Saroj Khan to launch her Broadway musical 'Amrapali' in October

Veteran choreographer Saroj Khan is planning to bring her first Broadway Musical in October with known south Indian actress Udayabhanu. Khan is working on a musical around the famous court dancer, Amrapali. “Bollywood numbers are quite popular abroad. I was planning this for some time now. In fact, I had approached Javed Akhtar to write the script but he quoted such a high fee that I couldn’t have afforded him. It was an amount which was my overall budget! But I have no complaints against him because I could sense that he didn’t want to refuse my offer outright because of his regard for me. He initially suggested me to convince Madhuri (Dixit) to play the title role. I had spoken to Madhuri and her secretary and everything was working out but then things didn’t work out with Javedsaab,” she explains. Now Atul Tiwari is on board to write the script. “He has worked under Gulzar. As for Udaya, she is a replica of Sridevi and very popular down south. Amrapali was earlier played by Vyjyantimala and I was looking for a tall girl because Amrapali was tall. We plan to take off in London and then may be tour all over with the show,” she adds. Khan will be seen judging the kids’ dance reality show Chak Dhoom Dhoom and soon plans to venture into television production with some veteran actors. Amrapali is the story of a court dancer, who works for a royal family. She falls in love with a soldier only to realise later that he is the prince of a neighbouring district.