Kamal Ghorui
For audiences who grew up watching Sonali Bendre light up Hindi cinema’s song-driven era, it may come as a surprise that dance numbers once filled the actor with fear. From chartbusters like Humma Humma to Aankhon Mein Base Ho Tum, Bendre became one of the most memorable faces of the ’90s and early 2000s musical landscape. Yet, behind the glamour, she says songs were the most intimidating aspect of filmmaking for her.“The nightmare situation in movies was the song. I can’t tell you what a nightmare that was. I’m not a trained dancer,” Bendre admitted. While she enjoyed tracks that naturally blended into the story, the pressure of choreography would leave her deeply anxious. “Most of my songs are more like stories rather than part of the narrative. And I liked the songs as long as they were part of the narrative because that didn’t give me as much anxiety as, ‘You have to dance.’ It still gives me nightmares. I can’t sleep the whole night due to anxiety because I don’t know how to…”Despite those fears, Bendre went on to feature in some of Bollywood’s most popular songs of that period. However, she insists that none of it ever felt effortless. “Trust me, it was not effortless at all. It was scary.”She recalled that a major turning point came while working on English Babu Desi Mem, starring Shah Rukh Khan and directed by Praveen Nischol. Before signing the film, Bendre was upfront about her lack of dance training.“When I did ‘English Babu Desi Mem,’ I was aware I didn’t know dancing. So, when I heard the story and script, I told Pravin Nishchol, ‘Okay, I really want to do it, but I don’t know how to dance, so what are we going to do?’”What followed left a lasting impact on the actor. Legendary choreographer Saroj Khan was reportedly unimpressed during their first interaction. “That was my first time, and Saroj ji said, ‘Heroine ko toh naachna bhi nahi aata,’ (the heroine doesn’t even know how to dance), and she stormed out of Satyam Hall, saying, ‘Who is this? I can’t teach this one.’”Bendre admitted that the incident shook her confidence during the early days of her career. “But that was the ambition. When she said that, it was like, ‘What the hell?’ You start wrestling with the imposter syndrome.”It was then that choreographer and filmmaker Ahmed Khan, who was assisting Saroj Khan at the time, stepped in to help her. “Ahmed Khan would pick me up before I went to the set in the early morning. We would rehearse together. He would bribe me with chocolates and get the work done from me. And then I would go on set, and that’s how I started learning what I was supposed to shoot for in ‘English Babu Desi Mem.’”Over the years, Bendre says the fear gradually transformed into motivation. Instead of chasing perfection, she focused on improving with every performance. “It became about improving with every film, every rehearsal and every song that once terrified me.”
