Mumbai: Saroj Khan has made every big-name actress in the Hindi film industry dance to her moves.
Legendary actresses like Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi consider Saroj as their dance guru. So on the occasion of her birthday, let us know some interesting facts about Saroj’s life that you might not be aware of.
Few people know that Saroj’s real name is Nirmala Nagpal. After partition, her family migrated to India from Pakistan. Saroj started working in films as a child artiste at just 3 years old. Her first film was Nazarana in which she played the role of a girl named Shyama.
In the 50s, Saroj started working as a background dancer. She learnt dance while working under film choreographer B. Sohanlal. Later, she herself shifted to choreography, first as an assistant choreographer and later getting her break as an independent choreographer, with Geeta Mera Naam (1974).
Saroj’s main films include Mr. India, Nagina, Chandni, Tezaab.
She married an already married person with four children, B. Sohanlal, the same choreographer under whom she learnt dance, at the age of 13 whereas her husband was 41. Saroj embraced Islam before marrying Sohanlal and still remains a practicing Muslim.
The couple has a son Hamid Khan, popularly known as Raju Khan when she was 14. The couple divorced and again reunited later. They also have a daughter Hina Khan.
Saroj and Sohanlal’s marriage did not last long however and after he left, Saroj remarried Sardar Roshan Khan and has a daughter Sukaina Khan from the relationship. Sukaina has a dance institute at Dubai.
“I used to study in school those days, then one day my dance master Sohanlal tied a black thread around my neck and I got married,” Saroj said in an interview.
In an interview with a TV channel, Saroj had said that “I had converted to Islam on my own wish. At that time many people asked me if there was any pressure on me but it was not so. I get inspired by the religion of Islam.”
Sohanlal did not mention his first marriage while marrying Saroj.
Saroj’s son Raju was born in 1963. Saroj gave birth to a second child in 1965 who died after 8 months. After the birth of the children, Sohanlal refused to give them his name and Saroj raised both children single handedly.
