Shiamak Davar, one of India's best choreographers, bagged almost all major awards for Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) in the choreography category. However, he missed out on winning a Filmfare Award. While Shiamak has been choreographing stage performances for the prestigious awards ceremony, he never won the Black Lady.
As Dil To Pagal Hai completes 25 years, PeepingMoon spoke to the veteran choreographer about not winning a single Filmfare Award even when he was bestowed with a National Award. When asked whether it bothers him, he said, It did upset me because I was new and every single award in the country I got including the National Award. I wondered what went wrong because the entire country recognized my work. Maybe that’s because God wanted to tell me to stay humble. I believe I was taught to be humble and not be greedy and that’s the way my life works. I felt bad but then the national award came in. God’s ways are mysterious."
Speaking about the current credibility of the National Awards, he told us, "I don’t follow all these things particularly. I am so much into my education world and my school. I would have been the biggest choreographer had I carried on with Bollywood films like Dil To Pagal Hai but I wanted to do more work for my school and in the education sector. I want every Indian to learn dance. My school is very important to me so I didn’t get into the rush of doing more films. I’m glad I chose not to be in the race. I did miss out on a few films but that’s ok. I still prefer what I chose and have no regrets. I remember Sanjay Leela Bhansali had asked me but that’s ok."
Dil To Pagal Hai was headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor. It was directed by Yash Chopra.
