Dancing Star

His own process is simple but he thrives on nervous energy. “Everytime I do a song,I don’t sleep the previous night. I am jittery,excited and skeptical of what I will do,” he says. But it all goes away when he is on stage. “Once there,all my worries vanish. I find myself in a zen-like space. I keep everyone positive,” says D’Souza,camouflaging a hard taskmaster behind that 100-watt smile. “People are scared of me because I am strict,” he adds with a smile.

A self-taught dancer,D’Souza has assisted Bollywood choreographer Ahmed Khan and his first film Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar came in the year 2000. “I had to make non-dancers such as Manoj Bajpayee,Tabu and Saurabh Shukla dance,a true test of a choreographer. But I believe that anybody can dance. As a choreographer,it is on me to find their rhythm and style,and make them comfortable in that form,” he feels. The approach seems to have clicked for him. While Bajpayee gave into a baraati-style dance with Sanjay Dutt,D’Souza delivered one of the biggest dancing hits of his career,with Ishq Samundar in Kaante. With Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor,the story is different. “They are a dream because I can make them dance on anything,” he says. However,it’s not that he gets his way in every film. “I’ve learnt the most from directors such as Anubhav Sinha and Karan Johar but then there are some who interfere. In such scenarios,I switch off and let them do what they want.”

As a choreographer,he approaches each song by visualising it as a potential chartbuster,and then he hits the dance hall,conceptualising the steps and rehearsing it with his assistants. “I always practice in the dance hall. There is no formula here; one has to go with the flow. I make my assistants repeat my steps and watch their expressionsto see they are enjoying it or not,” he says. D’Souza insists his team to be vocal so that they form a sounding board where honest opinions are at a premium.

Though his style sways from hip hop,krumping to popping and locking,in order to make his numbers original,D’Souza makes sure to put in a signature style which is unique to that song. Think back the Disco Deewane clap move in Student of the Year and the recent twist to the Badtameez Dil in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

Although dance is his passion,filmmaking makes his heart beat. “I always wanted to become a director. When I started dancing and saw talents like Salman Yusuff Khan,Dharmesh and Prince on Dance India Dance,I decided to make a film on this subject.” And so he made (ABCD) Any Body Can Dance,India’s first 3D dance film. “The idea was to show the world that Bollywood is not only about running around trees. We too can make a high level dance film.” The direction bug has bit him hard. “I love the camera so much so that I bought my own for a bomb at Rs 2.5 crore,” he says. But he’ll always be dancing.

His choreography will soon be seen in Krissh 3,Gori Tere Pyaar Mein,Ungli and Mental.