Vaibhavi Merchant is a well-known Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 dance choreographer, the granddaughter of pioneering choreographer Shri B. Hiralal, her maternal grandfather. She is the younger sister of Shruti Merchant.

Career

She began her career by assisting Chinni Prakash. She had her acting debut in the Malayalam film Snehapoorvam Anna

Snehapoorvam Anna

Snehapoorvam Anna is a 2000 Malayalam romantic film starring Vaibhavi Merchant and Innocent in lead roles. It is written by Hari Kumar and directed by Sangeeth Sivan. The film tells the relationship between father and her daughter. The film was a big failure at the box office.-Plot:Anna is her...

, but returned to her roots as a dancer and choreographer.

Her first solo work was the choreography for the song "Dhol Baaje" for the hit film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

The music was composed by Ismail Darbar with lyrics by Mehboob. It received nine Filmfare Awards nominations in the music and singing categories and produced some winners as well.-Track listing:-2000 National Awards:* Best Music Direction - Ismail Darbar...

. She won a National Film Award for her work. She took a short break from the industry and then returned with a bang in the form of the song "'O Ri Chhori'" from the Oscar-nominated Lagaan

Lagaan

Lagaan is a 2001 Bollywood sports film written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. Aamir Khan, who was also the producer for the film, stars with Gracy Singh in the lead roles; British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne play the supporting roles...

in 2001.

She continued to choreograph selected numbers in prominent films such as Devdas

Devdas

Devdas is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.-Plot summary:Devdas is a young man from...

, Baghban

Baghban

Baghban is a 2003 Bollywood drama film directed by Ravi Chopra, with a star cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Mahima Chaudhary, Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Lilette Dubey and others...

, Fida

Fida

Fida is a Bollywood movie released in 2004. The film, directed by Ken Ghosh, stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and Kim Sharma. Though the film released to critical acclaim, it was a flop at the box-office.-Plot:...

, Dhoom

Dhoom

The title track "Dhoom Dhoom" was released in a remixed version song by the Thai-American singer Tata Young. The song and it's music video featuring Tata Young proved to be a major hit in India during 2004 and 2005. The original song was sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. Other tracks on the soundtrack...

, Veer Zaara, Aaja Nachle

Aaja Nachle

The film's soundtrack was released on 18 October 2007 composed by Salim-Sulaiman and lyrics by Jaideep Sahni and Piyush Mishra. A few songs from the final sequence of the movie have not been included on the soundtrack including "Yeh Ishq"....

and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. She also choreographed the Australian musical The Merchants of Bollywood

The Merchants of Bollywood

The Merchants of Bollywood is an Australian musical written and directed by Toby Gough. The show is about the history of the Bollywood film industry, and it is named after Hiralalji Merchant and his grand daughter Vaibhavi Merchant, two notable Indian choreographers. The set design was by...

, a musical written by Toby Gough about her family. Her sister, Shruti Merchant has been directing the musical both in the United Kingdom and Australia. She also choreographed one of the most popular songs of 2005, "Kajra Re" from Bunty Aur Babli

Bunty Aur Babli

Bunty Aur Babli , released in 2005, is an Indian Bollywood film directed by Shaad Ali and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan. It was the first film to feature both Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan, and featured guest appearances by Aishwarya Rai and Tania...

, winning several awards for her choreography for the song.

She was a judge on Nach Baliye 3 along with David Dhawan

David Dhawan

David Dhawan is an Indian film director. He has studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.-Career:Dhawan started off as an editor and then took the plunge into directing...

 and Isha Koppikar. She returned as a judge once again on the third season of the popular TV show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is a television reality show and the Indian version of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and ABC's Dancing with the Stars.- Concept :...

alongside judges Saroj Khan

Saroj Khan

Nirmala Kishanchand Sadhu Singh Nagpal popularly known as Saroj Khan is one of the most prominent Indian dance choreographers in Hindi cinema...

 and Juhi Chawla

Juhi Chawla

Juhi Chawla is an Indian actress, film producer and television presenter.After being crowned as the winner of the Miss India beauty contest in 1984, Chawla pursued an acting career...

 and on Zara Nach Ke Dikha 2 along with Arshad Warsi

Arshad Warsi

Arshad Warsi is an Indian actor who debuted in 1996 with the film Tere Mere Sapne which was a success but he is best known for his role as "Circuit" in the comedy films Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai and his role as Babban in Ishqiya which won him acclaim.-Early life and...

 and Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...

. She was recently a judge on Star Plus Just Dance, along with Farah Khan

Farah Khan

Farah Khan is an Indian film director and choreographer. She is best known for her choreographical work in numerous Bollywood films. Khan has choreographed dance routines for more than a hundred songs in over 80 Hindi films. Khan has since become a noted Hindi film director as well...

 and Hrithik Roshan

Hrithik Roshan

Hrithik Roshan is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut...

.

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