Why Ahmed signed Ganesh for Ek Do Teen

While Jacqueline Fernandez rushed to seek Madhuri Dixit Nene’s blessings for her number in Baaghi 2, choreographer-director Ahmed Khan paid the legendary Saroj Khan a visit before embarking on his own version of Ek Do Teen.

“It was only the proper thing to do,” says the affable Ahmed. “I consider Saroj ji my guru. When we were thinking on which track to use for Jacqueline’s dance number, many songs like Saat Samundar Paar and Aao Na Gale Lagao Na came up for consideration. When we decided to add an item song at the last minute, we were sure of two things: that there was space for it in the plot, and that we wanted only Jacqueline to do it.”

And Jackkie, says Ahmed, was over the moon. “She freaked out when she heard it was Ek Do Teen; it’s everybody’s favourite. When we think of item numbers, it’s the baap of all item songs. I paid Saroj ji a visit. But we did not invite her to choreograph the new version because one, we wanted a new treatment for the song, and she was likely to run out of patience on the sets.”

Instead, Ahmed invited Ganesh Acharya to work on the dance steps. “It’s an entirely new interpretation of the iconic song, not meant to challenge the original. Instead, ours is a homage. We made sure that Jackkie’s costume was a close replica of Madhuri’s from the original Ek Do Teen, and we have even incorporated her signature step. But the rest of the steps are Ganesh’s,” he says.

One change that may not go down well with the architects of the original is that Alka Yagnik’s voice has been replaced by Shreya Ghoshal’s.

But Ahmed explains, “Alka ji was the heroine’s voice in the 1990s and the 2000s. Shreya is the heroine’s voice today. We wanted Jacqueline to have the heroine’s voice.”

Ahmed hopes to show their version to Saroj, Madhuri and Tezaab director N. Chandra soon. “We need their blessings. Our Ek Do Teen is possible only because of them.”