On World Dance Day, we put actors Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor and director Remo D’Souza through the paces and get them to confess about everything that gets them movin’ and groovin’...
Sneha Mahadevan (DNA; April 29, 2015)

Shraddha: Dirty Dancing. I like the way the emotions are portrayed in the film.
Varun: Saturday Night Fever. For me, John Travolta was launched with the film and Sylvester Stallone directed it. It had two really popular, impactful creative people coming together. I was never introduced to the disco era because I wasn’t born then, but when I saw the film, it was an education for me. It had a lot of aggression and machoism. It had a really deadly swag.
Remo: Navrang, because initially in Hindi films, we did a lot of dance-based films and then, it stopped. The last one was Navrang. Before that, it was Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli. Slowly, drama came in and dance-based films faded away.

Favourite Bollywood dancers?
Shraddha: Hrithik Roshan and Madhuri Dixit-Nene. I’ve grown up loving Hrithik Roshan.
Varun: Grown up? He isn’t so old.
Shraddha: I was small, ya, when Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai released. I think I was 12 or 13. And Madhuri is just so graceful. She is just something else.
Varun: For me, dance is a lot about expressions. So, I would say Shammi Kapoor and then, Govinda. Hrithik, is beyond excellence, but if I had to pick someone I idolise, then it has to be them. They are style icons. Shammi Kapoor’s facial expressions would move with the beats. Govinda too is so expressive. And amongst the youngsters... I can’t take my name.
Remo: I think my choice would be Varun and not because he is doing my film. When I did The Disco Song in Student Of The Year, I told my assistants, ‘This boy is a really good dancer.’

Your favourite dance form?
Shraddha: I really enjoy lyrical hip-hop. I like house a lot. And even krumping.
Remo: Lyrical, I feel is the best.
Varun: It would be modern contemporary. I have never done that form of dance and I never thought my body would be able to do that either. This is a totally new dance form.

Did you ever have self-doubt about matching up to Remo and Prabu Dheva?
Shraddha: Of course. I was apprehensive, but also very excited. That combination worked. I have been dying to dance, but nobody gave me a dance film. When I was offered ABCD 2, I was over the moon.
Varun: I was very protective about her and I was like, ‘Let’s not, you know, make it very difficult. Eventually, I was like, ‘Yeh bahut shaani hai, sab kuch kar rahi hai’. She actually outshone most people there.

Favourite dance number?
Shraddha: Sexy, Sexy, Sexy Mujhe Log Bole — I love that song. Then most of Govinda’s songs. I even like Saturday Saturday.
Varun: The climax song Vande Mataram from ABCD 2 would be my favourite. Dance has changed for me, post-ABCD2 and I look it very differently now. I actually believe in dance to express and not impress.

Complete the sentence. Dance to you is …
Shraddha: ...an extension of who you are. A way to express who you are.
Varun: ...oxygen.
Remo: ...everything. It’s my life.

Do you think there needs to be a day to celebrate dance?
Varun: There should be many days to celebrate dance. Everyone should just go and dance even if it is for ten minutes, everyday.
Remo: For the past five years, I have been trying to get in touch with the government of India to have a dedicated day to dance. We are the only country to have so many varied forms of dances and we don’t do anything about it. All other countries have dedicated days to dance. So may be now, after the film releases, I hope we have an Indian Dance Day and not just the World Dance Day.