Let me make this clear, 'Any Body Can Dance 2' (ABCD2) is all about dance and music with no scope for acting. It rather comes as a shock that the movie is further marred by puerile subplots, unconvincing choreography and lacklustre music.
The Film makes its treatment clear early on, and 30 minutes into 'ABCD2' it becomes obvious that the film is littered with maudlin subplots accompanied by a clichéd storyline. The movie, merely, appears to be a finale episode of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa or Dance India Dance.
'ABCD2' is about a young gentleman Suresh [Varun Dhawan] who wants to prove his mettle after his team got disqualified from a telly dance show for copying an act of international team.
Suresh zeroes in a drunken dance teacher to participate in a dance competition at Las Vegas. That's all about the movie.
The movie moves on with a mystifyingly dull first half and even a tortuous second half. Unfortunately, it rests on a predictable plot and uniformly weak performances. The dialogues are amateur with every dialogue in the first half crying 'cheater'.
With a bunch of dancers in the movie, with an exception of Tisca Chopra, the performances barely register any impact. Even Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor don't have any role to play. Varun's role comes as a colossal disappointment after his mature portrayal in 'Badlapur'. I was all praises for Varun after 'Badlapur', but I can't do that in this case.
This act according to me is the worst Varun can do. The biggest casualty from this earnest effort is Varun Dhawan, who is unconvincing as a dancer and mediocre as an actor. His dialogue delivery remains flat throughout.
Even Shraddha Kapoor is not competent enough as the leading lady. Shraddha plays her usual self. Her incompetence on the dance floor was evident even after being trained. Prabhu Deva gave an honest performance but I feel his dancing capabilities were undermined in the movie.
Tisca Chopra springs a pleasant surprise in a cameo. Her presence was the best part about this movie. Lauren Gottlieb dazzles the screen with her dance moves.
From her act in 'Virasat' to 'Haseena Maan Jaayegi', the ravishing Pooja Batra has impressed her fans with tender performances. Respectfully, I didn't understand her presence in the movie.
Was it merely a marketing effort to promote 'Nirvana'? I wish the writer had adequately accommodated this effort into his writing.
The amateurish writing and poor pacing is the chief cause of this casualty that has been descended upon humankind. As a result, no one makes any impression. Though, the dance sequence in the climax was good but then again it was stretched, which did put my patience to test.
For an eminent choreographer like Remo D'Souza, who happens to be the director of this movie as well, it is a disgrace that his showmanship leaves a lot to be desired. Had Remo dedicated his energy to the dance, and lessen the extent of contrived schmaltz, 'ABCD2' would've been a great watch. Sachin-Jigar's soundtrack does not hit a winning note except 'Bezubaan Phir Se'.
The song 'If You Hold My Hand' seems out of place in the movie.
'ABCD2' is bearable in parts but its painstaking 152 minutes running time makes it a challenge to watch. Overall, the film is dealt inadequately with jarring sequences that ruin the pace of the narrative significantly.