The child in Sajna Najam is alive and kicking when she laughs with gay abandon at a joke; she cares two hoots about what others think, she does not mind blowing soap bubbles or springing into a dance — of which she is a master — considering that she is a state award-winning choreographer. She also speaks her mind and minces no words. The one aspect that makes her sober up is when she speaks about her work.
The choreographer has come a long way from the shows she used to conceive for TV. She has since moved to conceiving the dance moves for stage shows and recently films making young stars dance to her tunes. Very recently, she groomed participants for the transgender cultural fest in Thiruvananthapuram.
Though busy with her role as a choreographer, Sajna is now adding one more feather to her cap — she is turning an actor through director Siddique’s Fukrey. She has known the director for a long time professionally and when he asked her if she could be a part of his film, she had no qualms in saying yes. The film will go on the floors next month and Sajna does not want to reveal too much about her character, joking that she is definitely not the heroine.
Sajna adds, “I do not mind playing a role that suits my age and a debut through Siddique’s film seemed perfect. My dream role would be to play a villain role. Though this is a small role, I am happy to be a part of this film.” Sajna has earned her place in the sun and won accolades for her choreography skills but it was training the participants for the Transgender Fest that gave her ultimate satisfaction.
She expresses, “They never expected such a huge turnout and I did everything free of cost. The love that I got from the transgender community is something so unadulterated, pure and genuine. They genuinely are grateful and I feel so happy when they shower so much of love on me. “The much-celebrated Inji Iduppazhagi song she and her team — Zarinans danced to, which she uploaded on a whim, surprisingly went viral and got her compliments from Chennai too.
The choreographer, who believes in intertwining her professional commitments alongside doing something for society, is now busy with the choreography practice of the Manushya Sangamam to be held on October 2 at Cherai beach. The choreographer, who has matched steps with Vikram, while he was in Kochi on a promotional event, is now looking forward to match steps with another leading choreographer from Kollywood and Bollywood — Prabhudeva.
