Big boss Farah’s a cut above

Farah does agree that she’s different from her male counterparts “perhaps not in directorial skills but definitely in organisational abilities”. Veenu Sandhu tells us more.

Director-choreographer Farah Khan would rather not be called a “woman so-and-so”. “I’m a choreographer, and a director. That I’m a woman too is incidental,” says Farah, who was, incidentally, the first woman director to be nominated for the Filmfare Best Director Award. But she does agree that she’s different from her male counterparts “perhaps not in directorial skills but definitely in organisational abilities”.

HT Image

Her shoots have great detailing and a woman’s touch all over. “I do make an extra effort to put flowers and fruits in the actor’s van,” says Farah. That, she says, could qualify as a “woman thing” to do. “Or blaming my temper on PMS,” she laughs. “Or coping with morning sickness while shooting a funky number like Dard-e-disco.” She did a lot of that during her recent project, Om Shanti Om, being touted as India’s biggest grosser ever.

Between shoots, Farah, who is expecting triplets in February, was going for checkups, at times taking four injections and then returning cheerfully to the sets. “How many men can boast of that?” she asks adding that women have more pain tolerance. “There I was making this hot man (Shah Rukh Khan) throwing open his shirt to show off his six-pack abs and then promptly running off to puke,” she laughs.