Farah Khan to choreograph 21 Bollywood beauties
IANS
Monday, January 22, 2007 14:06 IST
MUMBAI: When TV host-turned-director Sajid Khan decided to shoot a song for his film 'Hey Baby' with 21 leading ladies, sister Farah took time off to choreograph the historic number.
The leading ladies who gladly participated in the marathon song included Ameesha Patel, Diya Mirza, Koena Mitra, Shamita Shetty, Neha Dhupia, Malaika and sister Amrita Arora, Amrita Rao, Tara Sharma, Minissha Lamba, Celina Jaitley, Riya Sen, Aarti Chabria, Hrishita Bhatt Sophie and Masumi.
"They're all my friends. They did it for me. And I'd do the same for them if they asked me," told Sajid.
"Farah had once choreographed me in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kate'. And we've done a lot of stage shows together. She's now choreographed my first song in my first film as director. Sajid Nadiadwala (the producer) and Farah are like my two eyes and arms."
He dismisses rumours of not getting along with his brother-in-law Shirish Kunder. "We share a healthy camaraderie. Farah today lives separately. But we keep a constant vigil on each other.
"Like any brother, I felt cheated when someone came and took her way. But it's an inevitable cycle of life, and I'm all right with it."
The cast.
"Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Fardeen Khan, Vidya Balan are all working together for the first time. None of these actors have worked with me, Farah or Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy before. Trust me you've never seen these actors do anything like this earlier."
Sajid wants to make the kind of film he would like to see. "I'm a member of the audience first, then a director. I don't like boring films."
The buzz is that Sajid is re-making the hit 'Three Men & A Baby' but he dismisses this.
"Just because my film has three men and a baby in it? My film is as much 'Three Men & A Baby' as 'Munnabhai MBBS' was 'Patch Adams' or 'Tehzeeb' was 'Autumn Sonata' or 'Sholay' was 'Magnificent 7'. When you see 'Hey Baby' you'll know what I mean."
The baby being the pivotal character, how does Sajid intend to get its expressions right?
"I wouldn't like to talk about it now. But yes, the baby's expressions will be as real as it can be ... with some technical wizardry helping us get it right. We've got the F-X guys behind 'Matrix', 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'King Kong' to assist us.
"I intend to do my entire post-production and sound mix in Australia at the 20th Century Fox studios."
'Hey Baby' will be shot in Australia, France, Udaipur and Mumbai.
"I gave the scripting two years of my life. For the first six months I constantly kept changing the story until I got it right.
"I've grown up watching films of every kind. I won't make the mistakes that I've seen my predecessors made. That's why I laugh when people accuse me of re-making 'Three Men & A Baby'. I'm not that stupid."
Before one reacts to that Sajid poses a question. "Do you know why I chose Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to do the music for 'Hey Baby'? That's because their name doesn't figure in the list of copycats on a website devoted to exposing plagiarism in Hindi film music."
After 'Hey Baby' Sajid plans to return to his first love - television. "I've given my career on television a backseat. Once 'Hey Baby' goes into post-production I'll return to TV."
Any marriage plans?
"I'm 35 now. I'll give myself another five years to settle down. No, I don't have a girlfriend. I don't like to be answerable to anyone. I'm alone. But I'm not lonely. Besides, I'm never at home."
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