On her 56th birthday, we take a look at some of the iconic songs that Farah Khan — one of Bollywood’s most beloved choreographers — touched with her genius creativity
PEHLA NASHA (JO JEETA WOHI SIKANDER, 1992) This ultimate love song that still takes us on a nostalgia trip marked Khan’s entry into Bollywood as a choreographer. The innocence of first love has been beautifully captured in the song, picturised on Aamir Khan and Ayesha Jhulka. Who could have choreographed a song on a moving train’s rooftop? With this song, Khan proved once again why she is the best contemporary Bollywood dance choreographer. The energy of Shah Rukh Khan and the oomph of Malaika Arora were beautifully utilised by Khan for this cult song, which won her several awards. CHAIYYA CHAIYYA ( DIL SE, 1998)
The film may have been a dud, but this song was a major success. It saw Katrina Kaif perform a sultry dance number like never before, and Khan made sure that the song turned out to be the biggest dance anthem. SHEILA KI JAWANI (TEES MAAR KHAN, 2010) The song gave Priyanka Chopra Jonas her world-famous adage of Desi Girl. The Bollywood style jhataka’s and matka’s choreographed by Khan also featured John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan, who aren’t exactly known as dancers in Bollywood. But Khan’s playful moves proved otherwise. DESI GIRL (DOSTANA, 2008) The film marked Hrithik Roshan’s debut in Bollywood and the song sealed his reputation as the best dancing actor. It was all credited to Khan, whose signature step in this song became a craze. A simple move yet so catchy, only Khan could have made it possible. EK PAL KA JEENA (KAHO NA… PYAAR HAI, 2000) Picturised on Shah Rukh Khan, this is the first male item song, which the choreographer herself has admitted. And she left no stone unturned to make this song sexy and memorable. In fact, she even got SRK to get a six pack abs, just for the song. DARD-EDISCO (OM SHANTI OM, 2007) The choreographer reunited with Malaika Arora for this rustic item song and the end result was a sheer superhit for years to come. The song, which also features Salman Khan, remains to be the best dance number of Bollywood. MUNNI BADNAAM HUI (DABANGG, 2010)
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