ABCD 2 movie review: A film tailor made for dance lovers, fails to impress on other fronts

The second installment of the ABCD franchisee is bigger on scale with breathtaking dance sequences, foot- tapping sound track but not so amazing script.

The film is inspired by the real-life story of Mumbai-based Fictitious Dance Group members who competed at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2012.

The story revolves around a group of struggling dancers from Mumbai who want to make it big in the world of dancing.

Initially, the troupe spearheaded by Suresh (Varun Dhawan)  and his lady love Vinnie (Shraddha Kapoor) are branded as cheaters for copying dance steps of an international group at a telly dance competition. After much humiliation, they decide to salvage their image and regain their lost glory.

They find a reluctant and drunk Guru Vishnu ( Prabhu Deva) who later guides them to the world hip hop competition in Las Vegas.

Prabhu Deva's character has obvious parallels with Chak De India's Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) who after being labeled as traitor coaches a struggling team to a world cup win and proves his patriotism win or we can also see similarity with Iqbal's  Naseerudin Shah , a drunk coach who later guides the protagonist ( Shreyas Talpade) to become a successful bowler.

The film features Dance India Dance stars Dharemsh Yelande, Raghav Juyal, Punit Pathak who take their dancing to an all new level. The film definitely has its moments with some amazing stunts, somersaults and jumps in a perfectly coordinated manner.

The film falls flat in acting department. Even the most credible face Varun Dhawan fails to impress. Despite putting her best effort, Shraddha Kapoor lacked energy. Her repeated appeal for dance rehearsals might give you yawns. Their chemistry isn't too impressive.

As usual, Prabhu Deva's dancing is unbelievable but his acting can definitely be bettered.

The film is high on emotional quotient. It has hearty dose of patriotism, the formulaic Maa-Beta angle where the dedicated son works endlessly to meet his mother's expectations and the usual sacrifices.

Perhaps the film needed a better treatment in both writing and editing department. The length of the film is another major issue as the second half is unnecessarily long. The film with its lazy dialogues and predictable plot fails to hold the audience's attention.

Nothing undermines the remarkable background score by Sachin - Jigar that has been fantastically tuned with the stunning choreography.  A few of the compositions are worth listening esp. Sun Saathiya and Chunar.

Verdict:

Despite its loose screenplay and lack of a strong story line, the film gets a thumbs up for its mind boggling dance moves. If you are game for emotional dance reality shows then this is your film, otherwise it could sincerely skipped. Varun Dhawan has rightly said dance is the only star in the film as it is the only saviour in this two and half hour long turmoil.