The news of noted choreographer Saroj Khan's demise due to heart attack on Thursday led actor Amitabh Bachchan to pen down a long post on Instagram where the Shahanshah of Bollywood recalls his first meeting with Khan, getting his best compliment from her and even a 'shagun' for one of his performance.
He starts the post with 'Saroj Khan has died... and an entire history of time races before you in the cerebrum.'
Describing her, Big B wrote, “She was a sprightly young enthusiastic dance assistant to one of the major dance directors of the time, of the time when I was just beginning... of the film ‘Bandhe Haath’ with the heartthrob of millions Mumtaz... with the director OP Ralhan. Mumtaz’s grace and acceptance to agree to work with this newbie... she a stratospheric Star, me a nobody...”
Continuing he writes, “And Saroj ji in the crowd of dancers in a song .. her subtle grace when she moved. At one point I saw her, quite alarmingly, finding the foetus had shifted in her stomach and she simply unabashedly pushed it into place and carried on dancing.”
Taking about the danseuse’s meteoric rise in the industry with her impeccable skills, Bachchan says, “And then over the years she excelled and attained the podium title of Dance Director. As the language changed, the choreographer of film, her moves becoming famous for each artiste she worked with and when she would see an artiste give a good shot under her care she would call her or him aside and give a rupee coin as a gesture, as a pat on the back - a ‘shagun’”. The 77-year old actor also became the recipient of her ‘shagun’ and he says, “Many many years later during the song sequence of a film I was doing I became the recipient of that coin, an immense achievement."
Her particular gesture was showcased on small screens a lot of times when she judged contestants on dance reality shows.
Continuing, the Sarkar actor says, “Saroj ji, you gave us and the industry, rhythm, style, grace of movement and the art of converting the lyrics in a song to meaning in dance.”
The actor also mentioned receiving his best compliments from her. Narrating the story, he states, “On a chance meeting many many years ago, she paid me my best compliment. She was living in Dubai then and when DON was released she said “I saw the film and then I would go to the theatre where it was released, at the time when your song ‘Khaike paan.. was on, see it and come out. I used to do it regularly every day. I would tell the usher to let me in just to see the song and leave, that is how much I enjoyed your dance moves.”