The dancing Deva

You will be seen in a full- fledged Hindi film after a very long time with ABCD (Any Body Can Dance). What made you sign up?

Remo Remo Remo (D’Souza)… It is an important role is all I can say.

What is the best part about ABCD?

3D. I was thrilled when Remo told me about it. It was new for me to shoot in 3D. My children will be excited to see me in it (laughs). Besides, it’s about dance... I am working with new talent. Everyone’s just so good, super talented, and fun. They taught me more dancing!

How is Remo D’Souza as a director – strict?

He’s a very nice person and he’s a friend of mine as well. He is very calm, very hardworking and knows exactly what he wants. Since this is a 3D movie, everything had to go perfectly to schedule. The camera, the technicians were from America, and everything had to be fairly organized. Remo was always well prepared for everything so there was no confusion. He is not a strict guy; he never loses his cool.

There was a rumour that this movie is loosely adapted from Step Up. Your comments?

I have not seen Step Up. There is nothing to do with Step Up in this film, except the dance element. You see, any dance film with young boys and girls will be imagined to be adapted from Step Up. But ABCD has nothing to do with Step Up.

You worked with Dance India Dance contestants. Did they impress you?

They are very talented. I used to learn from them. All of them are just too good. I am missing them in fact.

With so many professional dancers and choreographers on the sets of ABCD, were there any creative differences?

There was Remo, Ganesh Acharya, Saroj Khan, me and so many choreographers. Saroj Khan is there in one of the songs. There were no differences whatsoever.

Do you remember any interesting incidents on the sets of ABCD?

Oh yes. It was with Ganesh (Acharya). I said to him that you may think I am a good dancer but I know my limitations, so please make it easy! Control, I would say (laughs). They would put this step and that and assume I would do it! I am no longer 20-21, you see.

An actor-dancer turned choreographer turned director and now back to acting… How difficult do you find the transition?

I go with the flow. When I act, I simply act, and when I am directing, that’s what I do. I don’t find it difficult. It’s a normal process for me because I have been acting, directing, choreographing for a long time now. So after all these years of experience, how different can it feel?

You have also lent your brand to a Tamil reality show. How do you multitask so much?

My name is associated with that show, but I usually have to go there only once in a few months. Many other people manage it more than I do. I am nothing compared to others; everybody does so much.

Rowdy Rathore was thick with men flying and vehicles blasting at regular intervals. Do you enjoy a lot of action?

It’s just entertainment. In foreign films, if a hero has to box someone, he would learn boxing first. In a dance film, he’d train for dancing. But in our films, our hero is a ‘born’ hero; he knows everything. We usually paint a larger than life picture. In any Indian film, our heroes are usually superheroes. They can dance, they can sing, they can fight.

But why did you make Akshay Kumar wear pink, green, yellow and purple pants in Rowdy Rathore?

It was a double-role action film, so one character had to be completely different from the other. I got to know what was trendy, so I said Okay and I told him to wear those. Akshay also agreed (laughs). He does whatever the director says. He is such a co-operative guy.

And how did you make Sonakshi Sinha dance so well?

Because she is a good dancer. In Dabangg, there was no scope for dancing because the character was like that. In Rowdy Rathore, there was an opportunity to dance, so she did. She came, she danced, she conquered.

You’re considered the god of dancing in India, but who do you look up to?

It’s love that makes people say such nice things about me. But so many others are super talented. For me, the gods of dancing are my Gurus who taught me how to dance.

How do you rate yourself as a/an:

Actor: how can I rate myself? It’s for people to rate me. It’s different with each film.
Dancer: I’m okay (laughs). Just look at these boys and girls and how they dance. I’m glad I showed up 15 years back! Just look at the competition now.
Director:  I am okay. There are so many good directors.