He is witty. His captions on social media are worthy of being quoted…most of the time. He is good looking. He dances like Michael Jackson’s not so long lost relative. He happens to create the much talked about ‘chemistry’ with most of his heroines on screen. And he has blockbusters like Diyar-e-Dil, Aunn Zara, Baaghi and the infamous Humsafar parody to his credit. He is Osman Khalid Butt and we speak to him about his first ever official choreography project Billo Hai for Parchi everything related to it, and another upcoming video: Imagine!
Osman Khalid Butt And His Love For Dance
First things first, Billo Hai has crossed a million views on YouTube in just one week! Hence proven, OKB cannot only dance himself like we earlier saw in Balu Mahi he can also make Billo and the boys move like a pro.
While Billo Hai may be his debut as a choreographer, we’ve spotted him dancing up a storm at various mehndis. OKB grew up appreciating the “grace in expression”, and even the “kitsch”, in “Bollywood dance routines” and was highly inspired by “Hollywood musicals”.
“I would sometimes dance along, trying to mimic the steps, and later on, would make my own routines. Of course, at the time choreographing for film was little more than a pipe dream, but in my head, I was Fred Astaire, I was Prabhu Deva, I was Pappu Samrat,” OKB tells us while adding that he’s not drawing any comparisons here, “These are legends and inspirations.”
Osman Khalid Butt And His Love For Dance
Talking about his first cinematic and much-appreciated dance performance in Balu Mahi, he reveals, that after working with the likes of Pappu Samrat and Wahab Shah, choreographing for a film became one of the things that he had to cross off his bucket list.
“So when Imran Kazmi and Hareem Farooq approached me for Parchi, I jumped at the opportunity. And with a song like Billo Hai which has blockbuster written all over it, and the upcoming ‘Imagine’ – a frothy escapist romantic number – the inspiration came easy.”
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Osman Khalid Butt And His Love For Dance
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Finally, we have something to make a headline out of,
“He was a bit reserved at first but quickly picked up the pace to match the others. I think I am most proud of choreographing him and Hareem.”
Okay, false alarm. This choreographer clearly loves his students.
Osman Khalid Butt And His Love For Dance
“For me, expression is more important than any technicality – if you’re enjoying the hell out of your routine, that energy is infectious. And so rehearsals were a blast because, at the core of it, they’re all fantastic actors.”
But all cannot be hunky dory on a film set, right?
“Our first day of shooting for Billo Hai, there was an issue with Hareem’s dress and so we couldn’t shoot her portions – that took me into intense (chain-smoking) panic mode. Thankfully, everyone was fully rehearsed when we started day two,” Butt shares what went on behind the scene. “But I still lost my voice from shouting instructions at the troupe – conveniently forgetting that I had a microphone in hand. I know the out-of-bed voice is supposed to sound sexy, but my hoarse braying sounded like possessed Regan from The Exorcist!”
Well, we don’t believe him one bit and can totally imagine him sounding all sexy and hoarse as he instructs Usman to add more lachak to his thumka. Billo Hai isn’t the only song OKB has choreographed for Parchi, there is an Imagine on the way as well!
“During our first day of ‘Imagine’, Usman hilariously confused my instruction for ‘masti walay expressions’ with a serious smolder. Took us a few takes to get into the groove and then he aced it.”
