After a dance troupe accused choreographer-filmmaker Remo Dsouza and his wife Lizelle, along with five others, of allegedly defrauding them of Rs. 11.96 crore, the duo addressed the issue by releasing a joint statement on Instagram on Sunday.

Expressing their disappointment about the allegations being “published”, the couple said that they will share their side of the story “in due time”.

The statement read, “It’s disheartening that such information has been published. We would like to request everyone to abstain from spreading rumours before ascertaining true facts. We shall put our case forward in due time and will continue to cooperate with the authorities in every way possible like we have done so far. We would like to thank our family, friends and fans for the outpouring of love and continuous support.”

Based on a complaint by a 26-year-old dancer, a case was registered at Mira Road police station on October 16 under sections 465 (forgery), 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, PTI cited a police official as saying. As per the FIR, the complainant and his troupe were allegedly cheated between 2018 and July of this year.

For Remo D’Souza, who moved to Mumbai, the city of dreams, from a small city like Jamnagar and started his career as a background dancer, it has been an eventful journey. While Remo is a sought-after choreographer, filmmaker, and reality show judge today, he says that there was a phase when he struggled to get a single meal a day and had no place to stay. He also overcame failures as a director and survived a heart attack in 2020.

Remo, who has directed films like the ABCD franchise, Street Dancer 3D, A Flying Jatt and Race 3, has also judged dance reality shows, from Dance India Dance (multiple seasons) to DID L’il Masters 5.

Talking about how the Coronavirus pandemic gave him time to analyze himself, he says, “The pandemic has been a learning phase for me. As work came to a halt, it gave me time to analyze myself. But in terms of my health, I suffered from cardiac problems and it was an eye-opener. It made me realize that we have just one life and it’s important to make the most of it, so that you never regret missing out on doing the right things. Over the years and even during my recovery, my wife Lizelle has always been my biggest support.”

He adds, “All my life, I have received a lot of negative reviews. But I always took them in a positive way. I was written off for the failed attempts as a director. But I took such negative feedback in a positive manner. It’s essential to keep learning and take the negative feedback in your stride so that you can become better.”

Mumbai: Dance choreographer Jason Watkins — brother-in-law of choreographer-filmmaker Remo D’Souza — was found hanging in his apartment at Millat Nagar, Andheri (West), on Thursday. His family had alerted the police in the afternoon when he stopped responding to their calls.

“We learned that he was undergoing treatment for depression. A case of accidental death has been registered. No sign of foul play was found,” said Manohar Dhanwade, senior inspector with Oshiwara police.

Remo’s wife, Lizelle, told TOI that Jason had been struggling with grief since their mother’s death in 2018.

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It doesn't get worse than this. Remo D'Souza's father-in-law, suffering from kidney ailment, had lost his wife four years back and today he returned from the hospital to find his son Jason Watkins having committed suicide.

Confirming this, Remo's wife Lizelle told this to ETimes exclusively, "Daddy forced the door open somehow and found Jason had taken his life. Daddy has been undergoing dialysis since some time. I don't know what he did to himself as I am just on my way to Papa's house. Jason and my dad stayed together."

Was Jason disturbed? Replied Lizelle, tearfully, "I think he couldn't come to terms with our mother's death, which happened in 2018. He was very close to her."

Jason was not married. Remo and Lizelle were in Goa when the tragedy happened. "I just landed an hour ago. Daddy called me in Goa to tell me about Jason. I had gone to Goa to attend a wedding. Remo and I just don't know what to do. We are in a state of a terrible shock."

Jason worked in Bollywood for quite a few years. He worked as an assistant director on all the projects of Remo.

Remo D'Souza's dance sequel ABCD 2 will see Varun Dhawan play a waiter and Shraddha Kapoor, a hairdresser, where both are passionate about dance. They both sport tattoos in the film. While on the face of it, Varun's tattoo is that of Michael Jackson and Shraddha's is of a cross, we reveal the actual secret. The director Remo and his wife Lizelle have tattoos on their arms, and so, while Varun copied Remo's, Shraddha copied Lizelle's