Thirty minutes into the 9am show of ABCD 2 at INOX (South City) on Friday, the crowd of viewers — all in the age bracket of about 15 to 35 — erupted with catcalls and cheers in unison. No, Prabhu Dheva hadn’t shown off a killer dance move or Varun Dhawan flexed his tattooed biceps or Shraddha Kapoor floored with those fab abs. Dharmesh Yelande and Punit Pathak had made their entry into the film. Dharmesh... Punit... who? The dancing stars who rose from Zee TV’s Dance India Dance, went on to participate in a host of other shows, acted in ABCD and are now known faces in their own right. Over the next two hours, every move by Punit and every dialogue by Dharmesh, every joke by Raghav and every smart line by Sushant — both dancing sensations like Dharmesh and Punit — had the youngsters in the dark audi clapping and cheering. Yes, that’s the power of reality TV… yes, that’s the magic of dance.

When it hit theatres in 2011, ABCD — Any Body Can Dance — was one of those hundreds of Bolly films that most felt would open poor on Friday and vanish by Monday. But choreographer Remo D’Souza’s film on a group of Mumbai chawl kids who defy all odds to win a dance competition became a sleeper hit, thanks to its spectacular dance acts and a strong emotional core. Prabhu Dheva was the only known face, but its success made Dharmesh, Punit and Co. overnight stars. 

ABCD 2 is bigger than the first film in every way possible — big stars in Varun and Shraddha, big sets, big dance acts and a location as big as it can get: Las Vegas. But at the core, ABCD 2 starts off as an underdog story — the real-life story of Suresh and Vernon of the Fictitious Dance Group in Mumbai’s Nalasopara who overcame initial failure and shame to become big names in the world of dance. 
 

The wow dance moments 
♦ Prabhu Dheva’s entry in a nightclub. Que sera sera meets Mukkala muqabla. 
♦ Varun and Lauren Gottlieb’s lyrical moves with the eyeball-grabbing Grand Canyon in the backdrop.  
♦ The Tricolour dance sequence: the back and front flips with colours saffron, white and orange and the pyramid-like formation with the National Flag. 
♦ Varun’s solo dance of angst to the Chunar number.

Varun plays Suresh, a youngster with a passion for dance, who rallies together a group after being shamed at a dance competition for copying a sequence from a YouTube video. Now why would a seemingly diligent and honest man do something like that? ABCD 2 offers no answers to this and to many other loose plot threads. What it does, instead, is lob one eyeball-grabbing dance act (see box) after another at us — a laser dance act in the opening credits makes your jaw drop and so does a sequence choreographed in the rain where the raindrops seem to almost splash against your face. Yes, that the film is in 3D helps in upping the wow factor. 

The man chosen to mentor the group is Vishnu (Prabhu Dheva), an alcoholic who needs to be coaxed and cajoled into becoming their guru. Once he agrees, there’s no looking back for this ambitious group that eventually lands up in Vegas to represent India in a global competition. But this is a film and not a dance video and so, secrets and suspicion, conflict and catharsis and even the ever-dependable patriotism card are tossed in for good measure. Most of it works, some of it doesn’t, but every time you start to lose interest, Remo the smart cookie unveils a dance act to leave you spellbound.

The best thing about ABCD 2 is the way in which it seamlessly blends plot with dance. But then, there isn’t much of a plot beyond the first half and the dance sequences become one too many, especially towards the end, making the film longer by at least 30 minutes… long enough for the 3D glasses to cut into the bridge of your nose. However, the infectious energy of the actors — Varun’s love for dance shines through though he still struggles with the emotional bits and Shraddha’s fabulous moves deserve a film of their own — helps to keep the film together. Prabhu Dheva, as expected, let’s his feet do all the talking, but whoever knew the man had such a flair for comedy? 

Despite the extended screen time, ABCD 2 glosses over many plot points, which leave the film feeling disjointed. The Varun-Shraddha chemistry — so palpable in the Sun saathiya number — isn’t allowed to develop beyond an obligatory almost buddy-like hug and the patriotic strain towards the end seems out of place since the film, all along, stressed on the importance of just personal goals.

However, for those walking in to catch a pure dance film, ABCD 2 delivers — and how! So this monsoon, naach meri jaan. For life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass... it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

Priyanka Roy
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