Choreographer Remo D’Souza was expected to do a dance film when he first decided to turn a director. But he surprised everybody by doing a youth-centric film Faltu with only a few dance numbers. However, the dance master is back with a film that’s centered around dance. Any Body Can Dance (ABCD) is a film that isn’t only woven around the lives of youngsters who aspire to become dancers, but has some big dance numbers by Prabhudeva and Ganesh Acharya.
Since the genre hasn’t been explored much, Remo did not want to leave any opportunity that would give dance a new meaning. Remo adds that since there haven’t been many dance-based films, except few like Navrang or Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, he wanted to bring to fore the various forms of dance popular in India. “We have got a number of experimental dances in the film,” he says.
And since the film is all about experiments, the team wanted to experiment with the promotions as well.
While there’s still time for the film’s release (it will release in February), Remo along with Prabhudeva has big plans for its promotions. The duo and the cast of the film will embark on an eight-state, 16-city tour to promote the film.
Remo and Prabhu are planning to revive the dying folk dance forms from some of the states. Remo says that his first film in Bengali, Lal Pahare’r Katha had tremendously used the chhau dance and since then he has felt a need to promote the folk dances. “I have always loved the folk dances of India but felt sad that very few from the younger generation take it up now. Most prefer the contemporary forms over the folk forms,” says Remo, who while conceptualising the promotional tour was aware that he has to do something different.
Now, they will be putting up a performance in each city based on the local dance forms of that particular area. The folk forms that would be taken up are — kolattam from Andhra Pradesh, chhau from West Bengal, tarangamel from Goa, garba from Gujarat, yakshagana from Karnataka, tertali from Madhya Pradesh, lavani from Maharashtra, bhangra from Punjab and ghoomar from Rajasthan.
Remo is a trained dancer in chhau and lavani, while Prabhudeva knows Bharatnatyam well. “Prabhu is excited to be a part of the activity, as it’s something that he has always felt strongly about,” says Remo.
The duo will call folk dancers from each state to teach them the form first, and then Remo will choreograph the sequences that they will perform. He says that if the film proves successful, then the sequel to ABCD would be a film based on their experience during this tour and would feature the folk dance forms.