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'I learnt dancing from Michael Jackson'

making the likes of Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan and many other top stars dance to her tunes. Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Dil Chahta Hai, Don, Krrish, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Mast, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai...the list of films she's choreographed is long and the envy of her rivals. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her work on Broadway stage musical Bombay Dreams. With Main Hoon Na, Farah turned director, hitting bull's-eye with her very first directorial venture. The directoir who is now pregnant as well is readying the release of Om Shanti Om, her second film. A tête-à-tête with the ace choreographer and talented director:

First things first. Who did you learn dancing from?

I learnt dancing from Michael Jackson. Hello! It isn't funny. I have a habit of looking at the best dancers and learning dancing from them. Anyone can learn by mere observation, backed by the ability to perform.

How did you Indianise Jackson's steps?

It's not about Indianising. You have to basically know what the requirement of a scene is. I am trained in kathak and I did a few songs in Kalpana Lajmi's film Darmiyaan with a classical base. My dances in Virasat were also very Indian.

Initially, people did think that my movements were western. But after I did Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, filmmakers wanted me to choreograph wedding-based songs. Indian folk is very creative. There is a lot of scope to experiment there. People don't do that so much. Being an assistant director to Mansoor Khan did help me a lot as I went on to choreograph many songs in films like Border, Dil Chahta Hai, Dil Se, Koi Mil Gaya, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and many more.

Did you always want to be a director?

Films are in my family and I felt I wanted to be a director for a long while. It was only during the making of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander when the choreographer quit that I was given the job while assisting Mansoor Khan. He knew that I loved choreographing song and dance numbers so he gave me the job. I did Pehla Nasha which has gone down in history. So being a choreographer was more of an accident than a choice.

How can someone who has never choreographed before start with such a song?

Before Pehla Nasha I used to run this dance troupe, and did a few ad films and stage shows. So I was merely choreographing while the camera angles belonged to Mansoor.

What did the shift feel like?

Everyone felt that the song was fresh. So I got Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa by Kundan Shah and 1942A Love Story by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. As an assistant director, my job was to give claps, and beg people to wake up and come and shoot. Here I was ordering people around. Being from a younger age group helped as I could choreograph the younger lot well. So I started getting offers from directors like Karan Johar, Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Mani Rathnam and Priyadarshan, among many others.

Has the realisation that you are now a film director set in?

I am feeling it now. My first film had a great response. Choreography kind of stopped for outside films a few months before I did my own film. It is so funny for me to feel free doing nothing. The funny part is that other filmmakers are not even coming to ask me to do their songs. But yes, I have begun feeling like a director.

You share a great rapport with Shah Rukh Khan. You met during the Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa shoot, right?

Yes, we did. That too in the middle of the road where the song was being picturised. Shah Rukh Khan and I share extreme energy limits and have a passion for work. Both of us are extremely focused and don't have dual thoughts about anything. Nothing comes in the way of our work. Both of us feel that we could not have gone ahead in our respective careers without the creative input of the other and personally, we share a great sense of humour that is quite cheeky at times. But he is forever calm and I am always hyper. That's the only difference between us.