Saroj Khan

Saroj khan (maiden name Nirmala Sadhu Khan) was born in 1950. She comes from the Sindhi Punjabi parentage. Her father, Kishanchand Sadhu Singh was a Punjabi, while her mother, Noni, a Sindhi. Her father had a flourishing business in Pakistan but he had to leave everything behind when he came to India. Saroj khan was born in India. Even as a two-year old child, she loved to dance. Since they were facing a financial crisis then, her parents put her in films.

She was three when she got her first break in Nazrana. She played the little Shyama, sitting on the moon and singing a song. She hasn't taken any formal training in dance. She learned dance from the well-known dance master B Sohanlal. He taught her the basics of Kathak, Kathakali, Manipuri, Bharata Natyam etc. She was only 13, a schoolgirl, when she got married to master Sohanlal. He was 43 then. From a child-artiste, she became a group dancer and then graduated to being an assistant dance master and finally dance master.

She is one of the most reputed choreographers or dance directors of the Indian film industry. She remains the queen of Indian dance even today.

Rekha, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Karishma Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar to Aishwarya Rai. She has taught all of them. There's hardly a star in Bollywood who hasn’t danced to her tunes. She has made her directorial debut with a Bhojpuri film titled Dil Diwana Tohar Ho Gayil starring Ravi Kishan and Naghma. The lady has also lent her voice to songs in films like Aatish and Koi Aap Sa. And to top it all she also starred in Naseeruddin Shah’s film Yun Hota To Kya Hota.

She got her ever famous recognition from the song ‘choli ke peeche kya hai…’ from the film khalnayak released in 1983. A few of her performances ‘ghoonghat ki aad se…’ ‘dhak dhak karne laga…’ ‘chandni mein teri chandni…’ are still so admired by the dance lovers. She worked with the top brass of actors and actresses, directors and producers. The dances she choreographed became a part of Indian culture. She directed the dances of Madhuri for movies Beta, Khal Nayak, Ram Lakhan, Sailab and Tezab. She worked on Sri Devi in movies such as Chalbaz, Chandni, Nagina. She directed Aishawarya in Devdas and Guru.