Salman Sir (Khan) asked me to create a dance step with hands in pockets; that’s how Dinka Chika happened: Mudassar Khan

Though Mudassar Khan is one of the youngest choreographers on the Dance India Dance Season 4 (Essel Vision Productions Ltd) judging panel, he already has some big banner films to his credit like Bodygaurd, Dabbang 2 and Ready. Everyone knows that he Salman Khan’s favourite. In a conversation with Tellychakkar.com, Mudassar talks about his journey, passion for dancing and Salman bhai (as he is lovingly called). Mudassar started his dancing journey at a very young age as he goes on to tell us, “I started dancing in 1995 when I was really a young boy. Then I used to live in the slums of Ambedkar Nagar, Goregoan with my family. In fact we recently shifted to Motilal Nagar where we have a rented house. Since I always loved dancing, I joined dancing classes where I would teach the art of dancing to kids. Soon after, I opened my own class and went on to create a dance troop ‘Dance Shooters’. We started performing at various events and while we were performing for Wanted’s launch, Salman Sir (Khan) saw my crew for the first time. This was way in 2009. So much did he like the performance that once we were done, he came up to me and said ‘touch mein rehna’. I got confused but did not know how to stay in touch as I did not even have his mobile number. But then I felt maybe this is what big people always say. But then Salman Sir took my number from Sajid Wajid and called me in a matter of days. He asked me to come and meet him in his house and I did visit him.” Is that exactly when your entertainment journey began? “Yes, Salman Sir offered me Star Screen Awards where I had to choreograph the kids; the show turned out to be a super hit. After that calls from big people started flowing in. That’s when Salman Sir offered me Humka Pini Hai from Dabbang 2. Since I was new to the entire camera set up, he gave me a director who would help me with the camera. I later went ahead and choreographed the song," Muddasar replied. Tell us a bit about other projects? “I have worked with Abhishek Bachchan and Rohit Shetty in Bol Bachchan, with Akshay Kumar in Boss and Mithun Da’s (Chakroborty) film Enemy. I have the honour of choreographing ten Bengali films of which Rocky was a hit,” the choreographer answered. Interestingly, this 28 year old was approached to judge DID Super Moms. “I was approached to be a part of DID Super Moms when I was in Kolkata shooting for a film. In fact, I told them I wouldn’t fit the role but Ajay Sir (Bhalwankar – Content Head, Zee TV) insisted that I come down. But, when he saw me he did not know what to say. Since I wouldn’t have suited the …Mom’s format, he offered me DID Season 4,” Mudassar averred. We further go on to remind him that DID 4 would be a big responsibility. How would he live up to it? “That’s exactly what I told Zee. In fact, I also told them that I’d need a team and they gave me two months to put everything in place,” said the choreographer. He further went on to add, “DID is a platform that helps you learn a lot. In fact much before DID happened, when one day Salman Bhai and I were having food in a restaurant and ABCD’s trailer was being aired. He promptly asked me when would I make a film like Remo (D’souza) to which I told him that Remo sir has also been a part of DID. He asked me to be a part of DID. Then I did not know how it would be possible, but, then here I am. In fact, I was too scared to call up Salman Sir and tell him that I had bagged DID. But, after gathering my guts, I did call him and he sounded extremely happy.” Ask him what would he do if he ever had to chose between Salman and somebody else to which he promptly replied, “I know Salman Sir so well that he’d never ask me to choose between him and someone else. In fact, there have been incidents when I haven’t been on his shoots due to DID when he told me to send someone else.” The channel also made it a point to give the new judges a workshop. “We had two months workshop where master Firoz Khan, Shruti Merchant and I learnt different dance forms that also included South African snake bite dance. So, basically by the end of the workshop we were well-versed with all the dance forms,” Mudassar observed. There were also moments when the young choreographer got emotional. “I did cry once during the auditions because there was this boy whose father too had come along and they had a background similar to mine,” he sighed. Do you have an idol? “I look up to international choreographer Dave Scott, Prabhu Deva and signature step King Ganesh Acharya,” Mudassar quipped. Talking about the actors he’d like to choreograph he averred, “I want to choreograph Aamir Sir (Khan). I like choreographing actors who are good dancers like Hrithik Roshan and Shahid Kapoor as the actual challenge lies in making them dance. I would also like to choreograph a song for Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan).” When asked if it’s easy or difficult to choreograph Salman Khan, he replied, “Salman Sir is one of the finest dancers I’ve met. I have made him dance in 45 shows where he danced really well. We were in Bangkok when he asked me to create a dance with hands in pockets. It was only after this that Dhinka Chika (Ready) happened.” Mudassar… time to dance it out!!!