Chance Pe Dance

Well it seems like Dance movies are the rage these days, and this week alone we have two films that seemingly centers on dance, with Jump coming from China/Hong Kong, and Chance Pe Dance from Bollywood, both being romantic comedies appealing to their respective distinct demographics. And it's not too surprising that unlike dance films of old where there's a male-female pair who would exhibit some signature moves on the dance floor, the contemporary films this week have absolutely none of that, which in some ways is a pity.

Chance Pe Dance follows recent Bollywood films such as Luck Pe Chance in having their characters lament about the open secret of their film industry, where one has to be well connected, or come from an influential family in the industry in order to have one's big break served on a silver platter. For the rest of the mortals aspiring for that opportunity, it's more hard work, toil and sweat in order to get noticed, otherwise it's an endless cycle of mundane work to pay the bills, and juggling auditions in between.

Shahid Kapur plays one such struggler from Delhi, Sameer Behl, who has spent the last 3 plus years trawling the audition houses of Mumbai in order to find work in the film industry. Living under meagre terms, he gets disappointed time and again, which is pretty much against the way he was brought up to believe that his good looks and charisma automatically meant he'd be the hero in his life, all the time. The narrative takes a very whirlwind snapshot of Sameer's life, highlighting his debts and being played out by both his best friend as well as filmmakers who promise him the sky, but never hesitant to pull the rug from under his feet.

The story tries to jam pack too many subplots into the film, which makes you wonder whether this is a dance film if at all. First of all, there's the school days arc, where in order to sustain his city living, Sameer takes up a teaching job, imparting his dance skills to pesky children (he's never good with them) in order to help them win their dance competition. The key message here is of course if one couldn't do anything with one's current lifetime, there's always the imparting of skills to the next generation for them to live the dream that we have missed out on. This story arc could have been better fleshed out, other than to be squeezed into the film just before the intermission, and then resolved right after the film resumes.

Then there's the continuation of Sameer's own struggle, where he has to learn never to give up because a life-changing opportunity may just be around the corner. In what would be like an American Idol clone of a dance/idol contest, this story too wasn't fleshed out properly and we're taken in for quite the fast tracking from the competition's start, right to the finale, with nary any tension due to the lack of competitive characters, and the larger culprit being the lack of dance (it's chance pe dance after all, right?)

But the largest waste here was the under utilization of the character Tina, played by Genelia D'Souza, a choreographer whom Sameer serendipitously meets, and falls in love with. The character reminded me of Asin's Kalpana from Ghajini, the free-spirited, strong girl who teaches a thing or two to her guy about what it means by being resilient. I thought Genelia looked like Asin too from certain angles, and possessed the same vivacity here as well, together with some really stunning dance moves that we would see at the start of the film, with so much promise that when the lead duo gets paired together, sparks will fly and magic will happen. But it didn't! If there's anything to rue about, it's precisely this missed opportunity to have the duo perform a lot more dance numbers than one which quite sedately celebrates their love for each other, by mucking around exotic locales.

For a dance movie, I wouldn't doubt that Bollywood cannot pull one off, given the musical like quality in almost all of the films, but it's a real pity that Chance Pe Dance is not that film. Thankfully the leads have charisma and share pitch perfect chemistry together, which managed to carry the film through from start to end, limited dance moves notwithstanding.

I quite liked the film, the best review I read was by subhash jha i recreate below- At one point in this heart warming journey into the life and trials of this Bollywood struggler a kid in the school, where our struggler-hero teaches dancing, wonders how their teacher ji manages to wear such trendy tee-shirts when he lives in a car and has no money for food.

"Arrey , those are duplicates of branded tee-shirts, you can get them at Rs 150 on the pavement," retorts a know-all kid.

That one fleeting moment sums up what Chance Pe Dance strives to squeeze into two-hour of fluid playing-time. The struggle for stardom is done on such a glamorized level of self-actualization so that the audience accepts these liberties for the pleasure of watching good-looking people look presentable in situations where they would otherwise appear unbecoming.

On the credit titles we see our struggler-hero prepare for another day of self selling to an unthinking entertainment industry, when one sees a slightly seamless splendour lurking at the heart of this film about a Dilliwallah's struggle to become a star in the Big Bad Bollywood. Clichéd theme? Yup! But sometime some of the most endearing truths of life emerge from situations that work in a direction opposite to the originality.

The fact that Shahid plays the struggler helps. It really helps. Here's an enormously watchable actor who can take away the 'acting' from a character and just make you look at what is being said and done on screen without the baggage of his personal life being carried forward.

Shahid's character, Samir, in the film is a struggler in all its shades. Samir, has defiantly left for Bollywood while his dad (Parikshat Sahni, endearing) is left wondering why his son needs to be a film hero in the first place (Bollywood).

Shahid goes through the predictable grind, but with such extraordinary sincerity and involvement, you suddenly realize the one truth about life's vagaries. Every struggle no matter how similar on the surface is different underneath.

Shahid brings out all the shades, nuances and layers in the struggler's inner world without bending the rules of commercial herogiri. This is a far better performance than it outwardly seems.

Whether romancing the funny girl-next-door (okay, a few block away)manifesting the disappointments of a struggler who's getting emotionally worn-out waiting for the big moment, or interacting with the kids in school(the director is almost as good with these angels from hell as Shekhar Kapoor in Mr India)Shahid just goes with the flow with a fluidity that goes beyond the dance-floor.

Oh, about Shahid's dancing, is there a better dancer in the film industry today? he slim but confident plot moves smoothly on the surface. This one is a rom-com with a pleasing pungent flavour of Mumbai's sorrowful underbelly hidden, but palpable.

While Shahid struggles for stardom the narrative glides along at its own even pace seeking out the wannabe star's life as homeless road-dweller who sleeps in his car, and smirks at life's cruelties.

There are very few characters in the plot. Satish Shah, Mohnish Behl and Vikas Bhalla who come and go like images seen from a moving train. Director Ken Ghosh keeps the narrative free of complexities beyond the struggler's immediate preoccupations. And that suits the film's moderate temperature just fine.

Some moments especially with the kids, exude the warmth like rays of sunshine peeping through a partially open door. Watch the sequence where the kids share their lunch with their famished teacher. Awwwww!

Though the choreography is uneven and the climactic dance, a bit of a disappointment, Shahid comfortably keeps us watching the predictable but perky progression of this penniless pilgrim from the backseat of a car to the red-carpet.

While giving groovy guru-gyan to his students, our dance teacher, Shahid mentions Michael Jackson , Govinda, Prabhu Deva , Hrithik Roshan and Shiamak Davar among the best dancers.

We can easily add Shahid's name to the list.

After spending 2 hours in the cinema hall digesting this movie, I had decided not to waste even a single extra minute. But then I thought, a few minutes of mine could save a lot of useful hours of a lot of people. In summary, if you have never seen someone selling domestic garbage packed in a shiny box, this is a prime example. UTV must have spent a fortune marketing this absolute disappointment.

I gave 3 to this movie. There are loads of reasons, but almost everything about this movie is really bad. The direction, editing, music, nothing has even a glimmer of hope.

Shahid Kapur surely doesn't deserve such a waste of a movie after Jab we Met and Kaminey. Genelia is now the 2nd actress in Bwood who has issues speaking the language. At some point, our directors have to understand that the lead actress has to be more than a pretty face. Most disappointing was Mohnish Behl, who I thought for some reason was trying to be like Annu Malik of Indian Idol.

Take my suggestion and avoid.

To cut it straight as everyone knows the movie didn't get good reviews but take my word the movie is not as bad as people think.. Loads of struggler movies have been made and you have heard the same story over and over again but where lies the difference?? The answer is the moments!! Yes watch for its moments and the passion which Shahid injects into the role...

Ken Ghosh who set the box office on fire with his Ishq Vishq this time slips due to his not-so-new script.. The only thing which earned the movie some respect was Shahid's unmatched performance! His dance sequences are superb and choreographed by Marty Kudelka who has choreographed stars like Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson.. The irony is that despite having four music directors in the movie the music is not so great and you don't even remember the count of the songs after you watch the movie!!

Genelia as usual is OK! Parikshat Sahni is the new Dad of Bollywood and Mohnish Behl was satisfactory and the children of his dance class were surprisingly charming!! But the standout performance was from Shahid whose struggling act and honest expressions make you smile!!

If you wondering what to extract from this review then watch the movie for its fun moments and of course Shahid and his dance.. It will make you smile!!

Please give this movie a chance. It is really worth watching at least once. Shahid acting is superb. Genelia is looking stunning as always and acting is good too. Please give this movie a chance. Shahid and Genelia have great chemistry in this film. I was surprised that this film would turn out to be this good. Story is really good and its different. Genelia's acting is too good. I think she should do more Hindi films too along with south films. I wish and pray for her that she gets more offers for Hindi films even after marriage and two kids. Shahid has grown in acting really well. He has done superb acting in this film. Please go ahead and give this movie a try, that is all i am asking.