How Saroj Khan saved Madhuri Dixit’s song ‘Dhak Dhak’ from getting cut by censor for ‘deliberately provocative’ body movements

“They (CBFC) wanted to cut down the whole mukhda of the song. So they (producer, director) were petrified. They said ‘come along with us. See what they are saying, whether you can help us. So, I went,” said Saroj.

The choreographer gave a practical example to the board members sitting there. “There was a lady over there. She was Sindhi and dressed in a saree and high heels. She told me, ‘you are shaking the chest deliberately. We don’t like that’. So I said, ‘Yes. Ma’am just get up.’ She asked why and I said that ‘I just want to show you something’. She got up and I asked her to walk.”

She added, “When you are wearing high heels, your hip movement automatically goes (points upwards), whether you like it or not, because you are balancing yourself. I told her ‘Now you are shaking deliberately? I have to shake the body to show that I am dancing and she (Madhuri’s character) says Dhak Dhak. From where will that sound come? From the heart. And where is the heart? Near my bust line, so I have to show Dhak Dhak (enacts the step). She was convinced and she let us go ahead.”

Saroj Khan’s rendezvous with cinema started at a young age. The three-time National Award winning choreographer started as a child artiste in black-and-white films like Sharda (1957) and Aaghosh (1953). Soon after, she explored her love for dancing further and bagged first group dance in 1958 film Howrah Bridge’s song “Aaiye Meherbaan” picturised on Madhubala. Saroj played one of the boys seen in the background. A few years later, she started working with renowned choreographer B Sohanlal as assistant.

Eventually, as she went solo, she choreographed in films such as Mr India, Chandni, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Taal amongst others. While she has worked in Hindi cinema and South film industries, it was her collboration with actor Madhuri Dixit that was most fruitful. It was after Madhuri’s song Ek Do Teen from the film Tezaab found immense popularity that Filmfare Awards introduced Best Choreographer category with Saroj emerging as the first winner. She received the award eight times in her career.

Saroj Khan with actor Sridevi and director Shekhar Kapur on sets of Mr India. (Photo: Express Archives)

Madhuri was always keen on learning more from her ‘masterji’. Recalling the fun they had while shooting the iconic song “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” from the film Khalnayak, Madhuri said, “The song that we really enjoyed doing together was Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai because of a lot of folk movements that you don’t see in movies. She comes out with these things … I would tell her to open her closet, get in and get all these things out. These are the things she has learnt from the maharathis (legends) of Indian dancing. She has a treasury of all these things.”

Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt in a still from the film Khalnayak. (Photo: Express Archives)

From choreographing legends like Vyjayanthimala, Chiranjeevi, Sridevi to the more contemporary lot of artists like Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon, Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji, Saroj had spread her art across generations in her four-decade long career. She passed away on July 3, 2020 due to a cardiac arrest.