She had never pursued a dream. Rather, she stopped herself from pursuing any, even though she had a yearning to dance. Born into a Muslim family, learning dance or performing on stage was more or less a taboo. And an early marriage and motherhood were reasons enough for her not to think about anything else. But, as destiny would have it, she is today among the most sought-after groomer-cum-choreographer of the Malayalam television industry. Sajna Najam now has a tight schedule, packed with shoots for channels like Asianet, Amrita, Jai Hind and Mazhavil Manorama and a host of stage shows.“My paternal grandfather M A Rasheed was into film production. A reason why I used to see a lot of movies. However, learning dance was out of question. Still, that interest was there. In fact, even now my mother (Aysha) asks me, “Do you really want to do this?”,” says Sajna, as her mother lets out a hearty laugh hearing that comment. After marriage, she was in Saudi Arabia with her husband and daughters. “There, we used to have small cultural activities and I would coordinate many performances. That was the only experience I had in choreography till I came back home in 1999,” she says.After coming back, she got a chance to do an ad for Popy umbrella and a fashion show followed. “That was when I thought about starting a dance school and thus was born Zarina in 2001.” She eventually got a good number of talents and the first major programme that came her way was a mega show in connection with Attukal Pongala festival. “I started hunting for more dancers. In fact, one would often find me asking any good-looking girl whether she would dance!” She even got a few artists and Poornima Mohan was among them. “Sithara Balakrishnan is one artist on whom I experimented many moves!,” Sajna adds. Soon she started getting small stage shows. In between, she had to go back to Saudi. But when she returned after two months, Sajna was in for a shock. “I found that my students were doing programmes on their own! My school was in shambles. I wanted to stop everything.” But, she couldn’t. “A bunch of young boys contacted me saying they wanted to work under me. I was hesitant. But they insisted, saying, “Please give us a chance... We will not cheat you”. I budged and I am proud that those boys are still with me,” says a beaming Sajna. Now her troupe has got around 25 boys and 10 girls. She has a junior batch also. “All my students belong to very good families and so they are a bunch of well brought-up individuals.” She went on to do a music album (Asianet) and more mega shows for Attukal Pongala (one show was with Chanchal). “The costumes of my students were a new experience for the crowd,” she says. K V Sasikumar (who is now doing the ‘Dance Dance’ reality show on Asianet) gave her a chance to choreograph for a TV Awards show, for which she could bring in Priyamani. Sajna takes pride in the fact that she could work with many film and serial artists through the stage shows, like Roma, Shamna Kasim, Mukta, Meera Vasudev, Suja Naidu etc. She has done a number of shows for Doordarshan. Her stint with reality shows started with the first season of Star Singer on Asianet. It was with Amrita TV that she has had the longest association. It started with the first season of ‘Super Star’ , continued with almost all the reality shows and has now reached the latest edition of ‘Super Dancer’ and ‘Super Star - The Ultimate’. Now she is also doing the choreography for ‘Dance Dance’ (Asianet), ‘Junior Idol’ (Jai Hind) and ‘Veruthe Alla Bharya’ (Mazhavil Manorama). She will be working on ‘Indian Voice’ on Mazhavil Manorama as well.“It is not at all an easy job. Especially for a woman, that too from a Muslim family. The best part is my students are my assistants as well; I can always bank on them,” she says. Talking about the monetary benefits, she says, “It is now that I am being paid well. Also, I have started asking payment for the costumes. Most of them want the best outfits, but at cheaper rates, which is not viable. Thankfully, I have Shubha, who does all the designing for me.” In between, she had a brief stint in movies as well (films like ‘Kalyanakurimanam’ and ‘Mohabbat’). “You need to have a strong backup to make a mark in films. I am comfortable with the kind of work I am doing now and don’t want to push myself into films.” She makes special note of her students like Sharon, Arun, Abhilash, Nikhil, Abraham, Ratheesh, Shaju and Rafi. Also, her thank you list reads names like filmmaker Shyamaprasad, Vinod (Mathrubhumi) and Peter (Kairali).She can’t thank her husband M A Najam enough, who works in Saudi Arabia and daughters Neemah and Rhea. “My daughters are more like my friends,” she says. Sajna, daughter of M A Nazar and Aysha, has a sister Shameera who is running a business venture in Kochi. Everything is not so rosy in the industry, she affirms. “Ego clashes are very much there and I tackle it everyday. Some consider me a threat and my students who take part in the contests have to pay for it. My point is, I am not here to make my way into films or any big stage,” she says. Sajna, at 40, has set a standard for herself. “Sometimes the organisers stress that the female dancers should be given revealing costumes. I never do that! Also, I ensure my choreography doesn’t spoil the performance of a contestant.”’We had to ask this question. Why are all the choreographers on the heavier side? “I don’t know... I was very thin. As years passed by, my weight increased. I recently read that stress and strain can make one fat! I am dealing too much of both everyday!”
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