New Delhi: When Ram Gopal Varma offered Ahmed Khan his first film Rangeela (1995), the then 19-year-old did not know that he would be paid at par with the top choreographers of the country. “As an assistant to Saroj Khan, I was being paid Rs 500 per day for a song. Ram Gopal Varma offered me Rs 25,000 per song. I made Rs 1.5 lakhs, and the first thing I did was buy a car,” said the choreographer, laughing.
The white Tata Sierra that he bought was later used for a song from the 1997 film Aflatoon featuring Urmila Matondkar. By then, he was at the top of the list of most Mumbai directors.
Rangeela, which completed 30 years in September, is hitting the big screen again on November 28. It established the careers of almost everyone involved in it — Urmila Matondkar became a star, Aamir Khan proved his versatility, AR Rahman made his Bollywood debut, and Manish Malhotra went on to become Bollywood’s go-to designer. But most of all, it gave Khan his dream debut that would establish him as an A-lister choreographer in the years to come.
“In a way, my story was like that of Urmnila’s character Mili in the film — the background dancer who becomes the heroine. I was the assistant who became the choreographer,” said Khan.
But his debut came at the cost of his mentor Saroj Khan losing out on the film.
Ahmed Khan was given just two minutes to take or reject the offer. “RGV always says I took just a minute to say yes,” said Khan, with a smile. He was offered not just a film, but a debut that people only dream of. Without hesitation, he grabbed the opportunity.
“The decision was made for me when he said that if I say no, he will hire a choreographer from the south, and Saroj ji will anyway not be a part of the film. I said yes, it would still be someone from her team,” Ahmed Khan said. In the 1990s, there was intense competition between choreographers from the south and Bollywood.
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The making
Each of the songs from Rangeela went on to become hits and pop culture moments — be it Yayi Re, where Urmila, dressed in a floral mini dress, is dancing in the streets of Mumbai, or Aamir Khan in Kya Kare Kya Na Kare trying to woo the character played by Urmila. From scouting locations to choreographing, Ahmed Khan did everything to make the songs look the way they do.
But the biggest challenge was shooting for the theme song Spirit of Rangeela. It was the first time Khan had heard of a song that was essentially a symphony and featured the violin, as opposed to the desi beats of dhol. The song is a dream sequence that plays out in the mind of Raj Kamal (Jackie Shroff) about Mili.
“It just wasn’t working out. We shot and re-shot it multiple times, and even edited it. What finally worked for the choreography was the closeup shots taken by the director of Jackie Shroff’s face. It all came together then,” said Khan.
Another challenge back then, Khan said, was to find a hook step that would be a hit at big, fat Indian weddings. Now, 30 years later, Khan said, “It’s all about making it to Instagram Reels.”
He was also all praise for Aamir and Urmila, who performed in the most number of songs in the film.
“Urmila is not a trained dancer, but has a certain kind of oomph, the east meets west sensuousness, and cuteness that really worked in the songs,” the choreographer said. He had earlier worked with Aamir, and shared a sibling-like bond with him.
“He was at that stage in his career that he really wanted to prove himself, and worked really hard in each aspect of the film,” said Khan.
The choreographer still has a lot of conversations with the director, and reminds him of the good ol’ days. But Varma always brushes off any gratitude shown to him.
“He says it happened a long time ago, and it was just the beginning. But what I feel is, you only get a few opportunities in your life, and you should grab them. And it was my spontaneity in saying yes that had actually appealed to him, and got me the film,” said Khan.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)