30 Years of Khalnayak premiere: Sanjay Dutt opens up on wearing ghagra choli for the male version of ‘Choli Ke Peeche’; also says, “Unlike the present day, we used not question our directors. Tab director ki bahut izzat hoti thi”

By Fenil Seta -

September 5, 2023 - 12:31 PM IST

Khalnayak (1993) celebrated its 30th anniversary on August 6 this year. A film of this kind deserves a little more than celebratory posts and social media mentions. Keeping this in mind, Radio Nasha organized a special screening of the film on September 4 at Mumbai’s Inox cinema in Inorbit Mall, Malad. It was attended by Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Ali Asgar, Anand Balraj, director Subhash Ghai, singers Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun, art director Bijon Das Gupta, dialogue writer Kamlesh Pandey and costume designer Neeta Lulla. They entertained the media with their bytes on the radio carpet to RJ Divya Solgama. Inside the auditorium, they spoke to RJ Rohini about the film and a lot more.

30 Years of Khalnayak premiere: Sanjay Dutt opens up on wearing ghagra choli for the male version of ‘Choli Ke Peeche’; also says, “Unlike the present day, we used not question our directors. Tab director ki bahut izzat hoti thi”

One of the most memorable sequences of Khalnayak is when Sanjay Dutt wears ghagra choli for the male version of the song ‘Choli Ke Peeche’. Sanjay Dutt was asked about it at the screening. He revealed, “Subhash ji instructed me, ‘Tu Madhuri Dixit ko manata hai yeh scene mein’. I agreed. He said, ‘Ready ho ja’. I wore the jeans and kurta. Then he told someone, ‘Isko ghagra choli pehnaao!’. I was like, ‘Sir, kahan aap mujhe ghagra choli pehna rahe ho!’. He told me, ‘Iske upar hi pehen le’. I wore it and he said, ‘Chunari bhi daal de iske munh pe’! Then he told me, ‘Naach. Taang aise ghuma’! But it turned out to be an iconic scene.”

RJ Rohini then remarked how Subhash Ghai was progressive and ahead of its times, “Subhash Ghai was doing non-binary in 1993!”

Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to Subhash Ghai last month. When asked about his side of the story, the filmmaker replied, “The whole concept was funny. My situation demanded that Khalnayak’s gang harass Madhuri Dixit’s character by exposing her own tricks. But I told Sanju on the set and played a re-recorded version of ‘Choli Ke Peeche’. Suddenly, Sanju started laughing. Then I revealed that he needed to wear a choli. But he enjoyed it thoroughly!”

At another point, Sanjay Dutt also said, “When I used to turn from the right side, Subhash ji used to tell me, ‘Tu ulta ghoom’. Unlike the present day, we used to not question our directors. Tab director ki bahut izzat hoti thi! So, if Subhash ji asked me to turn from the left, I did it dedicatedly. And that turn became an iconic part of Ballu (smiles).”

Also Read: 30 Years of Khalnayak premiere: Ramesh Taurani reveals how he wooed Subhash Ghai for music rights: “I sent him a 3 feet x 3 feet cake on which I wrote, ‘Saudagar, Tips ke saath sauda kar’”