Farah Khan back to direction next year

Will wrap up her script this week, says it’s not Tees Maar Khan 2; all praise for co-judge Hrithik Roshan, will make the Bollywood star dance to her tunes in Krrish 2.

It’s all dance for the moment. Besides, Just Dance that she’s judging with actor Hrithik Roshan and choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant, choreographer-director Farah Khan is also gearing up to make stars like Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha dance to her tunes.

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“Choreographing has become a side business now but after Sheila Ki Jawani… and Munni Badnaam Hui… swept all the awards for 2010, I’m in demand. I’ve turned down countless offers but I can’t say ‘no’ to my brother Sajid (Khan) or husband Shirish (Kunder). I’ll have to choreograph a song for Housefull 2 and two for Joker.”

She’ll also do one for Shankar’s South film and one for Karan Johar’s directorial venture, Student Of The Year, that flag offs his film with this song. “That’s a lot, given that I’m also shooting for Just Dance through the week,” she sighs.

However, come November and Farah will make her debut as an actor in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Shirin Farhad. Once that wraps up in February, she hoping to roll with her next film as a director: “It’s my kind of full-on commercial entertainer jisme sab kuch hoga (it will have everything).”

She’s quick to add though that the film is not a sequel to Tees Maar Khan. “Yes, while shooting the earlier film, we had thought of taking the story forward and I even had a story idea in mind. But the audience didn’t love Tees Maar Khan as much as we did,” she says with a wry smile, admitting that she got plenty of flak for it.

“It was a zany comedy in the Austin Powers genre. Had someone else made it, it might have been appreciated. But after Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om, people expect a certain kind of film from me. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and it’s back to familiar territory.”

Does she have Hrithik Roshan in mind to play the lead? Farah is evasive, “I should finish my script by this week, then, I’ll take a call on the stars. It will definitely have some A-listers.” However, she admits that being on the TV show with Hrithik, she realised once again what a fabulous dancer he is.

“One tends to forget that and also that he’s been around 11 years now. I still think of him as the little boy of Kaho Naa… Pyar Hai who danced to my tunes as we went sailing on a ship around Phuket. Those songs were shot first and it’s unbelievable that baby Duggu is now judging a show with me,” she smiles.

Farah insists that Hrithik’s a great mentor who even after ‘pack-up’ spends hours with the contestants backstage, sorting out their issues, helping them out financially with generous cheques and giving them his phone number so they can call him when in need.

“We switch off, he doesn’t,” she marvels. Quiz her on her favourite Hrithik song and she picks Idhar Chala Main Udhar Chala… from Koi… Mil Gaya.

“It wasn’t an out-and-out dance track but more like my tribute to singin’ in the rain… and bagged me my first National Award,” she reminisces.

Will she choreograph for Hrithik’s Krrish 2 too? “I will have to even though we haven’t discussed dates yet,” she nods. “Rakeshji (producer-director Rakesh Roshan) calls me his lucky mascot.”