Pregnant Madhuri Dixit rehearsed for 13 hours to get one ‘Dola Re’ step right: ‘She was dizzy’ | Bollywood News
4 min readMumbaiMay 19, 2026 11:49 AM Late legendary choreographer Saroj Khan had a huge part to play in catapulting Madhuri Dixit into stardom. Right from their first breakthrough song, “Ek Do Teen Chaar” from N Chandra’s 1988 hit action romance Tezaab to their last collaboration, “Tabaah Ho Gaye” from Abhishek Varman’s 2019 period drama Kalank, the choreographer and the actor have always struck gold whenever they’ve united forces.
Madhuri was pregnant during ‘Dola Re Dola’
Now, 24 years after they shot for the song, Saroj Khan’s crew member Rubina Khan, who worked closely with the late choreographer, has revealed a surprising detail about Madhuri and Aishwarya Rai’s iconic dance duet song “Dola Re” from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2002 blockbuster period romance Devdas, also starring Shah Rukh Khan.
“It took 17 days to shoot that song. Rehearsals happened for at least a month. We rehearsed separately, and the lead actors rehearsed separately,” Rubina told Bollywood Thikana. “There’s a step in which Madhuri ma’am turns and sits down. That shot kept happening from 9 am to 10 pm because she was four months pregnant. So, she couldn’t turn properly and was feeling dizzy,” she added.
“She also had fever at that time. She struggled a lot,” recalled Rubina, but lauded Madhuri for never asking her guru to change a step even if she wasn’t keeping well. “She’d never ask for a step to be changed. Whatever Master ji said is set in stone. “Newer arts would still tell Master ji a step is tough and if it can be changed. But Master ji would seldom change a step she suggested. She insed on doing the same step anyhow,” added Rubina.
Madhuri had tied the knot with Shriram Nene, a US-based surgeon, in 1999, quit Bollywood at the peak of her career, and relocated to Denver permanently. It was Bhansali who was able to lure her to do the memorable supporting role of Chandramukhi in Devdas three years later. However, after completing the shoot, she gave birth to her sons Arin Nene in 2003 and Ryan Nene in 2005. She returned to films two years later with Anil Sharma’s 2007 directorial debut Aaja Nachle before relocating to Mumbai with her family for good.
Saroj Khan was also unwell during ‘Dola Re Dola’
Not only Madhuri, but also Saroj Khan was extremely unwell while filming “Dola Re Dola”. “She was in a lot of pain, but she would lie down on the floor and give instructions. She shot for 15 days,” recalled Bhansali in an interview with The Quint. He also recalled visiting the choreographer in the hospital with Aishwarya after the film released.
“On the day Devdas released, Sarojji was in hospital. Aishwarya and I went to meet her. In her semi-conscious state she asked, ‘Dola Re Dola pe paise miley ya nahin? (Did the audience shower coins on ‘Dola Re Dola’?)’. Imagine her passion for her work! Even in that state, she wanted to know if her work was being appreciated,” Bhansali told Subhash K Jha after Saroj Khan’s death in 2020.Story continues below this ad
Bhansali also hailed Saroj as the “Salim-Javed of choreography”, claiming that while there have been choreographers who’ve come before her, what she did to the profession is unmatched, just like what veteran duo Salim-Javed did to screenwriting. However, Bhansali and Saroj didn’t always share a pleasant equation as the latter claimed he stole her credit in a song 11 years after Devdas.
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On Talking Cinema’s YouTube channel, Saroj alleged that Bhansali and his team used her choreography in the popular dance song “Ram Chahe Leela”, filmed on Priyanka Chopra, from his 2013 hit romantic comedy Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela. She claimed that he never paid her and even gave the credit falsely to Vishnu Deva.
