Dancing in the right direction

Ace choreographer Remo D’Souza talks about ABCD 2 and declining public interest in Indian dance form

MUMBAI: Remo D’Souza, a 43-year-old choreographer, who is an ardent fan of the late King of Pop Michael Jackson, aces in dance forms like breakdancing, hip-hop and b-boying and is popularly known for exhibiting Jackson’s dance moves. He says it was his love for dance that made him direct movies as then, he could choreograph the songs the way he wanted to.

“I took up direction because I love choreography and I want to do songs which I love the way I want it... so if I am directing my films, I can do songs the way I want to,” he added.



D’Souza, who is just two movies old in tinsel town, is currently waiting for the release of his film ABCD 2, a sequel to the 2013 film ABCD: AnyBody Can Dance. He feels that there should be more dance-based movies.

“They (filmmakers) should start making dance films now and it’s good that there is a new genre now. I don’t know why they are not making it,” said D’Souza.

“Thank god, they didn’t make it earlier also so that I could be the first one to make a dance based film. I see it trending and I see people liking it,” added the star choreographer, who also serves as a judge in celebrity dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa .

Known for his hip-hop style of dancing, he believes that the increasing popularity of international dance forms in the country seems to be overshadowing the Indian dance culture.

When asked if it’s true that foreign dances are grabbing more eyeballs, D’Souza said, “Absolutely! I have experienced it. When I was doing a reality show, and we did a week for Indian dance forms, the TRP (television rating points) used to fall down, and then the next week when we did full international dances, the TRP went up up.”

D’Souza, whose film ABCD 2 has as many as around 20 different types of dance styles like contemporary and street style forms including hip-hop, says there’s a dire need to preserve Indian dance style.



“I think they (International dance forms) are doing extremely well and at the same time, I fear that we are losing our own... we have to tell people that ‘Hey guys, this is our Indian culture, keep watching it and support Indian dance forms’,” D’Souza added.

The upcoming movie stars Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudheva and international dancer Lauren Gottlieb — all popular names, as opposed to ABCD, the cast of which was dominated by professional dancers. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th,  2015.

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