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Dancing to his tunes

Choreographer
Last Updated 08 April 2017, 19:33 IST
All’s well that ends well,” says Mumbai-based choreographer Firoz A Khan, as he wraps up work on his next Bollywood outing, in Baraat Company (from the makers of Youngistaan and Laal Rang). His creative zing in making the lead pair Vidyut Jammwal and Adah Sharma dance to his tunes in ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram’ in the recently released film Commando 2 has paid off big time in the form of a crazy applause.

“Earlier, we were working on the ‘Humma remix’ for a few months, before the song moved on to another film, OK Jaanu,” he reveals. “Of course, that was bad luck for us. We were quite disappointed. But nothing could be done about it. Better things were meant to happen, I realise now in retrospect. Then ‘Hare Ram Hare Krishna’ fell into my lap. It was a challenge portraying the moves in a more stylish and different way from how filmstar Akshay Kumar had portrayed them in the mega thriller Bhool Bhulaiyaa. I had trained Vidyut and Adah intensively for this number in Commando 2, and it turned out very well,” Firoz shares.

Of course, with no godfather in Bollywood, Firoz has worked his way up slowly through hard work and an inborn flair for dance. He has grappled with several challenges to carve a firm foothold for himself in the film industry. Born in a simple family, Firoz always had dreams of making it big in Bollywood. Over the years, he has graduated steadily from being a dancer to an assistant choreographer to being one of the most highly sought-after choreographers in Bollywood today. Looks like he’s staying true to his dreams, after all!

During his early years, Khan perfected his dance moves under the able guidance of several established names in the fiefdom of dance: Ganesh Acharya, Farah Khan and Remo D’souza. He also got a chance to work on several enviable projects, including Om Shanti Om, Sanam Teri Kasam, Hero, Agneepath, Aisha, Force 2. He has brilliant dance numbers to his credit, including the hilarious, foot-tapping number ‘Maa Da Laadla’ and  ‘Move Your Body’.

But what catapulted him to the big league commercially last year was the resounding success of his song, ‘Suno Na Sangemarmar’ (from Youngistaan). People perhaps do not remember the film, but they most certainly remember the song. “It became a love anthem and grew into a virtual chartbuster overnight. That worked very well for me. It was a great, timely validation of my proficiency as an artiste,” he says. 

In the 16 years he has invested in his professional craft, Khan has worked in over 25 movies. He has worked extensively in the South Indian film industry, and has also done a spot of regional fare in the Punjabi flick, Gaddar, with Harbhajan Mann. Firoz has also been training many of the young film stars to get their moves right on the dance floor. He has trained Sooraj Pancholi (for Hero), Siddharth Malhotra (for Student of the Year), and has worked with Jackky Bhagnani in his film Welcome to Karachi. “I firmly believe that there is no elevator to success. You simply have to take the stairs one at a time. If you put in 200%, and pour your heart and soul into your work, then your work speaks for itself,” he asserts.

So, whom does he associate the ‘twinkle toes’ tag with in the film industry? “Amongst the female actors, Deepika Padukone is my absolute favourite because of her amazing will to learn and her unbeatable flexibility, grace in perfecting dance moves. Amongst the male actors, there are a lot of superb dancers. Prabhu Deva is simply the unrivalled king. Then there are other fabulous dancers as well , like Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan, and of course, Vidyut Jammwal,” he says with a smile.

What’s next for Firoz A Khan? “Work, work, work,” he says, as he readies to board the flight out of India yet again on another shoot schedule. “There are dance shows on the anvil for this year again. But you know what? My anthem for success is to learn from my own mistakes, to stay focused and work really hard to stay in the big league. I have earned my place here,” he says with a smile.
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(Published 08 April 2017, 15:30 IST)

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