Indian Dancer Saroj Khan dead in cardiac arrest
1 min readHere’s how Madhuri Dixit, Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Farah Khan and the who’s who of the Indian film industry are mourning the demise of legendary Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan.
Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan died in Mumbai on Friday of cardiac arrest. In her passing away, Hindi film industry has lost one of its most beloved and respected dance exponents. It would not be wrong to say that the magic of Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi would be incomplete without her.
Saroj (born Nirmala Nagpal) was born in Mumbai in 1948, after her parents migrated from Pakistan after the Partition of India. Only a child, she began her career as a child artiste in the late 1950s as a background dancer. Soon she began learning dance from the well-known dance master of the day – B Sohanlal.
Saroj’s first break as an independent choreographer came only in 1974 with Geeta Mera Naam. However, from then on, she would have to wait for the next 13 years before her first breakthrough song, Mr India’s Hawa Hawai in 1987, would appear on the horizon. And what a success it was – as Sridevi danced her heart out, matching her comic expressions with Saroj’s polka and jive dance steps and Laxmikant Pyarelal’s foot-tapping music. Saroj had arrived. If you have marvelled at the sensuality of Kaate Nahin Kat Te from Mr India, then the credit goes to Saroj as well.