When Rekha once cried after Saroj Khan confronted her for refusing to perform a song, latter said, "you have something allergic against me"

When Rekha then finally came to the set on the day of filming the song, she refused to perform stating that she was ill.

Saroj Khan, a legendary figure in Bollywood choreography, left an indelible mark over her six-decade-long career, working with icons like Anil Kapoor, Rekha, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai, and Salman Khan. In a past interview, the late choreographer once recounted a memorable incident involving Rekha, who skipped rehearsals for a particularly demanding dance sequence. When it was time to shoot, Rekha cited illness and backed out. Upon being confronted by Saroj Khan, the actress broke down in tears.

During an old interview with Lehren Podcast, Saroj Khan has once recalled her experience of working with actress Rekha on one of the songs for the film 1990 film Sheshnaag. She elaborated that they were shooting under a tight schedule.

“The producer gave very less time for us to record the song. We were just getting three days to rehearse the song. My group and I were working day and night to compose the dance of the song. We asked the producer to send Rekha ji for rehearsals because it was a very difficult dance. But she didn’t come. She was either sick or shooting for something else," she said.

When Rekha then finally came to the set on the day of filming the song, she refused to perform stating that she was ill. Speaking about the same, she recalled, “She came on the day of the shooting. She was sitting in his car with no costume just her makeup was done. I went to her car to speak to her and she told me, ‘Cancel the shoot, I am not well.’"

Unable to put up with the repeated delay and felling upset by Rekha’s refusal to cooperate, Saroj directly confronted her and told her to tell the producer to change the choreographer if she was not willing to work with her. “I told her, ‘Rekha ji, I think you have something allergic against me. You don’t come for rehearsals and on shooting day you say you are sick. You can ask the producer to change the dance master. Tell the producer you don’t want to work with me because there is something wrong here’", continued Saroj Khan.

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However, Saroj then said that the confrontation deeply impacted Rekha as she broke down. “When I looked at her, she had tears in her eyes and I told her, ‘I don’t think I said something wrong but I feel you should shoot today.’ She replied, ‘Mein karungi shooting,’ and she walked away," she stated.

Saroj Khan also recalled that following their exchange, Rekha’s secretary approached her to say the actress had been "crying away" on set—revealing how deeply the moment had affected her.