Farah Khan completes three decades in the entertainment industry as a choreographer-director. While she says she’s ‘grateful’ for being lucky to get all the opportunities, she added that being a woman in the industry that was male-dominated back then, was a challenge. “I have a picture from the sets of Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander where there were 60 guys and me,” she said, comparing it with the current scenario where the gender ratio has become equal.
Farah Khan started off as an assistant and a background dancer. Stating how she never bothered about money, she said she agreed to be a part of Jalwa (1987) and dance behind Archana Puran Singh because she was getting to step in an aircraft for the first time. She shot in Goa and was paid Rs 300 per day.
Karan Johar with Farah Khan, Rani Mukherjee and her mother. (Photo: Express Archives)
Farah’s first full-fledged film choreography began with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar in 1992. After making every top actor dance to her tunes in dozens of blockbuster songs, she turned a director with Main Hoon Na (2004). Her next Om Shanti Om (2007) placed her in the list of successful directors. But her third movie Tees Maar Khan (2010) bombed at the box office.
Recalling how Tees Maar Khan was “ripped apart” by people, Farah told ETimes that she refused to step out despite winning a Best Choreography award for “Sheila Ki Jawani”, until her mother-in-law encouraged her to bounce back.
Farah Khan is the cousin of filmmaker siblings Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. Revealing how due to her humble background, she and brother Sajid Khan lived at Farhan-Zoya’s house for many years, Farah said they had to ask them for things. “We were literally those poor cousins. Today, I owe them a great deal,” she added.
Farah Khan-Sajid Khan are maternal cousins of Farhan Akhtar-Zoya Akhtar. (Photo: Instagram/Farah Khan)
Calling Farah, a self-made success story of Bollywood won’t be wrong. She’s been confident about her craft from the beginning, and hence never shied away from working with numerous first-time directors, be it Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Sanjay Gupta, Nikkhil Advani and Mukesh Chhabra.
She tags herself as an entertainer, and claims she’s always in a lookout for new ways to do that. “My sense of humour is a trope. These days I create some really crazy reels because I’ve to entertain; it’s in the DNA,” she said.