Madhuri Dixit Reveals Her Pact with Saroj Khan—And Why She Later Regretted It

Fondly known as 'Masterji', Saroj Khan collaborated with many leading actresses in Bollywood, but her work with Madhuri Dixit has remained particularly legendary.

In a recent interview with ANI, Madhuri walked down memory lane, fondly recalling her professional and personal association with Saroj Khan.

Remembering how Saroj Khan played a pivotal role in honing her dance skills for the camera, she shared, "I had worked with Saroj Khan even before Tezaab. We did Uttar Dakshin and a few films like that in which there was a lot of Indian dancing. So when N Chandra (Director of Tezaab) said, I want to do this stage performance and which is like hardcore Bollywood dancing, she said, You know what? I know you're a good classical dancer, but I don't know if you can do a Bollywood song. So I want you to practice. And I'm like, yes, I'm there. I'm practising. Even when I was dancing in films up to that point, I knew I was a good dancer, but I couldn't do it the way it's supposed to be done because I was so used to dancing on stage. And there are no restrictions on stage, and here it's a camera. And you have to talk to the camera while you're dancing."

"I found that a little hard. Like, you know, you're dancing here, but you have to give your right profile. And then you're doing some movement, which is on the left. It used to confuse me a lot. And I said, yes, I want to rehearse for this so that I get my, you know, my movements right. So when I'm on stage, all I can concentrate on is the camera angles and how it's being shot, and I understand that whole dynamic. We practised with Sarojji. We did it again and again and again. So people say, you're so effortless.... But I know how much we worked hard to learn the movement, to do it again and again," she added.

Madhuri also revealed that she had a pact with Saroj Khan never to repeat dance steps. However, Saroj Khan later "regretted" it.

"We had a pact after Tezaab, we knew that we were going to do a lot of songs together because I loved her style and she loved my style because she thought I did justice to her movements and everything. And we had a pact that we won't repeat the movements ever. Like, we will make every song look like a new song...every hook step should be different from the others. And we made the pact, which she later regretted," she recalled.

"Because I have an elephant's memory for movements. If she showed me a movement, I said, Why? We've done this in that song. So she's like, I regret ever saying that to you," Madhuri reminisced.

Saroj Khan, who passed away on July 3, 2020, choreographed several memorable numbers for Madhuri, including 'Channe Ke Khet Mein' (Anjaam), 'Dola Re Dola' (Devdas), 'Maar Daala' (Devdas), and 'Ghar More Pardesiya' (Kalank).

Madhuri cherishes Saroj Khan as her guiding Guru, and every Guru Purnima, she wholeheartedly honours her, offering a deeply felt tribute to the mentor who helped shape her craft.

"Dancing in front of the camera and dancing on stage are two different things. Saroj ji taught me how to romance the camera when we worked on Ek Do Teen. Such was the song's popularity that Filmfare had to create the Best Choreography category to honour Saroj ji. I will miss her resolve to push the envelope all the time," the 'Devdas' actor mentioned in one of her Instagram posts.

- ANI