Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 25, 2017)

After Sidharth Malhotra, who took up urban rappelling for Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s A Gentleman, Kangana Ranaut training in sword-fighting for Krish’s period drama, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, and Sushant Singh Rajput flying out to NASA to prepare for Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s space odyssey Chanda Mama Door Ke, Salman Khan has thrown himself headfirst into prep for Remo D’Souza’s upcoming dance film.

And while Remo had earlier raved about his new leading man to Mirror (June 7), saying, “I am pretty sure Salman can pull off anything. As a dancer, he always does exactly as he is told by the choreographer,” we have learnt that the actor, who is currently shooting for Tiger Zinda Hai in Morocco with Katrina Kaif, is simultaneously taking dance lessons for the yet-untitled film that sees him in the role of a dancer.

“Salman had been training with choreographer Sanam Johar and wanted to continue even as he shot for the action film but the latter was busy. So Remo has appointed his Dance India Dance protégé Saajan Singh as Salman’s instructor in Morocco,” a source close to the film informed Mirror, adding that Saajan left to join Salman on July 16. “Salman has been training in hip hop, among some other dance forms, in-between shots.”

Remo’s film revolves around Salman’s protagonist, a widower with a nine-year-old daughter. Jacqueline Fernandez, who has earlier worked with Salman in Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kick and was last seen in Remo’s A Flying Jatt opposite Tiger Shroff, has been roped in to play his dance teacher. “Remo will start training with Salman and Jackie once the actor returns from his currently ongoing schedule. They will also decide the final shooting dates around the same time,” adds the source. Meanwhile, the filmmaker has kicked off preproduction of his film.

“Remo has plans to start ABCD 3 sometime next year but for now he is completely focused on his dance film,” the source added.