In a throwback interview with Lehren Retro, Farah Khan reveals her most challenging choreography, sharing insights into the detailed process.
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00:00 My favourite performer is Shahrukh.
00:02 People are going to get up and go out to the loo in this song.
00:05 That song becomes very difficult to shoot.
00:07 Hrithik of course, because he is the best dancer.
00:10 Kareena, though she likes to think that she is not a good dancer.
00:14 I think everybody knows my first film 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar Thi'.
00:18 That was the first film that I choreographed.
00:22 Because fortunately for me, I was an assistant director in that film.
00:27 But when their dance director went somewhere else to do some other song,
00:32 Mansoor decided that between him and me, we should do the song.
00:37 And I was lucky that the song was very successful.
00:42 It is still going on.
00:44 So I think after that I got noticed and then I got more films like '1942',
00:50 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naan'.
00:52 So then I lost my focus towards choreography.
00:56 I left direction for some time.
00:58 How did you get the recent award for 'Dil Chahta Hai'?
01:01 The screen award that I got for 'Dil Chahta Hai',
01:04 of course it feels great to win any award.
01:08 But I was very very happy that I got for 'Dil Chahta Hai'.
01:12 Because it is my cousin's film.
01:15 Farhan is my cousin.
01:17 So it's like winning for the family.
01:19 And secondly, when we were doing this song,
01:22 we never thought that this song would be nominated.
01:26 Or it would be so popular.
01:28 I mean, winning an award is a far-fetched thing.
01:30 We were thinking that if any song would be nominated,
01:33 then it would be a disco song.
01:35 So everyone thought that this song would be nominated.
01:37 So it was very nice to know that people appreciate different things.
01:42 Because Saif's song is very different.
01:46 In film language, it is said that it is very different.
01:49 But it's really like that.
01:51 It felt nice that people liked something that was different
01:58 and something that was so me.
02:00 You know, only I could have done some mad song like this
02:03 and said, 'Chalega' because it's not really a commercial song.
02:07 Na sa dancer piche nach rahe hain. It's not like that.
02:10 So on all these things, I felt really nice that I got the award for it.
02:16 Aaj tak sabse muski gaya na ko chalaya hai 'Holi Gans Ke Aap'?
02:20 I think, har wo gaana jiska audio kharab ho,
02:24 woh bahut muskil hota hai karna.
02:26 I know everyone thinks that Chhaya Chhaya must have been very difficult to do.
02:31 But actually, it was one of the easiest songs that we have shot.
02:34 Kyuki uski poori rehearsal humne niche kar li thi.
02:37 And once we just got on the train and got on the rhythm of it,
02:40 there was no problem at all.
02:43 And also, it was a super hit audio.
02:45 Toh usko karne mein maza aata hai.
02:47 But any song jiska audio bahut kharab ho,
02:50 aur mujhe pata hai ki yeh gaana, kyun kar raha hai yeh na,
02:53 people are going to get up and go out to the loo in this song.
02:56 That song becomes very difficult to shoot.
02:59 Kyuki main kuch bhi kar loon usme,
03:01 I know that it'll still be...
03:04 matlab woh bure se kam bura ho jayega.
03:07 But it'll still be a bad song.
03:09 Aapka sabse favourite kaun saya hota hai?
03:12 I have lots of favourite songs.
03:15 Of course, Pehla Nasha, because it's my first song.
03:19 And I still believe ke, matlab,
03:22 it's one of the best love songs that I have shot.
03:28 And of course, Chhaya Chhaya, because...
03:32 for various reasons.
03:34 One ke, I think it was the first time that
03:37 we did a song that could be called international.
03:40 Kyuki woh kahi se inspire nahi hua tha.
03:43 It was one and only, matlab, came from India, original.
03:47 Aur is ghaane ke wajah se mujhe international project bhi mila hai.
03:51 Andrew Lloyd Webber ka Bombay Dreams,
03:54 which is a play in London, a musical.
03:57 It's a very, very prestigious offer.
04:00 On third, I think...
04:03 Ka Hona Pyar Hai, ideally.
04:07 Even now I can watch the song,
04:09 because there's a new kind of trend that started with...
04:15 The dancing level just went from here to there.
04:18 And it's not only because of me,
04:20 it's also because Hrithik is such a fabulous dancer.
04:23 Suddenly we had a dancer who could stand up to any international dancer
04:29 and he'd be on par with them.
04:32 And of course, Dil Chahta Hai,
04:35 because I just had so much fun shooting these mad songs.
04:40 And also Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and even K3G.
04:44 I mean, I really like watching songs like this.
04:47 They're totally different from what I would normally do.
04:50 They are filmy and they are grand and they are opulent.
04:53 Maybe I would not shoot songs like this if I had to on my own,
04:59 but because of Karan, my work suddenly got a scale.
05:02 For me it was like, okay, 200 dancers,
05:06 and everyone wearing these costumes and big sets.
05:10 So I'm sure I've forgotten some in between.
05:14 Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, which was Shah Rukh and my first film.
05:18 And I know it's a very small art film with no budget,
05:22 but the songs straight came from the heart.
05:25 Even now when you see it, you'll smile.
05:27 They're so sweet, the songs.
05:30 And you can see that koi budget nahi tha, dancers nahi the.
05:33 I didn't even have an assistant. Shah Rukh used to assist me.
05:36 But there's so much fun and comedy and gags happening in the song.
05:41 So I think, and I'm sure in between I've forgotten a couple of songs.
05:45 Aapka favourite performer who gets your rhythms very easily?
05:49 My favourite performer, of course, is Shah Rukh.
05:52 Not only because I'm so comfortable with him,
05:55 but also because he inspires me to do better work
06:00 and to do... kuch paagalpan hota hai gaane mein.
06:04 And in love songs, of course, I think there's nobody to beat him.
06:07 You know, if you see even Ketri Ji, Suraj Hua Madham,
06:10 I don't think anyone could have done with so much intensity as Shah Rukh does that.
06:14 And he's totally mad. And he's great fun.
06:18 And Hrithik, of course, because he's, I think, the best dancer
06:22 that I've ever choreographed.
06:25 Usko kuch bhi dikha do, aur wo 10 times usse better,
06:28 when he does it, it looks 10 times better.
06:30 Which is not normally the case, is that you show somebody
06:33 and it'll look 2-3 times lesser than what you've shown.
06:36 But in his, the movement just looks something else.
06:40 And actress?
06:42 Actress I have lots. I mean, I love all my heroines.
06:47 You know, so, I love Kajal because
06:52 of course her energy is something else.
06:54 And she may not again technically be a great dancer,
06:57 but when she comes into a song, the whole screen just lights up, you know.
07:01 And of course, Tabu, I mean, only she could have done 'Dol Bajne Laga'.
07:05 You know, she just looked like a village girl, no makeup, nothing.
07:10 She has the guts to do that.
07:12 And Rani Mukherjee is fabulous in songs.
07:15 She's a, you know, a heroine-heroine in songs.
07:18 She has the right aadhaar and everything.
07:20 And Kareena, though she likes to think that she's not a good dancer,
07:24 and I like to think I made her into a great dancer,
07:27 but she is a fabulous performer.
07:30 You know, she's just so confident and
07:33 her, she's, she again technically, you have to take care of
07:38 what she can do and what she can't do.
07:40 But I think in some places in 'You Are My Sonia', you don't look at Hrithik.
07:44 And that's a main feat, I mean.
07:46 When you have Hrithik dancing and you're not looking at him,
07:48 that means the other girl is doing something spectacular.
07:52 And various aadhaar, I mean, all heroines, I mean, hats off to them.
07:56 They stand in the rain, you know, wearing little bits of clothes
08:00 and they are in the cold wearing one chiffon saree.
08:03 The heroes are all properly covered up with their woolen jackets and all
08:07 and the heroines are shivering and they're just looking so beautiful
08:10 and doing all these movements.
08:13 You know, I mean, I love watching Madhuri dance.
08:15 She's just the most graceful heroine we have, Aishwarya.
08:18 And Sushmita is of course my, she's my favourite, you know.
08:22 She just comes and she heats up the screen.
08:25 Tell us about 'Khoya Khoya Chand', your first as a director.
08:29 'Khoya Khoya Chand' is one of the first music video that I directed.
08:33 It had Diya Mirza's, I think, debut in it.
08:37 And I have to say that she's never looked better than she looked in the video.
08:41 And Akash Sehgal.
08:43 And it was just, the song was very nice.
08:47 I don't normally do music videos.
08:49 But this had a double bonus.
08:51 The song was very nice and I didn't have to use any of the pop singers in it.
08:55 I didn't have to concentrate on launching a pop singer or something.
09:00 So I could do what I wanted and I think it was a sweet story
09:04 that we made with a sad ending, which normally I don't like.
09:07 I like happy endings.
09:09 But the song, I just thought and I mean everyone liked it very much.
09:12 Diya, I think, got her first few films because she showed 'Khoya Khoya Chand'.
09:16 She used to take the videotape and show it to producers.
09:20 And she was really good and so was Akash.
09:22 I mean the whole video, I was very happy with it.
09:24 And it was shot in a budget of some 9 lakhs or something.
09:28 You know, which is quite good because of production value and all.
09:32 I was quite happy.
09:33 And I like the moon shots with the swing across and all.
09:37 I got to do what I wanted.
09:39 As a choreographer, does it become slightly easier as a director?
09:43 I don't know.
09:44 See, I came here to become a director.
09:47 So for me, I was more involved in the technicalities of filmmaking.
09:51 Even when I was a choreographer, if I do a song, I know exactly
09:55 which lens is being used, where the camera will move from.
10:01 What will be the setting, how will the costumes be.
10:03 So I've got experience of directing because
10:08 basically the song, that's what I'm doing.
10:11 You know, of course the directors involved.
10:13 The only thing is I won't have a lifeline of a director behind me
10:17 to ask him, 'Is it alright or should I do this?'
10:21 You know, I'll have to be taking the decision.
10:23 But I'm looking forward to that.
10:25 [Music]
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