ABCD – Any Body Can Dance

Cast: Prabhu Deva, Ganesh Acharya, Kay Kay Menon, Salman Yusuff Khan, Dharmesh Yelande, Lauren Gottlieb, Punit Pathak

Director: Remo D’Souza

This movie is an absolute delight for modern dance enthusiasts. Hip hop, Locking & Popping, B-boying, Ballet, Contemporary etc. all are there in finest of display by finest of Indian dancers. To top it all, the protagonist of the movie is Prabhu Deva, the God of Dance in India. To weave the aforesaid dances into a tale, Remo has used a logical storyline, perhaps using struggling instances of real life established/aspiring dancers. But the direction and acting in general is very mediocre.

A chase sequence in the beginning of the film needs special mention. It is kind of a fusion of chase and dance acrobatics. You need to see it to believe it. Most of the dancers present in the movie are popular Indian Reality TV Show dancers. And they have all performed as per expectation i.e. brilliantly. Salman, Dharmesh and Punit have been given special camera focus and they totally deserve it. Lauren from American Reality TV has very good screen presence. She is a terrific looker and dancer. Actingwise, Kay Kay is the only real actor in the movie. But he being a non dancer, very less screen time has been allotted to him.

Special 26

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Kajal Aggarwal, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Pros in this movie: New storyline, Neeraj Pandey style execution, nostalgic trip of late 1980s.

Cons in this movie: Unnecessary presence of heroine and songs, habitual expectation of the audience from a regular superstar.

This movie is true event based and the director has treated the subject with proper r&d and precise execution. In fact you may get nostalgic while watching ten rupee notes printed in black ink, ‘gaddi’ style offices, ‘aangan' centric homes, Air India airplanes and sparsely decorated airport lounges.

The movie is about false CBI raids by conmen imposing as CBI officers who are expert in seizing both apparent and hidden assets (money, jewelry etc.). Everyone has acted well in the film. But Manoj Bajpai needs special mention for his remarkable performance. His entry is rather late, but his histrionics are unbeatable. Like Aamir Khan, every time he performs a pivotal character, he manages to bring something new on the table. Akshay has pretty well underplayed his character. But the kind of superstar he is, you constantly miss what you always expect him to deliver i.e. glitzy romance and action!

In such an intense and interesting movie, you feel impatient when more than the required movie time (read plenty) is allotted to display the personal simple lives of the conmen. That part is neither interesting nor different. Also you fail to understand the purpose of the same. Con activities are both sinful and illegal. So, why the director has tried to generate public sympathy for the aforesaid conmen by displaying their emotional and family side?

David

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vikram, Vinay Virmani, Isha Sharvani, Lara Dutta, Milind Soman, Tabu, Monica Dogra, Rohini Hattangadi, Nassar, Nishan Nanaiah

Director: Bejoy Nambiar

Three altogether different stories from three different time periods spurned into one with the common thread being the protagonist named 'David' in all the three aforesaid stories. To justify this common thread, all these three Davids happen to directly or indirectly touch each other's lives (for once) giving it a significant turn! As such the movie has no clear message. At most one can say that therein the name David denotes sacrifices in different forms i.e. of life, career, love and even urge to assassin for revenge!

Individually, all the three stories have been shot good enough, clearly having the time stamp of the period that they depict. The movie belongs to a different genre altogether. The director needs to be applauded to make the brave attempt of trying such a genre in India. But a lot needs to be improvised as well. Watching this movie, many may feel simply confused.

Neil, Vikram, Vinay have all done pretty good job. Isha simply lights up the screen with her presence. Milind, Monica and Tabu are intense and effective in their small roles.