Unwell Saroj Khan choreographed Devdas’ Dola Re while lying on the floor, won 17 awards for Aishwarya Rai-Madhuri Dixit song

Saroj Khan won her first National Award for Dola Re from Devdas. The choreographer was so sick during the shoot that she had to lie down to give instructions.

Saroj Khan (right) choreographed Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit's Dola Re from Devdas.

India is one of the largest film producers in the world, and while it may not always churn out top quality, the Indian film industry certainly makes up for it by offering the world something that no one else seems to have – choreographed dance numbers in the middle of the movie. Something that might appear alien to European or American audiences, is an intrinsic part of Indian films. Every era of Hindi films has a distinct song and dance style and for those who grew up in the 1990s, this era was defined by the choreographed songs of Saroj Khan. With popular songs like “Ek Do Teen”, “Choli Ke Peeche”, “Nimbooda Nimbooda” among many others, Saroj Khan’s dance steps were a part of the pop culture, but it was Devdas’ song “Dola re Dola” that won her her first National Film Award. Composed by Ismail Darbar, with lyrics by Nursat Badr, the vocals here were done by Shreya Ghoshal and Kavita Krishnamurthy. Such was the impact of the song that the sarees and jewellery worn by the actors, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai, became a part of mainstream fashion, and 21 years later, Karan Johar paid tribute to the song in his film Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.

Devdas was an ambitious project for director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and he left no stone unturned in getting every element of the film just right. Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 50 crore, the making of Devdas was an arduous process, and so was the making of the song “Dola Re Dola”. Calling it the “toughest” song of her career, Saroj Khan once said that she saw it as a “feather in my cap.” This was also the song that had to deliver on the biggest promise of the film – the dance-off between Madhuri and Aishwarya. Both top actresses, and the best dancers of their generation, this music video had people comparing them throughout to see who would come out on top. Saroj was well aware of this and on top of that, she also had to make sure that both actresses had enough to perform, so it wouldn’t look like one was given preference over the other.

Aishwarya or Madhuri, who got the better steps?

“Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai are both brilliant dancers and I couldn’t let either of them feel that they did not have good steps. I was scared that one of them may feel left out, but luckily nothing untoward happened,” she recalled in a 2012 chat with Mumbai Mirror. Saroj shared that while both actresses were brilliant on screen, they had a different approach to prepare for the song. Madhuri would come prepared on set after days of rehearsal, vs Aishwarya, who would rehearse on set.

However, Saroj was extremely unwell when she shot the song. Bhansali told Quint that Saroj was in a lot of pain when she shot the song and would be lying down on the floor. “At the time we were shooting, Sarojji was extremely unwell. She was in a lot of pain, but she would lie down on the floor and give instructions. She shot for 15 days”, Bhansali said. None of this pain was visible on screen, and after the song came out, Saroj won 17 awards for it.

Saroj’s health deteriorated as Devdas released. On the day of the release, Bhansali and Aiswarya visited her in the hospital, and even then, she wondered how her song was being received. “On the day Devdas released, Sarojji was in hospital. Aishwarya and I went to meet her. In her semi-conscious state she asked, ‘Dola Re Dola pe paise miley ya nahin? (Did the audience shower coins on Dola Re Dola?)’. Imagine her passion for her work! Even in that state, she wanted to know if her work was being appreciated,” he told Subhash K Jha after the choreographer’s death in 2020.

aishwarya rai and madhuri dixit in dola re

Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit in Devdas’ Dola Re.

‘Saroj Khan was the Salim-Javed of choreography’

Bhansali believed that Saroj was to choreography, what Salim-Javed were to screenwriting. He shared in the same chat, “She brought stardom to choreography just like Salim-Javed brought stardom to scriptwriting. There were great choreographers before her, but Sarojji brought an aura to choreography.” While Bhansali said some very kind things about her after her passing, their working relationship went south after a few collaborations. Saroj, in a chat with Talking Cinema’s YouTube channel, explicitly accused Bhansali and his team of using her choreography in “Ram Chahe Leela” without paying her for it, and crediting someone else for her work.

The song was exquisitely styled but over the years, costume designers Neeta Lulla and Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla have both claimed credit for it. While Neeta largely focused on Aishwarya’s character, there was some overlap in their work, and the intersection for the same came at “Dola Re”. In a recent chat with Namrata Zakaria, Abu and Sandeep shared that Abu “created that sketch” for the song, but, in a chat with Rediff in 2002, Neeta had claimed, “I did design for both of them in the song ‘Dola re dola’ because the whole concept of sari was mine.”

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Ismail Darbar, who composed the music of the film, shared with The Times of India in 2020 that Bhansali was apparently “not happy” with the song but Bhansali has never spoken about the same.

While many technicians came together to bring the song to life, it was a jewel in Saroj Khan’s crown who will always be remembered for her work here.

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