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Wednesday, April 17, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD ABCD: ANYBODY CAN DANCE
EDITOR'S PICK
`Anybody
Can Dance`: Dances all the way, nothing else grooves
Rating: ***
Indians don`t have a mind to think, mock-whispers Kay Kay Menon,
playing the sort of slimeball you thought went out of style with Prem Chopra.
Menon, who once was a formidable actor, hams it to the hilt as a kind of Mogambo
of the dancing world who thinks dancing is for big bucks, and also for big...
well you know the f word that rhymes with bucks.
Prabhu Deva, God bless his sole, is the other polarity. He dances
because... well, he has to. He imparts his skills to a ragamuffin bunch of
street kids who seem to have auditioned for Breakin` that street-smart film
about using breakdance as a form of selfexpression that came way back in 1984.
Indeed there is something very 1980s about Tushar Hirnandani`s screenplay which
pitches the idea of Good Dancing Versus Bad Dancing with a heartwarming
sincerity.
Movie plots based on dancing and dancers are rare these days.
Choreographer-turned-director Remo d`Souza has hit upon a winning idea.
Being a choreographer he is able to weave the characters into a web of
dance-related episodes that culminate in that grand do-or-die competition that
we have been witnessing in one form or another since the time movies came into
being.
It could be Rocky Balboa in the ring. Or the raring-to-go students from Prabhu
Deva`s makeshift dancing school in this film...Heck, anybody can dance as long
as the music is right.
Remo d`Souza`s film glides in expected but never dull ways. It winds its way
through a series of self-consciously constructed road-blocks for the sincere
dance teacher and his students who learn, the hard way, that dance is for one`s
own pleasure and not to show off.
Ironically this philosophy of dance as a form of self-expression hardly fits
into the the framework of cinema where the very nature of the medium invites the
maximum appreciation.
What sees ABCD through is its sincerity of purpose. Director d`Souza
intends to do a dance film with a sturdy plot to hold up the
choreography.
In that endeavour the film doesn`t slip up at all. The fact that it has Prabhu
Deva at the helm certainly helps to keep the show on the road.
As an actor, Prabhu Deva is restrained and effective in bringing out the
idealism and discipline of a dance teacher. His thick Tamil accent is justified
by the character`s origins being nailed to Chennai. You know when this guy
explains the essence of dance to his students he isn`t faking it. But it`s when
the choreographer-dancer`s takes the floor that we`re really floored.
When Prabhu dances time freezes. The long pre-interval episode where he puts up
what could only be termed the Grand Prabhu Deva Tour de Force is the film`s
high-point. You won`t be poorer to leave at that point.
The youngsters who play Prabhu Deva`s students are passable in their acting
skills.But I suggest they should just focus on dancing as a career. The actor
who plays the dopey-dancer Chandu (Punit J Pathak) corners much of melodrama in
the second half.
Honestly, the film just needed to get on with the dancing and leave the mapping
of a back-story for the dancers to another time, another place.
For this one, all we needed was what B.Subhash recommended in the 1980s. Dance
Dance....I almost expected Mithun Chakraborty to show in support of Prabhu
Deva`s shimmying shishya-log.
If you know how to dance or if you`ve ever desired to dance ABCD is the film for
you. With Prabhu Deva`s astonishing virtuosity on the dance-floor to guide the
characters` and the film`s destiny and to provide a centifrugal scinitillation
to the proceedings, there is little reason to quibble over the content.
Sachin-Jigar`s music and songs though adequate could have been more dynamic.
Watch out for the number accompanying the end-titles where dancing legend Saroj
Khan joins Prabhu Deva, Ganesh Acharya and Remo d`Souza.
That`s this innocent and earnest film`s paisa-wasool moment.
Is every Bollywood movie a dance movie? How does one define a dance movie? Dance has always been an instrinsic part of films in India. But choreographers like Shiamak Davar and Terence Lewis sense the brewing of a new movement to their advantage -- all thanks to Remo D'Souza's "ABCD: Any Body Can Dance".Late actor Shammi Kapoor prancing around to energetic numbers, Mithun Chakraborty's pelvic thrusts in "Disco dancer" and Govinda's dance moves in songs like "Sarkaye liyo khatia jada lage" and "Ankhiyon se goli mare" -- Bollywood has always had an affair with dance.Read More
Sooraj Pancholi to star in dance-based filmActor Sooraj Pancholi is set to work on an untitled dance-based film, which will be written by "ABCD: Anybody Can Dance" director Remo D'souza.A director for the upcoming film is yet to be roped in.Read More
Promotion of film ABCD - Any Body Can Dance Stills