ABCD2 (2015): Why The New Trailer Worries Me

‘Any Body Can Dance’ (ABCD) was a gem of a Bollywood movie, because of how different its subject matter was from the kind of content usually found in films from this industry. The  movie was about a group of youth, who are exposed to, and educated on the concept of how an extracurricular activity such as dance, can enrich lives, better social skills and be a creative outlet for the frustrations that come with that age. The movie featured unknown main leads and a filmmaking team that consisted of dancers, choreographers and other artists who may have faced similar struggles in pursuing their passion. The unexpected success of the film spawned an upcoming sequel, ‘ABCD2’. Take a look at the official trailer for the film below, and keep reading to find out why this trailer worries me about the direction of the sequel.

Given it’s success, the sequel has been upgraded with the inclusion of more commercially mainstream ‘stars’ in the form of Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor, each arguably one of more successfully appealing actors these days. While Dhawan is coming off of his critical hit in ‘Badlapur’, Kapoor is known for her commercial movies. Both actors have decent enough dance moves to be a part of this Remo D`Souza directed film, also starring Prabhudeva, legendary dancer & choreographer himself. So the movie is set to one-up its predecessor and even looks pretty damn cool.

What concerns me however, is that the inclusion of these mainstream actors may take away from the underrated actors who made the first film enjoyable. Because of its ensemble cast, ‘Any Body Can Dance’ couldn’t spend much too much time with individual characters, and the rare times it did focus on a character’s backstory, it was quite impactful to the story. Given that, I would’ve thought that the sequel could spend a bit more time fleshing out these existing characters, giving the other supporting actors a chance to shine. Especially since the uphill battle of establishing dance as a legitimate and viable career choice for these kids in the first film is over with.

The Trailer though paints a different picture, and those unknown faces are barely visible, except for a throwaway line by the one original cast member who looks anything but Indian. Instead, the major stars are highlighted as Dhawan even seems to get his own emotional origin story arc. This, coupled with the love story angle portrayed between the two leads, worries me, as it would be a shame if the young actors and dancers who made ‘Any Body Can Dance’ worth watching, get side lined in favour of the more appealing box office draws.

My concerns notwithstanding, the movie does look good and here’s hoping that D’Souza & Prabhudeva don’t sell for studio backed actors and still allow the background dancers-turned-actors to get some screen time and significance within the film’s storyline. 

‘ABCD2’ directed by Remo D’Souza stars Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor & Prabhudeva and releases June 26th , 2015. 

Tell me what you thought about this Trailer in the comments below or on Twitter @theshahshahid