Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudheva, Lauren Gottlieb

Director and Choreography: Remo D’souza

It would be an understatement to say that no film in Bollywood is ever complete without its share of song and dance. Despite dance being an integral part of any Bollywood film, we have to accept the fact that there have been very few films which have been made on dance as the central theme. Reality dance shows are nowadays the in thing, with participants from all over the country making a Mickey out of themselves on national television. No doubt we have to also give credit to a few who are exceptionally good and worthy of the title bestowed on them.

Ace choreographer turned director Remo D’souza brings the ABCD - Any Body Can Dance (2013) magic back in a new installment, rather than a sequel in the ABCD franchise with only Prabhu Deva reprising his role of Vishnu – a dance guru. ABCD 2 (2015) is a thorough entertainer for dance freaks, and takes Indian dance films to an all-new level. The dancing is brilliant, it should give you goose bumps at times and is surely to get your heart pumping and your body grooving even while you are seated. But the only downer we’d crib about is the length of the film (almost three hours) that might just put you off with its detailed story – telling.

But D’souza has taken on a story he truly believes in, a dance form of a different kind resisting the temptation of ‘typical Bollywood’ choreography and dishes out some lovely psychedelic, hip-hop, Broadway and other western dance forms in ABCD 2. If you have watched the ‘Step Up’ series you would know what to expect of this.

While the focus is on dance, D’souza tries to twirl a plot into the dance movie, adding an emotional tug to your heart. The film starts off with Suresh aka Suru (Varun Dhawan) and his childhood friend and now girlfriend Vinnie (Shraddha Kapoor)'s dance troupe 'Mumbai Stunners' from Nallasopara (in Mumbai) being disqualified in the dance competition 'Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin' as the judges feel the troupe has blatantly copied the dance steps and moves of a Philippine dance group.

In no time, all the members of 'Mumbai Stunners' get tagged as 'cheaters' everywhere they go and also in their day to day lives. Their hopes of one day participating in an ultra-prestigious global dance competition to be held in Las Vegas are dashed. The group disbands with only a few remaining to hold the team together. Suru’s job as a steward in a restaurant gets him nowhere, until he bumps into an ‘alcoholic’ Vishnu (Prabhudeva). An impromptu performance at the restaurant by Vishnu leaves Suru bewildered. Suru considers Vishnu as his new found guru and his sole ray of hope to take his dance team to Las Vegas. After much persuasion, Vishnu finally decides to choreograph 'Mumbai Stunners'. Suru gets back his old team and recruits a few new dancers and their team is complete, bang on to start all over again and hopefully head to Las Vegas one day.

But before the journey to Vegas takes off, the team has to win the national auditions in Bangalore. On their arrival, the team is hounded as ‘cheaters’, and are prevented from performing on stage. Vishnu takes it on himself to give his team a second chance to show what they can do.

As luck would have it, Vishnu's intense training helps 'Mumbai Stunners' win the National finals and find their way to Las Vegas. Once in Vegas the countdown begins for the big competition. But tragedy befalls them when during a practice session, Vinnie injures her leg. To add to their dismay, Vishnu makes a sudden exit leaving the team in dire straits in a strange land with their upcoming performance holding a big question mark.

What secret is Vishnu hiding, will Vinnie perform on stage on the final day, do 'Mumbai Stunners' make India proud by winning the dance championship... is what the rest of the film is all about.

Remo ups the ante by assembling perhaps the finest bunch of dancer-actors, Raghu (Raghav Juyal), Vernon (Sushant Pujari) and a host of other talented dancers make up the dance troupe, some of whom we have seen performing in numerous television shows. The dancers are all led by young stars Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor

The music of the film (Sachin-Jigar), impress with a couple of hum-worthy songs like Bezuban phir se, Chumar and Sun Saathiya. Prabhudeva’s superb dance moves in the Happy Hour Hai is notorious, while the sexy Lauren Gottlieb’s electrifying performance of If you hold my hand creates an impact on her dancing caliber. The song picturised on the Grand Canyon looks magnificent, backed with some amazing cinematography. The mesmerizing hip hop tribute to Lord Ganesha in Hey Ganaraya towards the end is also beautifully choreographed.

ABCD 2 makes for a good viewing and this film will surely find its way to its target audience - the youth, as the film has the right mix of content and some incredible sets and visuals in it.

Rating: ***

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira