‘A dance step is the smallest part of a song’

Farah Khan, who recently completed 25 years in the industry, had started off as a choreographer. She has choreographed many award-winning songs over the years. But the director feels that the quintessential Bollywood songs are dying.

“The typical Bollywood dance number is considered old-fashioned now, which is sad. If you see in the last one year or so, what would you say is your big Bollywood dance number where you can copy the moves and dance - maybe ‘Baby ko base’ (Sultan; 2016). These numbers do very well internationally, but in our own country, we tend to look down upon it. There was a phase of the parallel movies, but people enjoy the commercial movies more. Maybe, I should make a big Bollywood dance film. I am itching to do something on those lines. I used to enjoy that, maybe the critics killed it,” says the ‘Sheila ki jawani’ (Tees Maar Khan; 2010) choreographer.

Talking about the people she has always looked up to, Farah says, “From Indian directors, Vijay Anand has been an idol, because of the way he used to shoot a song. In Hollywood, it’s Gene Kelly and all the MGM musicals. Also, Mani Ratnam shoots songs beautifully.”

Farah elaborates how song-and-dance in Hindi movies is not just about the moves but it’s an extended form of story-telling. “A dance step is the smallest part of a song. If you see a song, it should be a story told in five minutes. I used to be involved in the cinematography, costumes, theme and story-telling. Dance step used to be the last thing, like an add on,” says the director.

Ask her whose dancing skills she admires amongst the youngsters, and Farah says, “All of them are fabulous – Tiger (Shroff) Varun (Dhawan), Ranveer (Singh) and Ranbir (Kapoor). Even Arjun (Kapoor) is a very good dancer. I don’t think people have explored him much as a dancer. I’ve seen him do hip-hop when he was a fat kid. He was mind blowing.”

From Indian directors, Vijay Anand has been an idol, because of the way he used to shoot a song. In Hollywood, it’s Gene Kelly and all the MGM musicals. FARAH KHAN, DIRECTOR