unbelievable grit …
👍