Dance is a comfort zone, filmmaking a challenge: Remo D'Souza

Mumbai: Choreographer-film director Remo D'Souza, whose latest directorial is "Race 3" -- an action-packed thriller starring Salman Khan -- says making movies of different genres has helped him grow as a creative individual and explore storytelling beyond dance.

Counted among one of the celebrated choreographers of the Hindi film industry today, Remo told IANS: "Dance is a comfort zone for me. I am the hero there; but filmmaking is more challenging and that helps me to grow as a creative person."

In the past, Remo has directed films like 'F.A.L.T.U' and 'ABCD: Any Body Can Dance'. But he says he wanted to go beyond the world of dance.

"This is challenging to an extent where I, as a director, explored the power of movie stars, technicality, camera angle, great locations, action and choreography that make the characters larger than life. I also explored the power of storytelling where I had to keep the suspense alive till the end. I think the experience of working in this film uplifted me a lot as a creative individual," Remo said.

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For Remo, the project has fulfilled his wish of making an out-and-out action entertainer.

"I am a fan of action movies. With 'Race 3', the thriller part came as a bonus. This genre of film has various elements that include drama, action, superstars like Salman sir, Anil Kapoor sir, Bobby Deol sir... So, the entertainment value is very high. The moment I came to know that I was to be the director of such a film, I was highly excited," he said.

The movie has been shot in multiple foreign locations, including Abu Dhabi and Bangkok. Remo says shooting the high-end scenes was tough, but an experience to remember.

"We shot an action scene in the forest of Bangkok, one at Abu Dhabi which appears in the end, and in the climax we have one action sequence by Anil sir in the middle of the traffic in Abu Dhabi... There is also a cat-fight action scene between Jacqueline Fernandez and Daisy Shah... We really had a tough time shooting these action scenes, but when we watched it in the end, it was worth the pain."

At the end of it all, Remo feels lucky.

"Not everyone gets to see the result of their hard work like this. Life has given me a lot. I am thankful... Yes, when I think about the whole thing, I at times feel out of the world. Last year, people loved the choreography of 'Sajan Radio'. Hopefully, this year they would love my work as film director as well," said the man who has choreographed hit dance numbers like 'Deewani mastani', 'Pinga' and 'Badtameez Dil' and has been a part of reality shows like 'Dance India Dance' and 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'.