Right Moves

The relentless afternoon sun has managed to get the better of the fifty odd extras on the set of an ad shoot in Kolkata,but Longinus Fernandes (Longie to everyone around) is energy personified.

In city to choreograph an ad ,Longinus Fernandes,the Jai Ho man,talks about the experience of making Julia Roberts dance to his tunes

The relentless afternoon sun has managed to get the better of the fifty odd extras on the set of an ad shoot in Kolkata,but Longinus Fernandes (Longie to everyone around) is energy personified. He encourages some dancers who seem to be getting the steps right,cajoles those who are lacking in energy and playfully scolds the ones who are running errant. He has a deadline of an hour or so before which the whole crew has to move to a North Kolkata location for another round of shooting. All in a days work for Longinus Fernandes,the Bollywood choreographer who was mentioned in Danny Boyle’s famous acceptance speech at the Oscars last year. It was really sweet of him to mention my name. I was really not expecting that, says Fernandes who has been a part of the industry for more than two decades. I did a dew steps for Shewta Shetty’s music video,Jhonny Joker. People noticed me there and liked my work, says Longie.

Jai ho might still be an anthem of sorts for youths across the globe,but Longie was making Frieda Pinto and Dev Patel dance to a different song in the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai. Rahmansaab hadn’t composed Jai ho then. He saw the dance number and then composed the song. It was his greatness as a composer that made him compose a song that was perfectly in sync with the choreography, says Longie.

Boyle may be an important name in his CV,but Longie feels that his career is not just about Jai ho and Slumdog Millionaire. People tend to overlook my other works. I won the Filmfare Award for best choreography for Pappu can’t dance sala… (Jaane tu Ya Jaane Na). Nobody ever mentions that. Before that I assisted Farah Khan too who was instrumental in shaping my career, says Longie.

In his career spanning three decades Longie has worked with the best of Bollywood and he does have a few favourites. I can’t even begin to describe how dedicated he is as an artiste. He is energy personified. Hrithik of course is a natural talent,but he is never complacent. He is very disciplined about all that he does, he says.

But the person Longie really gushes about is none other than Julia Roberts. I choreographed a minor sequence in her forthcoming film Eat Pray and Love and it was an incredible experience. She is such a vibrant person and manages to change the atmosphere of the set the moment she walks in. I don’t care if they retain the sequence that I choreographed in the film,but I will be ever grateful to Ryan Murphy (the director of Eat Pray and Love) for giving me an opportunity to work with the biggest star in the world,Julia Roberts, says Longie.

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