Remo D’Souza

Remo D’Souza (born Ramesh Gopi on 2 April 1974) is an Indian choreographer, actor and film director.

Personal life

D’Souza hails from Olavakkode, Palakkad, Kerala, and was born on April 2, 1974, in Bangalore to K. Gopi, a chef in the Indian Air Force, and Madhvi Laxmi. He has an elder brother, Ganesh Gopi, and four sisters. He did his schooling at the Air Force School, Jamnagar, Gujarat. During his school days, he was an athlete and won prizes in the 100 meter race.

Remo Dsouza studied in Jamnagar, Gujarat. He did his 12th from there and during his HSC board exam, he realized that he didn’t have any interest in studies. He immediately left school and went to Mumbai, but his father wanted him to join the Indian Air Force. Whatever he has learned about dance until now is on his own. He learned to dance by watching movies, music videos, etc. He would rather say Michael Jackson is his guru as he used to copy his steps watching his dance on the television and then choreograph his own steps by adding something extra. 

He is married to Lizelle, an Anglo-Indian from Mumbai. Lizelle is a costume designer who has designed costumes for many television shows. They have two sons, Dhruv and Gabriel. Currently D’Souza lives with his family, in Andheri West, Mumbai. She also works with him and helps him in various projects.

On 11 December 2020, D’Souza suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the ICU of Kokilaben Hospital, Mumbai.

Career

D’Souza is a Choreographer in Bollywood films and music videos. He has choreographed a number of films. Remo made his television debut with the dance reality show Dance India Dance (DID) along with choreographer Terence Lewis and Geeta Kapoor as judges and mentors. They trained 18 contestants in dance form of Ballet, Acrobatics, Mid-Air dancing, Contemporary, Bollywood and Hip-Hop. He made his directorial debut with F.A.L.T.U , Starring Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Jackky Bhagnani, Puja Gupta, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Angad Bedi, It was a comedy film. They received a positive response from critics.

Remo’s next directorial venture was the coming-of-age 3D dance-based film ‘ABCD – AnyBody Can Dance which starring Prabhu Deva, Dharmesh Yelande, Lauren Gottlieb, Salman Yusuff Khan and Punit Pathak. ABCD received positive reviews from critics and the film’s soundtrack also received positive response from critics.

In 2015, Remo directed the second installment of ABCD Franchise, titled Disney’s ABCD 2, It stars Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Raghav Juyal, Lauren Gottlieb, Dharmesh Yelande and Punit Pathak, the film explores the career journey of Suresh and Vernon of the “fictitious dance crew” Kings United India, who went on to win the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in San Diego. The film received positive reviews from critics and the film’s soundtrack also received a positive response from critics, the film grossed to an average.

Later, he appeared on the (Season 4–7) of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa with the Indian actress Madhuri Dixit and director Karan Johar. He was also the “super judge” on the prime time dance show Dance Plus, on Star Plus, along with host Raghav Juyal and team captains Dharmesh Yelande, Shakti Mohan, and Punit Pathak. Currently

In 2016, Remo directed A Flying Jatt, It was released on 24 August 2016, which starring Tiger Shroff, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Nathan Jones. The film tells the story of an ordinary man (Shroff) who gains superpowers. The film received mixed reviews from critics and Anupama Chopra from the Hindustan Times gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5 and said “The first half of A Flying Jatt has moments of fun – I loved that despite being a superhero he has a fear of heights, so he flies very close to the ground. But post-interval, laughter takes a back seat.

Later, he judged the (Season 2–3) of Dance Plus along with host Raghav Juyal and team captains Dharmesh Yelande, Shakti Mohan, and Punit Pathak. He then appeared as a judge on the reality show Dance Champions opposite Terence Lewis.

He also directed Race 3 the film featured Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem and Freddy Daruwala. Race 3 was an internationally mounted saga of a family that deals in borderline crime. It was released on 15 June 2018 coinciding with Eid Though the movie received negative reviews, it was a box office success collecting over ₹178.98 crores in India and approximately ₹303 crores worldwide.

D’Souza judged (Season 4-5) of Dance Plus along with host Raghav Juyal, Sugandha Mishra (co-host on season 4 and guest in season 5) and team captains Dharmesh Yelande, Shakti Mohan (season 4), Suresh Mukund (season 5 and to be continued), Karishma Chawan (season 5 and to be continued), and Punit Pathak.

In 2020, Remo directed the third installment of ABCD Franchise titled ”Street Dancer 3D which retained some of original casts including Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Raghav Juyal, Dharmesh Yelande, Punit Pathak and added Nora Fatehi , Salman Yusuff Khan and Varthika Jha. The film tells the story of two rival dance groups, despise each other and participate in a dance battle. Later, they decide to join hands for a greater cause. It was released on 24 January 2020. And received positive reviews from critics, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹97 crores and the film’s soundtrack also received a positive response from critics.

Awards

Film awards
Year	Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2004	Tehzeeb	Zee Cine Awards	Best Choreography	Nominated
2011	Enthiran	Vijay Awards	Best Find of the Year	Won
2013	Student of the Year	Zee Cine Awards	Best Choreography (For the song “Disco Deewane”)	Nominated
2014	Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani	Screen Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Badtameez Dil”)	Won
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Badtameez Dil”)	Won
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Badtameez Dil”)	Won
		Producer’s Guild Film Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Badtameez Dil”)	Won
			Best Choreography (for the song “Balam Pichkari”)	Won
2016	Anybody Can Dance 2	BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Social Film	Won
		Stardust Awards	Best Choreography (for all songs of ABCD 2)	Won
		Screen Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Sunn Saathiya”)	Won
	Bajirao Mastani	63rd National Film Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Deewani Mastani”)	Won
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Deewani Mastani”)	Won
		Producer’s Guild Film Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Pinga”)	Won
			Best Choreography (for the song “Deewani Mastani”)	Nominated
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Deewani Mastani”)	Nominated
		64th Filmfare Awards	Best Choreography (for the song “Deewani Mastani”)	Nominated
			Best Choreography (for the song “Pinga”)	Nominated
2020	Kalank	65th Filmfare Awards	Best Choreography (For the song “Ghar More Pardesiya”)	Won

Television awards
Year	Show	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2013	Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa	Color’s Golden Petal Awards	Best Non-Fiction Judge	Nominated

Filmography

Year	Film	Language	Director	Producer	Actor	Notes
1997	Pardes	Hindi
1997	Aflatoon
2004	Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities
2007	Lal Pahare’r Katha
2011	F.A.L.T.U
2013	ABCD: Any Body Can Dance
2014	DOA Death of Amar
	Entertainment
2015	ABCD 2
2016	A Flying Jatt
2018	Race 3
	Nawabzaade
	Zero
2020	Street Dancer 3D
2021	Time to Dance					Filming

Choreography

Television

Year	Show	Channel	Note(s)
2009	Dance India Dance (season 1)	Zee TV	Judge
	Dance India Dance (season 2)	Zee TV	Judge
2010	‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4	Sony Entertainment Television	Judge
	Dance India Dance Doubles	Zee TV	Guest judge
2011	Dance Ke Superstars	Zee TV	Judge
	Dance India Dance (season 3)	Zee TV	Judge
2012	Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5	Colors TV	Judge
	Comedy Circus Ke Ajoobe	Sony Entertainment Television	Guest
	Nach Baliye 5	Star Plus	Guest & Judge
2013	Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6	Colors TV	Judge
2014	Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7	Colors TV	Judge
2015	Dance Plus	Star Plus	Judge
2016	Dance Plus 2	Star Plus	Judge
2017	Dance Plus (season 3)	Star Plus	Judge
	Dance Champions	Star Plus	Judge
2018	Dance Plus (season 4)	Star Plus	Judge
2019	Dance Plus 5	Star Plus	Judge
	Bigg Boss 13	Colors TV	Guest
2020	India’s Best Dancer	Sony Entertainment Television	Guest/Judge
	The Kapil Sharma Show	Sony Entertainment Television	Guest
	Bigg Boss 14	Colors TV	Guest
2021	Dance Deewane (Season 3)		Guest