Remo D’Souza: “I Like Making Happy Films”

After a  not-so-happy experience , Remo d’Souza, the  super-talented choreographer turned actor  is  back with  another dance  film .

Street Dancer 3D is looking  like  a film that would  make  audiences  jump  out of their  seats and dance in the aisles.

“That’s the idea,” laughs Remo whose earlier dance-based  films ABCD(Anybody Can Dance) in 2013, ABCD 2 in  2015  were  instant  successes.

  “We live in troubled  times.  Everyone is worried and suffering. Why not make films that  will give them reason to  be smile  for  two hours?”Remo is happy to be associated with the dance genre.  He made a disastrous attempt  with his  previous  directorial project  Race  3  to  move out of his  comfort zone(dance).

Remo says he is as proud of Race  3 as his other films.  “It wasn’t the disaster it was  made out to be. It made money,maybe not the  kind Salman Khan starrers are expected to. But I am so happy I got to work with Salman Sir. There’re so many directors who want to work with him , but haven’t done so. Collaborating with him was  a  dream  come true.”

As  far as  the  weak script goes Remo defends  himself. “See,  my other  directorial projects the stories are all written  by me. But with Race 3 I went into someone else’s story. That made a difference  to my treatment of  the subject. I’m happy to be  back directing my own script.”

Speaking of Salman, Katrina Kaif was  to play the opposite  Varun Dhawan in Street Dancer 3D. So what  happened?

“Bharat happened,” comes Remo’s reply. “Priyanka  Chopra quit  Salman’s  Bharat and he  needed an immediate  replacement. Katrina regrettably left our film. I  was so looking forward to working with her  for  the  first time. She was gracious enough  to  tell  us we  could go ahead with  another actress. That’s how Shradha  came   into  Street Dancer 3D.”

Remo is  delighted  with  Varun and Shradha   coming together again in his film. “I directed them  in ABCD 2  four years  ago.In the  interim they’ve grown so  much as actors and dancers,  it was like directing a different lead  pair.”

Significantly  Varun and Shradha are cast as rival dancers  from the two sides  of the  border.

Says  Remo, “We  didn’t plan it as such. But Street Dancer 3  has  acquired  an unexpected relevance . It addresses cross-border issues, the problem  of migration, etc. But please, Street  Dancer 3  is not a political film at all. It’s just a happy harmless fun  and dance film whereShradha happens  to play a  Pakistani.”

Street Dancer  3D is not  only  a dance  film it is also  a film that employs  a new technique to enhance the  dance pieces. “Besides 3D,we’ve  used  the D-Box technique  whereby the seats with  move with the audience during the dancing on screen. Earlier this technique was used in  the  film  War.Given a chance  I’d like to make  all my  films in 3D.”

Street Dancer 3D releases on January  24  along with Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s Panga.

Remo sees  no competition. “They’re completely  different  films. I am  sure Panga  is a good film.Kangana Ranaut is such a  fabulous actress. There is no competition  between Street Dancer  3D  and  Panga. They are completely  different  films. Being a holiday weekend I’m sure audiences  would he  happy to see both films.’