A quarter century of Farah in Bollywood
HOTSHOT Bollywood film-makerchoreographer Farah Khan, who has worked with the who’s who of Bollywood for over two-and-a-half decades, feels actresses today are looked after better than yesteryears’ heroines.
“I feel today everything is looked after much more, though I don’t see any lack of hard work on the part of today’s girls. They are as hard working as the girls earlier.
“It is just that the girls earlier had to do a lot more. They did not have personal trainers, managers or vanity vans. They had to work harder in a sense,” said Khan.
She has worked with actresses spanning generations, as a director as well as a choreographer – from Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit-Nene to Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif.
When it comes to dancing, she diplomatically avoids comparing today’s heroines with the earlier generation.
“It’s been 25 years, and I have choreographed Sridevi and Madhuri (Dixit-Nene) and also the girls of today. You can’t compare them (today’s actresses) to the yesteryear actresses.”
Khan, who became an overnight sensation as a choreographer with her slow-motion choreography of the song Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar in the 1992 film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, branched out to directing films with Main Hoon Na in 2004, and later helmed Om Shanti Om (2007), Tees Maar Khan (2010), and Happy New Year (2014).
“What I enjoy most is making my own film, which I am looking forward to this year. I enjoy it a lot but it is also a tiring process, especially when you have three children.
“I am a hands-on mother, so I take long gaps between films. For me, that is the most creatively satisfying process,” said Khan, who is currently working on a film in collaboration with filmmaker Rohit Shetty.
According to reports, Khan is set to remake megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s Satte Pe Satta, released in 1982.
Talking about working on a remake, she said: “My children haven’t seen old films. I feel classics need not be touched – like I would not think of remaking a Sholay because I know … such films stand the test of time. You have to be careful of what film to remake. You have to take a loved movie but not something that you know you would be compared and (then) torn to shreds.
“Remakes are now done all over the world. At one time, I used to wonder why (remake a movie)? Now I think it would be fun modernising movies I love.”
Khan has also branched out to the digital space. She is producing Mrs Serial Killer for Netflix, directed by her husband Shirish Kunder.
Mrs Serial Killer is about a wife whose husband has been framed and imprisoned for serial murders. She needs to perform a murder exactly like the serial killer to prove her husband’s innocence. | IANS