Nirmala Kishanchand Sadhu Singh Nagpal, better known as Saroj Khan, is one of the most renowned choreographers in the Indian film industry. After all, even the Dancing Diva of the Hindi film industry, Maduri Dixit Nene, looks up to Saroj Khan as her ‘guru’. Khan, who comes from a Sindhi Punjabi family, was born on 22 November 1948. She debuted on the silver screen when she was just a small child, with the film Nazarana (1950). She played the role of little Shyama. She had started performing in many group dancing events as a young girl and slowly, went on to become an assistant dancer and finally mastered her art to perfection.

She made her debut as an independent choreographer in Gulzar’s Mausam (1975), but her first breakthrough came with Subhash Ghai’s film Hero (1983). Her career took a significant turn when she choreographed Sridevi’s ‘nagin’ dance in the film Nagina (1986). There was no stopping her after this success. She then choreographed songs in Anil Kapoor’s Mr. India (1987).

The talented ‘dance master’ has choreographed many songs and worked with many well known faces in the Indian film industry including Madhuri Dixit in the song “Ek Do Teen” from the film Tezaab (1989) and later in Khalnayak (1993), where she choreographed the hit song “Choli Ke Pichhe”.

Her choreography for major blockbusters like Jab We Met (2007), Guru (2007), Devdas (2002), Lagaan (2001), and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) won her the prestigious National Awards and the Filmfare Awards.

Saroj Khan has also appeared in Star One’s dance reality show Nach Baliye (2005) as a member of the jury along with two other popular judges. She was also seen judging Ustaadon Ke Ustaad which was aired on Sony TV. In 2008, she was once again seen in a dance show called Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan and this show was aired in NDTV Imagine. She was the choreographer for this show.

The graceful choreographer has won many awards and accolades for her work. Her most recent work has been for the blockbuster film Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) starring Kangna Ranaut.