Born and brought up in Coimbatore, Mohamed Sherif studied professional choreography at a dance academy in London in 2011. His dream of achieving big took him to Kollywood in Chennai. In 2013 Sherif, as he is popularly known, was signed to choreograph for the Tamil film Soodhu Kavvum. From then on there has been no looking back for this ambitious choreographer as he always had his plate full to keep him busy all through the year. He continues to make the stars of the tinsel world dance to his tunes.

The Covai Post caught up with Coimbatore’s star Sherif while he was in the city to witness the annual day of a dance school in Coimbatore.

TCP: How does it feel to be in Coimbatore?

MS: Coimbatore for me is home. My mother stays in this vibrant city. Due to my professional commitments I spend a majority of my time in Chennai. However, I keep shuttling between Coimbatore and Chennai and I am happy to be here.

TCP: You debuted as a choreographer with Soodhu Kavvum. Tell us about your journey so far in the film industry.

MS: The journey for me has been so good. I have matured as a choreographer. Every film I do I end up learning new things. It is a nice experience and I am happy with what I am doing.

TCP: Tell us about your experience as a choreographer

MS: Till date I have worked for more than 40 films and I have choreographed for more than 70 songs. Each song I must say has been a different experience for me. To my credit, I have had the opportunity to work with different genres. I have worked in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam films.

TCP: Of all the stars that you have worked with can you name one actor and one actress who is your favourite?

MS: (Laughs) It is difficult to name just one actor and actress who are my favourites. I like my job as a choreographer. I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of stars from the South Indian film industry. I like working with Vijay, Siddharth, Jeyam Ravi and S J Surya. Among the actresses I like working with Hansika Motwani, Nayanthara and Amy Jackson. Given a chance I would like to work with all the stars.

TCP: What are the challenges you face as a choreographer?

MS: Choreography is about bringing the emotion of the song through dance, movements and expressions. As a choreographer, my job is to bring out only the best in the actor to the large screen. Sometimes this becomes a challenge. Especially when the song requires that the actor or actress perform classical dance movements, and if the stars are not professionally trained in classical dance, for me to bring out the best from the stars becomes a challenge.

Apart from this, there are times when the choreographer has to deliver what is expected of him. For an example if the director has planned to take advantage of a song to convey a theme in the film, as a choreographer, I am left with little or no choice to experiment. My job will be to work on ways to bring out the theme in the best manner.

TCP: What can we expect from Sherif in the future?

MS: Lots (laughs). I have done a film which stars Vijay. This film has five songs and I have choreographed three songs. One of them is montage, I mean it narrates a story and a few important aspects of the film are brought out in the song. The second song is fast western dance number. The third song too is a story format where a few important incidents that take place between a father and his daughter are brought out through the song.