Farah Khan has completed three decades in the entertainment industry as a choreographer-director. While she says that she is ‘grateful’ for being lucky enough to get all the opportunities, she added that being a woman in an industry that was male dominated at the time, was a challenge. “I have a picture from the sets of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar where there were 60 people and I,” she said, drawing a comparison with the current scenario where the sex ratio has become equal.
Farah Khan Started out as an assistant and a background dancer. Stating that she never cared about money, she said that she agreed to be a part of Jalwa (1987) and dance behind Archana Puran Singh as she was getting a chance to step on a plane for the first time. He shot in Goa and was paid Rs 300 per day.
Karan Johar with Farah Khan, Rani Mukerji and their mother. (Photo: Express Archives)
Farah’s first full-fledged film choreography began in 1992 with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. After having every top actor dance to her tune in dozens of blockbuster songs, she became a director with Main Hoon Na (2004). His next Om Shanti Om (2007) placed him on the list of successful directors. But his third film Tees Maar Khan (2010) bombed at the box office.
Recalling how Tees Maar Khan was “turned off” by people, Farah told ETimes that she refused to step out despite winning the Best Choreography award for “Sheela Ki Jawaani”, until her The mother-in-law did not encourage her to bounce back.
Farah Khan The filmmaker is the cousin of siblings Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. Explaining how because of his humble background, he and brother Sajid Khan stayed at Farhan-Zoya’s house for many years, Farah said that she had to ask him something. “We were really those poor cousins. Today, I am indebted to him immensely,” she said.
Farah Khan-Sajid Khan is the maternal uncle of Farhan Akhtar-Zoya Akhtar. (Photo: Instagram/Farah Khan)
It would not be wrong to call Farah the self-made success story of Bollywood. She has been confident about her craft from the very beginning, and hence never shied away from working with many first time directors, be it Aditya Chopra, Karan JoharFarhan Akhtar, Sanjay Gupta, Nikkhil Advani and Mukesh Chhabra.
She tags herself as an entertainer, and claims that she is always on the lookout for new ways to do so. “My sense of humor is a trope. These days I build some really crazy reels because I want to be entertained; It’s in the DNA,” she said.