Meet the lady who's got a host of Indian cricketers on her beck and call!How many of us stay back after a movie's finished and wait for the credits to roll on? Not too many. On the other hand, if you had stayed put for all of director Priyadarshan's films, you would have seen that apart from his, one more name repeats itself each time. And it's an unusual one at that. The name Pony Verma might not yet ring a bell, given the fact that when it comes to choreographers in Bollywood one's more accustomed to hearing names like Saroj Khan, Farah Khan, Vaibhavi Merchant, Shiamak Davar and the likes. But that's just because Pony's just begun her trot. Before you dismiss her as a new kid on the block, you must hear this. "Priyadarshan gave me my first break with his film Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar that released in the year 2001," tells Verma who has since then done as many as 14 films with the director! "He must like what I do to hire me each time," laughs the choreographer who also has toured the world, performing with mentor and choreographer Ganesh Hegde. "Dance has always been my passion and while I made the most of my performances I wanted to step out of the line and do my own thing," Pony admits. Since then she has to her credit films like 'Nayee Padosan', 'Joggers' Park', 'Hulchul', 'Garam Masala', 'Namastey London', 'Dhol' to the more recent 'Ugly Aur Pagli'. While her kitty boasts of many more, it's her latest assignment that has Pony truly in the spotlight. After all, she has a pack of Indian cricketers at her beck and call! "It's more like they are dancing to my ishaaras," chuckles the 20-something who is the choreographer for the all-new show 'Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena' on Colors channel that sees cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Vinod Kambli, Nikhil Chopra, Dinesh Karthik shake a leg with a bevy of beauties from television. "The channel approached me saying they have a challenge for me. But then I had made the Great Khali shake a leg so I wondered what could be a bigger task," says Verma who said yes the moment she heard the show's concept and the dishy cricketers she had to tutor. "There were many surprises for me. Like I never knew Sreesanth is such a wonderful dancer but it's Bhajji who truly has the rhythm. Even if he falters with a step it looks good," the choreographer lists out. She also found some with two left feet. "Nikhil Chopra was a little difficult. So was Dinesh Karthik but he has drastically improved with each episode. You know I can make them dance like Hrithik or Shah Rukh but that's only when you can have many retakes like in films. Here we are doing a live event and there's just one take to perform," says Pony.Speaking of Bollywood, Verma's choreographed SRK for his film Billoo Barber. "Akshay is one of my favourites to work with. Though I have made Shahid dance I am looking for a song with him where I can do much more," she wishes. And if you wish to see her work, watch out for 'Chandni Chowk to China' that's slated for a January 2009 release.
