Farah Khan is known for her work as not just a director but also a choreographer. One of her most popular credits is Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam and starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, among others. Recently, Farah reminisced about the challenges she encountered while working on the 1998 film and how that led to a collaboration with her legendary screenwriter uncle Javed Akhtar on both Dil Se and her 2007 film Om Shanti Om.
Speaking to Ranveer Allahbadia, the filmmaker-choreographer said that she could not comprehend the meaning of Gulzar's lyrics for the Dil Se song 'Satrangi Re'. As a result, she asked for the help of Javed Akhtar.
Calling some parts of the lyrics 'difficult' to understand, Farah Khan revealed, "You will not believe that I had to call Javed Akhtar to ask him to translate Gulzar's lyrics for me. In addition to that, Mani Ratnam, the cameraman (Santosh Sivan), and AR Rahman did not know Hindi."
She added, "So from Ladakh, I was calling Javed uncle to understand the lyrics of the song. Javed uncle asked, 'Yeh kya likha hai? Yeh kisne likha hai?' (Who wrote this and what does it mean?)."
Her collaboration with Javed on Dil Se led Farah to reach out to the legend again for a song in Om Shanti Om that is titled 'Dard-E-Disco,' featuring Shah Rukh Khan. "When we were doing 'Dard-E-Disco', I told Javed uncle that I want a nonsensical song, but I want it in Gulzar sahab's way," Farah revealed.
Remarkably, Farah also said that it only took Javed five minutes to write the now-popular song. Farah herself served as a choreographer on the song, with composition by Vishal-Shekhar and vocals by Sukhwinder SIngh.
