Remo D’souza has made everyone from Rajnikanth to Amitabh Bachchan and even non-dancers like Sunny Deol and Ajay Devgn shake a leg to his tunes. After making India’s first 3D dance film ABCD2, the director plans to make an action film and reveals his dream project - an epic period drama with Hrithik Roshan.
Q: Can you imagine yourself doing a movie without dance?
Remo: I can’t. Even if I make an action or drama film, I will have some dance in it. Without dance I can’t think of making a film. My debut film was not a dance film. Though ABCD was a dance film, it had an emotional story. My next film is an action film.
Q: An action film? Who will be a part of it?
Remo: Well there’s Jacqueline Fernandes and Tiger Shroff in it. It’s a superhero film and you will see Tiger flying and doing all sorts of superhero antics. I am making this under the Balaji Telefilms banner.
Q: Don’t you want to just concentrate on making films now rather than judging reality shows?
Remo: People recognised me first because of dance reality shows. There are two different types of shows – one where you sit and judge and the other are where you pick up a person from Ranchi and train her, give her a chance to be on TV and see people reacting to it and she becomes a star. That’s the kick I get. I wont leave those kinds of shows while directing films. I wont be doing Jhalak Dikhla Ja this year. I am doing a new dance show for Star TV, which is based on these lines.
Q: Any Body Can Dance (ABCD) was India’s first 3D dance film. There was a certain newness to it that worked for the film. What are the challenges of making a sequel of a successful film?
Remo: You need to fight with your own film. When I made the first part there was no Indian film ABCD could be compared with. But now people will compare the second one with my own film. When I made the first part a lot of people discouraged me saying – here comes another director trying to make Step Up. I have tried to concentrate on the story and bigger, more nuanced and better dance sequences in this one.
Q: Why did you choose Varun Dhawan and Shraddha? How did they up their dancing skills when they were paired with professional dancers in the film?
Remo: When I worked with Varun, I realised he’s an emotional and fun loving actor. So the character of Suresh fit him well. Like his character Suresh, Varun displays the ability to think big and has leadership skills so he was the best choice. He is a fantastic dancer. We did not treat them as actors in my film. They are dancers. They rehearsed like everyone else does in groups, like it happens in real life. When they see ace dancers like Dharmesh and Raghav practicing, it automatically rubs on them to practice and be at par with that level of dancing.
Q: Few people know this film is based on the story of a real dance group called the Fictitious group from Nalasopara. Did you know these guys earler?
Remo: I knew these guys from Nalasopara since a long time through India’s Got Talent and many other reality shows. They have worked with me as well. They choreographed the interval and climax sequences in the film. In fact when we were promoting ABCD, Suresh Mukund and Vernon Monteiro told me they have recently returned from the World Hip Hop championship in Las Vegas. They were the first group worldwide to have ever qualified and reached finals at the first go. The writers, Tushar and Mayur, sat with them and took down the story. We have tweaked it a bit for cinematic purpose.
Q: Television is flooded with dance reality shows, why would people pay and watch dance performances in theatres?
Remo: When I was making the first ABCD film, a lot of producers and directors said no because of the same argument. When you see the film you will see the difference between the two mediums. Also the charm of seeing the dance film on 3D in cinema is unparalleled. Also in the second part we have the world’s best dancers showing off their moves as part of the competition.
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