Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor in Don

Let’s get this straight first — Is Shakira doing an item number for your next film Om Shanti Om?

It is a figment of imagination of the Mumbai newspapers. She is doing no such number for my film. The only thing Shakira ever said was that the only person she’s heard of in Bollywood is Shah Rukh Khan. Now, that was made out to be that Shakira is dancing in my next film which stars and is produced by Shah Rukh.

So there has been no agreement between you and Shakira?

See, she wants me to do a music video for her. But you know, with these people you can’t take it for granted. She is saying something now but later on she may not necessarily do it.

What was it like to make her dance?

Oh nice. Very nice. She is a fantastic dancer. There’s no two ways about that. Her body is very flexible. What helped was the fact that Indians and Cubans have similar hip structure.

And hips don’t lie…

(Laughs) No they don’t. I gave her a few Indian mudras and she looked very good doing that. There has been talk that I didn’t give her a lot of steps.

But you have to keep in mind the fact that unlike here, where our stars just lip-sync the songs, Shakira was actually singing it on stage and dancing at the same time. And to dance and sing together is really difficult. So I kept the steps simple, yet Indian.

Farah Khan

Jaan-e-Mann is looking stunning. You have used a lot of silhouettes in the song picturisations…

The reason we have kept that look is because for Jaan-e-Mann I didn’t get the 100 dancers from New York that I got for Karan’s (Johar) film (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna). So we just used four to five dancing couples who would dance in silhouettes in the foreground while the main characters — Preity (Zinta), Salman (Khan), Akshay (Kumar) — would dance in the background.

I can easily say that Jaan-e-Mann is one of my best works till date.

You got very emotional on Jhalak Dikhhla Ja when Rati Agnihotri was eliminated…

That’s more because of her dancing partner Feroze, who has been my assistant for the last 12 years. So, it got really touchy. They didn’t deserve to go out so early.

Who should win Jhalak Dikhhla Ja?

I think Shveta Salve and Mahesh Manjrekar are the two best dancers in the competition. In the final four I would like to see Sveta, Mahesh, Ajay (Jadeja) and Mona (Singh).

Coming back to movies, you have done the Yeh mera dil number with Kareena Kapoor in Farhan Akhtar’s Don…

Yes, there was a lot of pressure on me. It is a legendary Helen number. Anything different or modern I would have tried to do with that dance would have looked like a T-Series remix dance. So I kept it very retro and tried to keep some of the original moves. Kareena’s looking gorgeous and she’s danced well. Poor Shah Rukh does not have much to do in the song apart from standing and being seduced by Kareena!

Did you watch the original song-and-dance again before choreographing?

Yes, I did watch it again but let me tell you it is not one of Helen aunty’s best numbers. There is a nostalgia involved for sure, but that’s it.

Farhan has been saying how Don is like a dream project for all the cast and crew members. Was it special for you too?

Not really. I liked Don but it is not one of my all-time favourite films. I also do not believe in remaking films. I still have original stories to tell. Good, bad or ugly, my film will not be compared to some other film made at some point in history. But if other people want to do it, they can go ahead.

And at one point, there was talk of Om Shanti Om being a Karz remake…

My film is a completely original script because I would personally never remake another film. It’s like people have been there, done that; why do it again?

After your husband Shirish Kunder’s Jaan-e-Mann, now it’s your brother Sajid Khan…

Oh, he will make a fabulous film I can tell you that. Hey Baby is a very emotional script. I may just do a couple of songs because it will coincide with Om Shanti Om, which starts mid-December. And I am sure we will be fighting all over again.