Get up and dance with ABCD2

Actors Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Dhawan and director Remo D’Souza are ready to present some jaw-dropping dance sequences in the movie.

Famous choreographer and director of ABCD: Any Body can Dance and ABCD 2 Remo D’Souza was busy judging various reality shows in India and was enamored by talent across the country. He suggested to some television producers to make a movie to take these talents further.

“I was doing a lot of reality shows. I have been going around India and finding amazing young dancers, not even fully grown but such great talents. I was like, ‘since we have so many talents, why can’t we make a film on them?’ That’s how the idea came in and I struggled a lot to make this one because I told the people who made these reality shows initially to make a film on them but they did not believe in the concept. I told them that the reality show is not the end for these talents; these talents have to go way ahead of TV. They did not listen to me.”

When Indian television execs did not see any potential in this idea, Remo went to production company Disney India who asked him to direct a movie based on dancers.

“Disney backed me up and now we are back with the sequel,” he said.

2013’s ABCD: Anybody Can Dance was a 3D dance film directed and choreographed by Remo made on a budget of Rs120 million. It went on to earn Rs312 million over the first week of release and was also unanimously praised for being a complete dance film, which gave audiences a host of different dance forms. India was suddenly introduced to an energetic youth-based dance movie that captured the voice of the generation and the good news was, it lit up the box office.

Now the team is back with the sequel ABCD 2. This film will explore the real life struggle of two choreographers from Mumbai, who went on to win the World Hip-Hop Dance Championship. The previous film with new faces was loved by the youth; the new film brings hot sensations Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor to the forefront but the director maintains that the main ingredient of the movie is dance.

MEET THE DANCERS

“Basically, this film is a 3D dance film shot with a 3D camera. I am playing this character Suresh who wants to take this dancing team from India for the World Hip-Hop Championship in Vegas. This whole underdog journey and the adventure that these guys go on with Prabhu Deva is what the film is all about,” said Varun while talking to City Times over the telephone from Mumbai.

“As far as I can remember I have always loved dancing and music. I have had some training; I have trained with Shiamak Davar and Sanjay Yadav. During ABCD 2 I trained extensively for around 6 months.”

Whereas Varun has always been a trained dancer, Shraddha was exploring dance for the first time.

“The only place that I danced as a kid was at birthday parties. Finally I got a chance to dance in a film and that too a dance-based film where I got to explore around 18 to 20 styles of dancing. The kind of dance we did in the film, demands a certain amount of physical strength. And as actors we do not really get to do that, so I feel that both of us are very fortunate. We all know that Varun is a phenomenal dancer but you guys have to see him dance in a movie, no hero has done the kinds of dance that he has done. Varun and I do not shoulder it. It is shouldered by dance. The film is actually about dance forms and the journey of these terrific dancers.”

Varun says his chemistry with Shraddha is special as they have been friends since childhood.

“Shraddha is a childhood friend of mine, so all the chemistry that you see in the film is quite natural and real. We were very comfortable with each other and would laugh a lot. Shraddha fools around a lot on set, which is quite funny. But apart from all that she is really professional and hard working. She has worked very hard to dance and has done a good job.”

From playing an angry, intense guy who wants to kill his wife and kids’ murderer in Badlapur to a dancer in ABCD 2, how does Varun choose his roles?

“Badlapur made me more balanced and calm. It did help me find this character in a way because Suresh (from ABCD 2) is quite a level headed guy and very sensitive and down to earth but at the end of the day, he is a dancer and a dancer has his own language and his own kind of behaviour. But once I started doing dance workshops I totally became this character. I don’t want to bore the audience. That is the whole idea behind doing a dance 3D film because it is a new genre; people are not exposed to this stuff over here. That is why I enjoyed this film so much because this format is new to me as well.”

He adds that it was a learning experience to explore various kinds of dance with this film.

“Honestly it has been really fun. In the Hindi film industry we do not get to dance outside the usual norms. Over here we are exploring contemporary, krumping, house, hip-hop and so many different styles and something that is on the global level. We had dancers from the Trinity group from Britain, Philippines, some dancers who tour with Beyonce, we are battling with the best groups in the world in the movie and we are being trained by a fictitious group from India, which was ranked seventh best in the world at one point. It is based on real incidents from their lives. I think there is a lot of reality in the film.”

PASSION TO DANCE

Dance can give many people a certain freedom and sensuality that they deny themselves in real lives. No wonder dancers come across as a different and unique kind of people. Director and choreographer Remo advised his stars to spend as much as time that they could with the dancers from the film.

“As dancers, they are amazing and hard working. They are great but with hard work they turned into amazing dancers. Both of them when they came on board said, ‘make us do whatever you want,’ because they really wanted to be part of this film. Even I did not treat them like big stars, I treated them as dancers. I told them to stay with dancers, see what they do, eat and party with them. Only after spending more time with the dancers did they understand the style and situation of a dancer. Varun and Shraddha would sit with dancers and eat. They never used their own vanity vans, they either hung out in my van or with the dancers.”

Remo wants to continue giving breaks to new talents with all his future projects.

“The first film had non-actors, so I made them act. For the second one I wanted somebody who could perform, as the main lead is a very strong character in the film. I wanted an actor who could perform and dance at the same time... I could think of no one but Varun. I was confident about the film because I knew that the story that I am doing is based on true events, so these are real life characters. I knew that we couldn’t go wrong since it is a true story. I was hoping for a positive response but I was overwhelmed with the tremendous love from the audiences the world over. In fact, I have made sure that my entire team from ABCD is very much part of the second film.”

arti@khaleejtimes.com