Ahmed Khan, Remo D'Souza, Farah Khan: Choreographers who turned directors

A lot of Bollywood directors had started their journey as choreographers. In fact, many successful directors have had their claim to fame as directors. One of them Ahmed Khan celebrates his birthday today. Apart from him, Bollywood has produced gems like Guru Dutt, Prabhudeva and Chinni Prakash who jumped from choreographing to directing. Take a look.

Updated On: 2020-04-02 08:28 AM IST

Ahmed Khan, Remo D'Souza, Farah Khan: Choreographers who turned directors

Remo D'Souza: Remo made his debut in Bollywood as an actor in 1997-film Aflatoon. He turned into a choreographer and was a part of hit films like Kaante (2002), Saathiya (2003), Dhoom (2004) and Rock On (2008). He donned the director's hat for F.A.L.T.U in 2011. The film was a moderate success. He followed it with a series of successful films like ABCD: Any Body Can Dance, ABCD 2, A Flying Jatt, Race 3 and his latest Street Dancer 3D.

Guru Dutt: Not many of them know that the legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt began his career as a choreographer with P.L Santoshi's Hum Ek Hain starring Dev Anand and Durga Khote, released in 1946. However, he quickly turned himself into a director with classic hit Baazi in 1951. He never turned back and produced hits after hits namely Aar Paar (1954), Mr and Mrs 55 (1955), CID (1957), Pyasa (1957), and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). Dutt breathed his last on October 10, 1964.

Farah Khan: Daughter of stuntman-turned-filmmaker Kamran Khan and Menaka Irani, Farah began her choreography career with 1992-classic Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. She achieved instant stardom with hits like 1942: A Love Story, Barsaat, DDLJ, Border, Kuch Hota Hai and Dil Se. The Filmfare and National Award recipient turned into a filmmaker in 2004. Starring her best friend Shah Rukh Khan, Main Hoon Na became a big hit. Her collaboration with SRK continued in future films like Om Shanti Om (2007) and Happy New Year (2014). Her third directorial Tees Maar Khan starring Akshay Kumar turned out to be a flop. Nevertheless, Farah is one of the most successful choreographer-turned-director in Bollywood.

Prabhudeva: One of the most celebrated dancers of the country, Prabhudeva has been a choreographer for over 100 movies in several languages. He grabbed the director's chair in 2005 with Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, which turned out to be the second biggest Telugu hit of that year. After tasting success in the South Indian Film Industry as a director, Prabhudeva decided to turn to Bollywood. He decided to remake another Telugu hit Pokiri in Hindi. Titled Wanted, the 2009-film changed the course of Salman Khan's career. From Rowdy Rathore, Ramaiya Vastavaiya, R... Rajkumar, Action Jackson, Singh is Bling, Dabangg 3 and the upcoming Radhe, Prabhudeva surely knows how to create masala action films.

Ahmed Khan: He began his career as a child actor in the iconic film Mr. India (1987). He then took to choreography and worked in films like Rangeela (1995), Shastra (1996), Auzaar (1997), Pardes (1997), Ghulam (1998) and many more. He started his career as a director in 2004 with Lakeer which did not perform well at the box office followed by Fool N Final starring Shahid Kapoor which followed the same path. Things changed 2018 when he came with Baaghi 2. Starring Disha Patani and Tiger Shroff, the action drama emerged as a big hit. He followed with the third instalment of the franchise in 2020.

Chinni Prakash: The legend that made all of us match his footsteps on "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast" from Mohra decided to don the director’s hat for Arun Bakshi and Ayesha Jhulka starrer Ghoonghat. However, the film tanked at the box office. Ghoonghat remains the National Award-winning choreographer's only film till date.

Ganesh Acharya: Ganesh Acharya has been a part of the industry for over three decades. The National Award-winning choreographer has been the man behind blockbuster dance numbers in films like Coolie No 1, Judwaa, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Bodyguard and Singham. Acharya donned the hat of a director with a movie titled Swami released in 2007. It was followed by Govinda Starrer Money Hai Toh Honey Hai the next year.

Bosco Martis: Bosco Martis of Bosco-Caesar fame, has given us super hit songs for the movies Mission Kashmir, Bunty aur Babli, Jab We Met, Love Aaj Kal, 3 Idiots, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and the most recent War. Now Bosco is set to make his feature directorial debut with a dance-based horror-comedy in 3D. The film will be cast soon and Bosco said it will feature an A-lister.

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