Baaghi 2: Projecting Tiger Shroff as an ordinary man onscreen isn’t feasible, says director Ahmed Khan

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Choreographer-director Ahmed Khan says multi-talented actor Tiger Shroff's screen presence is so strong that projecting him as an ordinary man does not seem feasible."Tiger has all the good things rolled in one. He is a great looking guy with flawless dancing ability and a great physique that girls go gaga over. His smile, his eyes and his screen presence is so strong that one cannot shoot any regular scene with Tiger Shroff. As a director, it was challenging for me," Khan told IANS in an interview.

As a choreographer, Khan has worked with Tiger earlier for songs like "Zindagi aa raha hoon main" and "Chal wahan jaate hain".

"In those videos, I explored the dancer and actor side of Tiger. And in 'Baaghi 2', I explored the action hero in him. I choreographed all the action sequences. The best part of working with Tiger is that he amplifies my ideas with his performance, and that takes it to the next level.

"Perhaps that is why he managed to achieve the high scale in 'Baaghi 2', matching up to international standards," Khan said.

Starting his career at the age of 15 as a technician, Khan choreographed the song "Rangeela" for Urmila Matondkar in 1994. He then choreographed for Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

His work reflects in songs like "Dil cheez tujhe dedi", "Afghan jalebi", "O Khuda" and "Mai tera boyfriend" to name a few.

Asked about the challenge he faced as a choreographer while working with superstars, Khan said things have changed with time.

"Choreography in a film depends on the filmmaker as well as the aura of a star. I had choreographed the piece 'Beat of Passion', the opening dance featuring Aishwarya in 'Taal'. That was out-and-out dance where I worked on the song as a dancer. I also choreographed 'Jumme ki raat' for Salman bhai.

"But in the latter, Bhai's aura worked so much that I had to control the dancer inside me."

He explained: "As a choreographer I can say that the signature step was not out-and-out dance, but it is a superhit because of Salman Khan. Only Salman bhai can make that happen. So yes, while working with superstars, I have to keep in mind what their fans want to watch.

"Having said that, youngsters like Tiger and Varun Dhawan tend to dance more. And they are ready to do anything to get their moves right."

"Baaghi 2" is releasing on Friday.

(With IANS Inputs)