Saroj Khan was one of the prominent
Bollywood
choreographers of all time that has left the world today at 1:52 AM due to cardiac arrest. The
dance icon
was already admitted to a hospital in Mumbai on 24 June after experiencing breathing issues and later succumbed to death leaving her fans shattered.
Also known as the Mother of Dance in India, Saroj Khan was born as Nirmala Nagpal on 22 November 1948 and later came to India post-partition in 1947.
Saroj Khan began her career at the age of three while working as a child artist in ‘Nazarana.’ She was also once a background dancer and got her dance training from dance director, B. Sohanlal who she later married to at the age of 13.
Marking her choreography debut, Saroj’s first independent film was ‘Geeta Mera Naam,’ and later gained recognition for the song ‘Hawa Hawai’ from ‘Mr. India’ featuring Sridevi.
Since then, the dance icon has given numerous hit dance numbers from several movies like, ‘Tehzaab’, ‘Nagina’, ‘Chandni’, ‘Thandedaar’, ‘Beta’, and the list goes on.
The ‘Ek Do Teen’ choreographer has also fetched several awards including her first National Film Award for the song ‘Dola Re Dola’ featuring her favourite student,
Madhuri Dixit in ‘Devdas.’ Later she was also awarded the same title for her work in the song ‘Yeh Ishq Haaye’ from ‘Jab We Met’ and a Tamil film. She also took home several film filmfare awards for best choreography and even received American Choreography Award for her film ‘Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India.’
Apart from Bollywood, masterji also worked for
Hollywood
film, ‘The Gandhi Murder’ starring actor Stephen Lang and Om Puri.
On the work front, Saroj Khan's last movie was ‘Kalank’ where she choreographed her favourite actress, Madhuri Dixit for the song ‘Tabah Ho Gaye.’