When Saroj Khan Revealed That It Was Her Mother’s Doctor Who Saw Her Potential As A Dancer

One of the biggest icons of Bollywood, late choreographer Saroj Khan began her journey in the Hindi film industry with the 1974 film Geeta Mera Naam and went on to choreograph over 2,000 songs in her 46 year long career. However, she had an experience of almost 67 years as a dancer, because she began working as a child artist at the age of 3. Masterji’s family came to India from Pakistan after the partition in 1947. They were rich people but tragedy struck when their bags got exchanged while they were travelling as refugees. She was born in 1948, a year after they reached Mumbai.

During her appearance on TEDx Talks, Saroj ji had revealed that when she was just three years old, her mother saw her making hands in shadow. The choreographer recalled, “She was pregnant second time and the doctor who was looking after her, belonged to the film industry. So my mother took me to the doctor and said that I think this child of mines is retarded because she looks at the shadows and god knows, what she does with hands. So doctor said she might be wanting to dance. He played music and I did something like that and the doctor said this child is normal but only thing is she wants to dance and you all are poor people, why don’t you put her in film industry.”

Masterji had further shared, “I will not say I had an ambition, I think God gave them this child because God wanted me to support my family and from there, my career started as a child star which lasted nine years, till then they had a good room on rent and we survived and I had two sisters more.”

Saroj Khan was admitted to the Guru Nanak Hospital in Mumbai a few weeks ago after she complained of difficulty in breathing. On 3^rd July, the ‘Mother of Dance/Choreography’ bid a final adieu to the world due to a sudden cardiac arrest. We hope Masterji finds peace.