Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 12, 2018)

Her Arabic recreation of the celebrated track from Sirf Tum (1999), Dilbar, winning accolades, Nora Fatehi reveals that she enhanced her craft by turning tutor for herself. “Whatever I’ve learnt as a belly dancer is owing to the videos I’ve watched and constantly teaching myself,” says Fatehi, who has put her skills on display since she made her industry debut with Bigg Boss in 2015.

For the track rendered for John Abraham starrer Satyameva Jayate, Fatehi says she practised the dance sequence for four hours everyday over a five-day schedule. But it was getting the background dancers to ace their act that required attention, she says. “It was very important for the background dancers to match steps [with me] and make sure they looked like they were performing belly dance. We worked on it together with the girls for many days until they got it [right].”

Having previously stated that it was “unfair” to compare her to Sushmita Sen, who grooved to the original track, Fatehi adds that despite it being a recreation, she was never told to ape Sen. “We weren’t trying to make it look like Sushmita [did]. We knew we were giving a different take to the song. Recreations can be difficult because people always feel the need to compare the old with the new. Inevitably, they fail to enjoy the new version for what it is. As an artiste [working on a recreation], one is put under immense pressure to be liked by viewers whilst filling big shoes. It can be a tricky situation.”

Nikkhil Advani and John Abraham bring back the ’90s hit ‘Dilbar’ for their upcoming thriller; recreated version was shot over the weekend
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 21, 2018)

Before they kick off work on Batla House in September this year, Nikkhil Advani and his leading man John Abraham are going all out for the Milap Zaveri-directed, Satyameva Jayate, which is co-produced by Bhushan Kumar. The makers have recreated the 1990s hit, “Dilbar,” which was originally picturised on Sushmita Sen and Sanjay Kapoor in Sirf Tum, for the thriller. The new version features John alongside Nora Fatehi and was shot in Mumbai over the weekend. It is composed by Tanishk Bagchi who has recent hits like “Tamma Tamma”, from Badrinath Ki Dulhania and OK Jaanu’s “Humma Humma” to his credit.

Confirming the news, Milap told Mirror, “This is one of my favourite songs and Tanishk has given our 'Dilbar' an Arabic touch. It is choreographed by Adil (Shaikh) and set in a sheesha bar with Nora as the dancer and John arriving there as he is chasing someone to the spot. It’s an interesting set-up.”

Nora was shooting her portions all of Saturday while John joined the crew on Sunday. He won’t be shaking a leg in the song but was quick to assert that when he heard the script of Satyameva Jayate he knew that it had most of the ingredients required for an out-and-out commercial film. “The addition of 'Dilbar', one of the catchiest songs of the ’90s, is like the icing on the cake. It has been visualised beautifully by Adil and Nora and I are certain we have a winner on our hands,” the actor exulted.

Adil informed that the song lends a commercial touch to belly dance to appeal to the masses. “We have used a lot of props, including water, fire and smoke and for Nora’s entry she will be seen emerging from the sand. She is a professional belly dancer but everything she had done so far had a very urban feel. With this song we have gone all out. It’s been a while since we saw something like this on the big screen,” the choreographer maintained.

Nora who had rehearsed for 10 days before the shoot revealed that doing a remake of an iconic song is always nerve-racking. “I hope I match up to Sushmita but I know it will be one of the most visually stunning songs, with hypnotising dance moves,” she signed off.

Farah Khan shares what went behind the sexiest teacher ever created
Upala KBR (DNA; September 4, 2016)


Sush as Chandni
Says Farah, “Main Hoon Na was a very educative film! Sushmita was the most remembered teacher in Bollywood. I don’t know why, but I always had Sush in mind. When I was writing the story I didn’t have Shah Rukh or anybody else in mind, but I knew I wanted Sush as Chandni. When I choreographed Sushmita for the first time for Dilbar Dilbar in Sirf Tum I had told her that when I make my first movie I will have a fabulous part for her. She always remembers that and tells me I was one of the few people who keeps my word because I went back to her four years later for MHN.”

Young boys’ fantasy
The filmmaker wrote Chandni’s role keeping in mind the fantasy of young boys. “This hot teacher is every boy’s fantasy. I know from my own experience as my brother Sajid used to have these crushes on his school teachers. You know how boys are... They drop their pencils and hope their teachers pick it up. Every guy that I know including Shah Rukh used to have this fantasy teacher that they would be in love with. Usually, teachers are boring and drab in movies, but as it was a commercial one I had to make Chandni look beautiful. My teachers for sure didn’t look like this as I was educated in a convent school.”

Sush scared to walk in a sari
Sushmita adopted the persona of Chandni beautifully. Farah gushes, “I love Sush and I can go on record to say that she’s the best heroine I have ever worked with. She would be there on time and be most enthusiastic about being on the sets. I would never hear her complaining about anything. She’s such a warm and positive person. I call her queen because she lives in her own kingdom and can’t be bothered about anything else. I have never heard her bitch anybody out. When I narrated the role and told her about the look, she was most worried about wearing saris on screen for the first time. Earlier, she would be attired only in western clothes like gowns and leather pants and never had this Indian look so she was concerned about how she would walk. I drove her stylist, Manish Malhotra, nuts as I insisted on her carrying matching folders with her sari. When I saw the first cut I thought her role was the smallest and wondered if I had done justice to her role. I never expected people would go mad about her!”

SRK as college boy
Initially, a romcom, MHN was later changed to fit SRK into a college boy’s role. “It was about a boy falling in love with his brother’s teacher, but then we had to work ulta and find a reason why he’s going back to college as Shah Rukh refused to play a college kid at the age of 35. I had to explain about him going undercover. Then I said let’s make it bigger and brought in more angles like India-Pakistan one.”

Teacher’s advice
Any advice to kids as she plans to start her teaching course on choreography. “My advice is to parents more than children. I tell my kids not to get pressurised by school exams, etc, but enjoy their schooldays because when we grow up we realise that was the best time of our lives,” she says.