To put it simply, ABCD or Any Body Can Dance, written and directed by choreographer Remo D’Souza is entertainment, entertainment and entertainment,Dabangg of dance!
ABCD tugs at your emotional cords all the way as Prabhu Deva tries to convert a bunch of street ruffians into champions.
While you may have seen the same plot in Lagaan and Chak De India, the canvas here has changed from the playing field to a dancing arena, with the protagonist endeavouring to polish rough cut dancing diamonds into winners by imbibing in them values like brotherhood, sportsperson-like spirit and loyalty.
Technically and production-wise, ABCD, howsoever the title may sound silly, punches you hard. Niftily edited dance sequences, a chase that is a mix of dancing and eye-popping jumps, make ABCD the Dabangg of dancing. The dance numbers are brilliantly executed and the thrill quotient is highly enhanced as you watch the movie in three dimensions.
While the film belongs to Prabhu Deva as a self-respecting dance teacher who parts ways with his manipulative friend Jehangir (Kay Kay Menon ) for the love of dancing, it belongs as much to D, Rocky, Chandu, Ria, Biscuit among a score of other dancers with whom the nation will identify easily.
One wonders what took Indian filmmakers so long to risk their money on a film like ABCD. Perhaps, the boom and craze with which young Indians follow dancing shows on several TV channels must have made the producers and financiers believe that they had a winner in their hands, and hence the timing of ABCD. But that is beside the point.
The only fault one could find with the film is a contrived twist in the tale that leads to Chandu’s sudden death. But the defection of one of the team members to a rival team sounds probable and real.
