Ahmed Khan Meets Saroj Khan For Ek Do Teen, But Signs Ganesh Aacharya Instead

While Jacqueline Fernandez rushed to Madhuri Dixit to seek her “blessings”,  the Baaghi 2  choreographer-director the affable Ahmed Khan paid the legendary choreographer  Saroj Khan a  visit before embarking on  his own version of Khan’s iconic Madhuri Dixit song and dance Ek do teen.

“It was only the proper thing to do. I consider Sarojji my guru.When were thinking of which number to use for  Jacqueline Fernandez’s dance number, many songs like Saat sumundar paar(Vishwaatma) and  Aao na gale lagao na(Mere Jeevan Saathi) came up for consideration. When we decided to add an item song at the last minute we were sure of two things. That there was space for it in  the plot.And that we wanted only Jacqueline to do it.”

 Ms Fernandez, says Ahmed, was over the moon. “When she heard it was Ek do teen she freaked out. It is everybody’s favourite. When we think of an item song we think of  Ek do teen as the baap of all item songs. I quickly paid Sarojji a visit. But we did not invite her to do the choreography for the new version of Ek do teen for two reasons. One, because we wanted a new treatment to the song.Two, because Sarojji is now getting on and is also likely to  run  out of  patience  on the sets.”

Ahmed Khan says he instead invited Ganesh Acharya to do the dance steps. “It is an entirely new interpretation of the iconic song, not meant to challenge the original. Rather, ours is a homage to the original.We made sure that Jacqueline’s costume was a close replica of Madhuri’s costume from the original Ek do teen.We have incorporated Madhuri ’s signature step—the palm and fingers perpendicular to the forehead accompanied by a trot backwards—into our version. But the  rest  of the  steps are  by Ganesh.”

One change from the original that may not go down well with the architects of the original is the voice.

Alka Yagnik’s vocals in the original song have been replaced by Shreya Ghosal.

Explains Ahmed Khan, “Alkaji was  the heroine’s  voice in  the  1990s and  2000s. Shreya Ghosal  is  the heroine’s voice  today. We wanted  Jacqueline to have  the heroine’s voice .We didn’t want  our Ek do teen to be treated as an item song , heard clapped to and forgotten.”

Ahmed  hopes to show their Ek do teen  to Saroj Khan , Madhuri Dixit and  the Tezaab director N Chandra.

“We need their  blessings. Our Ek  do teen is possible  only because of them,” says Ahmed emotionally.