Chance Pe Dance Review

What is it all about?

The latest in the short and not-so-respectable line of dance movies in Bollywood gives another reason why Mithun Da's `Disco Dancer' still enjoys the cult status, `Chance Pe Dance' is fascinating for about 15 minutes - the time when Shahid hits the dance floor and dazzles with his gravity-defying hip-hop that hooks you with its skill and creativity, mixing all kinds of dance influences into an earthy, urgent style.

Rest it moonwalks with a sloppy script that hardly twists, making the remaining time exhausting for this dancing glory that lacks a story.

The film is in badly need of a much more earthy, verity approach to plot and characters, and it seems like everybody was dancing including the writer and the helmer Ken Gosh having no time for plot and character descriptions.

Ken Gosh tries to add every emotion available and forces everything into an emotionally manipulative Bollywood blueprint that just seems increasingly predictable and tedious as it progresses. Never really grapples with anything. There's plenty of material here to make an excellent little film, but the lack of innovations in narration kills it and the tracks fail to provide life and energy until we actually begin to yawn instead of grooving to the beats.

Yeah we don't expect a sweeping epic out of a dancing film but it certainly needs rousing dance numbers and a fresh soundtrack which `Chance Pe Dance' fails to provide.

Actually, the helmer Ken Gosh mixes up and has no clue on what to do, either to make it a movie on dance or a movie on a struggling actor or what.

Shahid is fantastic even though we don't know whether he wants to be an actor or a dancer in the film.

And the Bollywood struggle lacks details; Farhan Akhtar starrer, `Luck by Chance' was comparatively more specific in showing some Bollywood insides to us.

Anyways on the outer side, the movie is glossy throughout and the costumes are trendy, editing is sharp and songs are nicely and interestingly picturised, musically it's a major let down by Sandeep Shirodkar and Adnan Sami considering it being a dance flick.

Genelia is peppy; Mohnish Bhel and Parikshit Sahani pass the musters.

The Story..of course

What to expect when you sprinkle sizzling dance sequences around a story as soggy as this where Sameer (Shahid) juggles various jobs to keep him afloat while pursuing his one dream to get a break on the big screen. In his quest, Sameer has a lot of ups and down, hopes and disappointments.

In this tedious predictable journey, he is helped by a choreographer Tina (Genelia) and to predict what happens next, you don't need to be an Einstein or a Bejan Daruwala.

What to look out for?

Shahid Kapoor in his dancing shoes with extra packs easily steals some bholi bhali ladkiyon ka dil otherwise take a chill pill as other versions are easily available at your nearest T.V. set if you like American dance shows.

What Not?

No body else is shown dancing in this flick apart from the extras. Even during the competition we don't see the performance of any other participants. From where did Shahid learned acting, dancing etc etc not explained. The romance is one sided and when did Shahid starts getting that feeling for Genelia in the film not shared. Etc etc.

Recommended: Only for diehards

Rating: **

[*- Yuck.  **- Oh No.  *** Hmmmmmm. Well done.  **** - Bravo, superb.  *****- priceless.]