Bollywood’s ‘masterji’, Saroj Khan dies at 71
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s legendary choreographer Saroj Khan died of cardiac arrest on the wee hours of Friday. The legendry choreographer was mourned by the fraternity, who called her ‘the genius who immortalised stars’. She was unwell for past few days and was admitted to Guru Nanak Hospital in Bandra, Mumbai on June 20.
Fondly called ‘Masterji’ by stars whom she choreographed, Saroj directed over 2000 songs in her long and storied career. Her most famous collaborations were with actors Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. Tributes poured in for the ace choreographer. In fact, it was for her great skills that Filmfare actually introduced the ‘Best Choreography’ category in awards and she won the first one for ‘Tezaab’.Masterji choreographed super hit songs for the late legendary actress Sridevi in movies such as Hawa Hawai in Mr India, Nagina, Chandni and many more.
Amitabh Bachchn, Akshay Kumar, Kajol, Sibhash Ghai, Kareena Kapoor and frequent collaborator Madhuri Dixit were among those who paid tributes to Saroj Khan on social media.
Saroj was admitted to Mumbai’s Guru Nanak Hospital last month after she complained of trouble in breathing. “She passed away due to cardiac arrest at around 2:30 am at the hospital,” her nephew Manish Jagwani told news agency pti.
Saroj Khan was in the hospital since June 17 after she complained of breathing difficulties. She had tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Her funeral took place on Friday morning in Malad, Mumbai.
The 71-year-old’s burial took place in Malad cemetery on Friday morning. She is survived by daughter Sukaina Khan and son Raju Khan. Her daughter told “We buried her at around 7 am. The prayer meeting will be held after three days.” Several celebrities, political leaders and fans condoled her demise and called it ‘an end of an era’ in Bollywood on social media.
A hard taskmaster and no-nonsense teacher, who gave us some memorable songs with Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, which again became instrumental in shaping their movie careers including many other actresses as well.
She did over 200 movies in her rich filmography and started off at a young age of 3 as a child artist and later became a background dancer. She established herself as an independent choreographer with 1974 release ‘Geeta Mera Naam’ but it was only many years later in movies with Sridevi that she got recognition.
Her camaraderie and collaboration with superstar Madhuri Dixit delivered sure shot success. Blockbuster songs like ‘Ek Do Teen’ in Tezaab, Tamma Tamma Loge in Thanedaar and Dhak Dhak Karne Laga in Beta are a few milestones in her career which helped her emerge as the numero uno choreographer in Bollywood.
Saroj Khan was also seen as a judge on several dance-based reality shows such as Nach Baliye, Ustaadon Ka Ustaad, Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan, Boogie Woogie, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa to name a few.
Her on-screen and off-screen bonding with Madhuri Dixit resulted in some of the iconic dance moves. Incidentally, her last film ‘Kalank’ (2019) was with Madhuri for the song ‘Tabaah Ho Gaye’.
