Dancing like there is no tomorrow

Jasmine Singh

In front of the mirror in her room, in the bathroom, annual functions in school, at weddings and parties…these were a few platforms where the petite, pretty and effervescent actress, Shraddha Kapoor, had danced before swiveling and jumping in the air for her upcoming film ABCD 2.

Almost dancing like a dream. “Is that really Shraddha, is she really dancing?’ I am sure many people are reacting to my dancing that way,” she breaks in a husky laughter.

Dressed in a decently short summer dress, hair tied in an unkempt high ponytail, this actress shines bright like the summer sun. This one though, is totally bearable, and fun to be around.

The man sitting next to her in his torn denims and checked shirt, keeps his shades asides, takes the mike, exchanges pleasantries and digs into a tub full of caramel popcorn, something that he apparently loves. “I totally love the popcorns at Elante, Chandigarh. I have indulged in them every time I have come to Chandigarh for a shoot,” says Varun Dhawan, who by the way, has danced in front of the mirror and also in front of the camera.

And together, they will make sure that everybody will dance to their tunes. Oh yes, the word looming large is challenge. And the actress, whom the audience has never seen dancing before, is the first one to answer. Shares Sharddha, “Indeed it was challenging. The fact that I had to dance opposite a fabulous dancer like Varun made me jittery. So, the drill set up by our director Remo sir was really tough and exciting.”

Varun backs this up. “We used to dance for nearly 3-4 hours everyday, and we have done almost 18-20 dance forms in the film, from house, crumpling, and the toughest for me were contemporary and aerial acrobatics,” he says with his fingers searching for the last popcorn in the tub.

It wasn’t just the dance schedule that was tough, but the two actors had a strict diet to follow and other things as well.

Varun answers, “Remo sir had kept a veg diet on the sets, on days when we shot for the Ganpati song, I’d walk bare feet on the sets, like others. Since our director wanted us to look like dancers, which demanded a particular kind of physique, we had to adhere to a diet. But, I can’t understand this about Shraddha,” says Varun looking at her, “she eats double the amount of what I eat, but I don’t know where the entire food goes.” The lady smiles, she obviously got the compliment!

ABCD 2 is a based on a fictitious dance group based out in Nalasupara which makes it to the world Hip Hop Championship in Las Vegas. The film also has a grab of real incidents, as the two echo. “The touching love story that we (Varun and Shraddha) share in the film is taken from Remo sir’s life, how he proposed to his wife, who is also a dancer, how she reacted to his proposal. Also, the tattoos that we sport in the film are the ones that Remo sir and his wife have.”

So much to keep it real! Well, this isn’t it, as according to the two actors, the director Remo had actually insisted on long shots. Shraddha brings the mike closer, “Remo sir wouldn’t say the word ‘cut’, and we were asked to dance till he said cut,” she sounds pretty amused here.

What also amused Shraddha at the beginning of the film was when she saw Varun sitting in the vanity van with that Badlapur look. “I couldn’t understand the reason behind this intensity, then I realised as an actor, it is difficult to shed the character that we play in previous films. Both of us have done intense roles before this, so it wasn’t easy to get grooving immediately. Gladly, Varun warmed up within couple of days and was back to his normal self,” she gives him a pat on the back and the two return to their bubbly self, as Varun raps and Shraddha sings few lines from Sun Sathiya.

jasmine@tribunemail.com