Ahmed Khan remembers Saroj Khan on her birth anniversary, “She is to dance what Sridevi is to acting”

Saroj Khan was like a mother to Ahmed Khan. “She is to dance what Sridevi is to acting. Everything I know about choreography, I learnt from her. At the age of 12, I was watching her do the choreography of ‘Kaate Nahin Kat Te’ in Mr India. I was a child actor in that film. Though I was too young to understand what was going on, I could feel the uniqueness of the body language, the urgency of the movements. I knew then and there that I wanted to be a choreographer.”

At 16, Ahmed began assisting Saroj Khan. “I was a child bewildered and lost. She mothered me. She nurtured my talent. I was just like her own son (choreographer Raju Khan). Whatever I know about choreography, I learnt from Saroj ji. She gave choreography in Indian cinema a name, face and place. All of us (choreographers) owe our careers to her.”

Ahmed got a chance to repay some of Saroj Khan’s debt. “In Baaghi 2, I got a chance to do my homage to Saroj ji’s iconic ‘Ek do teen chaar’ from Tezaab. I was so nervous. I thought she would be angry. But she was not upset. I went to her house with a cheque, a token gesture of appreciation (the ‘token amount’, I am told, was Rs. 20 lakhs). I knelt before her and gave her the cheque in her hand. I cannot tell you the emotions I felt at that moment. Saroj ji was my guru and a mother-figure. There were other great choreographers before her. But what she did to Bollywood choreography was historic.”

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