Two years ago, a relatively small film starring a bunch of reality show dancers took cinemas by storm. ABCD: Any Body Can Dance — a classic underdog story of a group of Mumbai chawl teenagers who dance their way to success — became the sleeper hit of 2013. This Friday, choreographer-director Remo D’Souza — the man behind the first film — ups the ante, bringing in two big young stars (Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor) for ABCD 2, the second film in the franchise that aspires to be Bollywood’s answer to Holly’s smash-hit Step Up films. 

A t2 groove with Remo.

ABCD was not only the story of a group of underdogs, but in essence a classic underdog film, made within a limited budget and without big stars. Don’t you think you have lost that essence with ABCD 2 that has bigger stars and fancy locales?
(Laughs) I know what you mean. But success does that to films, doesn’t it? Yes, ABCD was a film that we made against all odds… we did have a big production house (UTV) backing it then too, but it wasn’t an easy job selling a dance film with no stars to the distributors first and then to the audience. But we did manage to get a release and the response it met with showed us that despite everything else, it is content that always works with the viewer. When we were planning the second film, we were always sure that we needed to haul up the stakes not only in terms of the stars, but also in the other departments — the story, screenplay, music, choreography…. 

And honestly, we haven’t really lost touch with the basic idea of the franchise. ABCD 2 is based on the story of a real dance group. It tells the story of the Fictitious Dance Group, a bunch of young talented kids from Mumbai’s Nalasopara who worked against all odds to first participate in India’s Got Talent, win it and then travelled all the way to Las Vegas to win an international dance show. I thought their story about rising from nothing to being the toast of the world was not only inspiring, but also entertaining.

And so to answer your question, it’s still about the underdog. After all, who doesn’t love a good underdog story?

So how will ABCD 2 be different from the first film?
Well, the emotions are stronger, the scale is definitely bigger… I have matured a little more as a director (smiles). And then having performers like Varun and Shraddha helps because they are not only good dancers, but also fabulous actors. The cast from the original has been retained to a large extent and they have their own stories to tell. We have tried to bring in a lot more finesse and soul into the dance steps. And then of course, there is the god of dance Prabhu Dheva…. Just having him in the frame is half the job done for me (smiles).

Varun is known to be quite a dancer, but we haven’t really seen Shraddha’s moves. What made you opt for her?
I think Shraddha has a very unique face… a blend of innocence and a certain amount of spark and mischief that you rarely find. Plus, she says a lot through her eyes… a lot of Aashiqui 2 (Shraddha’s breakthrough film co-starring Aditya Roy Kapoor) was about her emoting through her eyes. It’s true that she hasn’t really been seen dancing so much in her previous films, but she really surprised me on the sets. She’s so effortless in her moves and is a complete natural when it comes to mastering the nuances of a dance step. Have you seen her in the song Sun saathiya? She just bowled me over with her dance and determination in that number. But yes, unlike Varun’s character, Shraddha’s character is not based in real life… we just worked in a strong female character to add depth and drama to the story. 

Varun is, of course, a superb dancer… we all know that, but this role (Varun plays Suresh of Fictitious Dance Group) required someone who could convey a lot of emotions — sadness, love, hatred, helplessness… — through his dance. Varun gave me that from the first take itself. 

Prabhu Dheva and you go back many years. What is the equation on set like?
Very easy, very chilled out. He knows exactly what I want from him as an actor, and as a dancer who am I to say anything to him? He’s Prabhu Dheva! (Laughs) It’s always so enriching to work with him. 

Irrespective of the box-office fate of ABCD 2, are you looking at more films in the franchise?
Definitely! The idea is to develop this franchise in the mould of the Step Up films in Hollywood. Much like ABCD, Step Up started off as a small production, but look at the heights it’s scaled with every film. There are now four films (Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D and Step Up Revolution) and it’s just grown bigger and bigger. A big Holly star like Channing Tatum came from the Step Up films. We are hoping that ABCD the film franchise also scales such heights. 

Finally, your Bengali film Lal Pahare’r Katha, starring Mithun Chakraborty, was lauded on the festival circuit but remains unreleased. Will we see you making a Bengali film again?
Yes, if the opportunity comes along and all other factors work out, then I definitely will. Making Lal Pahare’r Katha was a very educative experience and I got to work with the best. The film didn’t release because it was based on a classical dance form (Chhau) and at that time (2007) there were hardly any takers for a film like that. I am still hopeful the film will release sometime (smiles). 

Priyanka Roy
My favourite dance film is....
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