Farah Khan shares throwback photo to celebrate 25 years in film industry

Mansoor Khan’s second film, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), a sports drama starring Aamir Khan and Ayesha Jhulka, is remembered today for its thrilling bicycle race sequence, the melodious music by Jatin-Lalit and of course, the performances. The hit soundtrack included a romantic duet, ‘Pehla Nasha’, sung by Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam, that has gone on to become an everlasting classic. A great deal of the song’s success was because of the fresh, new way that it was picturised.

Read: 25 years of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar: The 90s classic that almost got shelved

Back in 1992, a young choreographer, Farah Khan, who was also assisting Mansoor Khan, stepped in to choreograph the song when the original choreographer, Saroj Khan, could not make it. Farah Khan shot the romantic song in a revolutionary style, in 48 frames instead of the regular 24 frames, making the song move through as if in slow motion.

Surprisingly, she only won one award for her choreography, the Sumo Award, which was discontinued the year after. Marking the silver anniversary of her presence in the industry, Farah Khan shared a throwback photo on Twitter of her with the award. She wrote: 1st n ONLY award i win for " Pehla Nasha"! 25 yrs ago n 25 kilos lighter.. ( that is @SimplySajidK lifting me)..” Her brother Sajid Khan can be seen in the photo, lifting her up.

Farah also thanked Mansoor Khan for giving her the first opportunity. In an Instagram post, she shared a photo of them from the cast and crew’s reunion last year at the 18th Mumbai Film Festival and captioned:  Thank u Mansoor Khan for taking a chance on me! I celebrate 25 yrs of being in this industry thanks to JJWS.

Later on, Farah’s friends and members of the film fraternity all joined to wish her on completing 25 years. From filmmakers Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker to actors Abhishek Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood and Bomani Irani, they all toasted to Farah’s silver anniversary.  

Even younger brother Sajid Khan wished her on Twitter, pointing out that Farah is the only female director in the 100 and 200 crore club.

To which the witty Farah replied, “It finally took 25 yrs to get you to b nice to me!!”