Exclusive: Varun Dhawan and Remo D'Souza speak about their passionate dance-movie ABCD 2

Varun Dhawan, having proven his acting abilities in ‘Badlapur’ is on a professional high with ‘ABCD 2’ coming up for release. He also has a solid line up of anticipated films. His director and friend, Remo D’Souza, has also grown from being an ace choreographer to a filmmaker with dance at the core of his stories. They share camaraderie that can only develop from mutual respect & trust- a dancer’s essential trait. We catch the duo for a quick chat amidst hectic promotions.

Performing arts are hinged on teamwork. While preparing for ABCD 2 or shooting it, Varun & Shraddha & the team of dancers had to spend a lot of time together in Mumbai and in Las Vegas. Does the camaraderie & teamwork show in the film?

Varun: yes from Day 1! He (Remo) did a very smart thing. Usually when lead actors of a film rehearse for a dance number, they are given a different hall. But Remo sir put us all together in the same hall and we rehearsed with the dancers. So we would eat together, share our snacks & Shraddha would get food from home for everyone. The other dancers would pull her leg too! I’ve picked up so much Marathi from this film. Most of the dancers are from Maharashtra so I picked up the colloquial lingo. I have learnt a lot of bad words too (Remo laughs). When on set, I would keep using those and Remo would be like, ‘Please don’t say such things as we can’t possibly use them in the film!’ So the boys had purposely taught me those to fool with me (smiles).

Remo: From day 1, they had all built a mutual connection. Everyone was hanging out together and Varun would love sitting and chatting with them. When I would enter the hall, it was difficult to find which one is the star; Even Shraddha, despite being the only girl amidst 15 male dancers, she became like one of the boys during this film!

In the song titled ‘Chunar’, you’ve experimented with arial silk as a dance form. It’s choreographed immaculately & is part of the film’s plot. Tell us the process of preparing and shooting for this number.

Remo: I prepared a lot for this song; I took a lot of time to prepare & plan how to shoot this with the editor. In the film’s plot, the story begins with this; what kind of visuals and what is playing in his character’s mind. So I kept it simple - Varun performing this bare bodied & expressing it all through dance. And then his training has been crucial.

Varun: Remo sir had wanted me to express a lot of inner conflict & inner turmoil. As a director, he had advised me that for this film, getting the style right was very important because here, dancers will judge me. I won’t just have the audiences judging me; it’s almost like taking part in a dance reality show that you see on TV.

For me, getting the style right was very important. Punit of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa fame has trained me for this song and we have put in a lot of effort. In this song, my character is feeling like a guilty child who has let his mother down. The performance in this song is all about a child’s guilt and it’s not about a hero’s guilt. My expressions needed to reflect that.

Varun, as an actor you have always spoken about how you work on altering your physicality; and in this film, you have built a lean, muscular physique. What did you do to get this look?

I started preparing for this film after I finished shooting for Badlapur. I basically danced my a** off (smiles). I also introduced my physical trainer Prashant Sawant to Remo who instructed him on what a professional dancer’s physique looks like. My body had to be very lean & shredded, each muscle had to be visible. When you use a technique like Arial silk, your body begins to look like that as you end up using those muscles. So I worked towards achieving that look, and spent 2 hours in the gym every day. I also danced for about 3 hours a day!

It wasn’t easy for me to dance like this. Remo & my trainer Puneet would perform to arial silk very easily- but I found it tough!

You are a good dancer though. Have you pushed the envelope with ABCD 2?

Varun: (Smiles) Good yes, but not this good! In this film, I haven’t just pushed the envelope but I have torn it (smiles). And I am not just saying it, this I know for sure. I am very confident about the dancing and I have really trained for it. Both Shraddha & me have spent so much time for the film. Hats off to her too! We’ve all inspired each other. After seeing her in the song ‘Sun Saathiya’, I got inspired by her.

Remo: It’s not about just great dancing here. With ABCD 2, they had to compete with the world. They had to try out new forms of dancing. So for us, it had to be better than great.

Varun, you will be seen in ‘Dilwale’, Shuddhi & are supposed to be doing a few more big budget films. Looks like you’ve been giving your competitors a tough time with your line up of movies.

(Smiles shyly), I have not done anything like beating competition, a lot of these films are just rumors. I am shooting ‘Dilwale’ currently. And then I work on my brother’s film Dishoom (Rohit Dhawan), we will be preparing for that too. As for ‘Shuddhi’, that’s sometime away for now, and please don’t pressure on me yet!

Remo Sir & I might work together soon again, on a second film.

Remo, you’ve shot for the much anticipated dance face off song between Deepika & Priyanka for ‘Bajirao Mastani’ right? It must have been quite an experience.

Yeah, we’ve shot for 10 days for just that one song. Each day, we would end up getting just 1 or 2 shots in place. It’s a different world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s. he lives in a different kind of world- and it’s a space only he understands. So the best part and the worst part is, he Knows what he really wants (Smiles). So while we might get a take, which is good, or very good, he would say, no this is good yes but I want it this way. He looks for perfection & focuses on excellence. For me this was a learning experience that this kind of cinema also can be made. Look at his films- each shot & each frame is exquisite. So I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with him.