Movie Review : Chance pe Dance

Rating : Above average (3.5/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 12 minutes
Director : Ken Ghosh
Cast : Shahid Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza, Parikshit Sahni, Mohnish Behl, Vikas Bhalla
Kid rating : PG




CHANCE PE DANCE (CPD) : Predictable plot, average entertainer !

Having read (many) not-so-enthusiastic reviews of this film, CPD was not necessarily on my movie-watching list. But what to do ? There is a famine on ! And of course the fact that this film is available via Netflix Streaming makes it easier to just choose and go. Anyway long story short, I watched it, and it’s not half bad.

Ken Ghosh, ad-film-maker directs this youngish-ly titled film. It also has youngish leads – Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza. Now Kapoor has potential – “Kaminey”, “Jab we met” etc. but Genelia is sort of a withering wallflower; not much of a personality, she pales in comparison to the energetic Shahid. And while she was successful in “Jaane tu ya jaane na”, it was a role almost tailor made for her, where she was petulant but nurtured and allowed to have her screen time. In fair competition though, I don’t think her charm will stick.

Anyway, Ghosh decides to sail on non-rocky waters; he takes a predictable script, which has the under-dog theme strewn all over it. Kapoor as Sameer Behl is a young bloke, who having spurned his father’s shop-keeping business dreams of becoming a star in Bollywood. Of course nary a soul shares his belief except his Mom, who is no more (wipe tears here). But our hero decides to give himself an year to make it big in Mumbai, failing which he will come join his Dad (Parikshit Sahni) in the family business.

In Mumbai, and doing the rounds of directors, and auditions, Sameer meets Tina (Genelia) a choreographer. Tina soon becomes a good friend, and both rejoice when Sameer is offered a hero’s role. However (and here comes my clichéd line of the day), life never is that easy, is it ?

OK, for starters, as I said – this is a predictable story – you do know that Sameer will make it big, don’t you ? Don’t you ? . . . If you didn’t, please make plans to attend my “Bollywood 101” classes – these start shortly. Anyway, let’s forgive Ghosh that big gaffe, shall we ? But even after that, Ghosh needs more forgiveness, because the acting is subpar. Shahid Kapoor may not be the next Naseeruddin Shah, but he is quite a competent actor. And here, especially in the first half, he is terrible.

As a newbie to the film business, poor Sameer lives in a little apartment (friends from Mumbai tell me that it is way too large for a guy with zero funds), where he eats toasted bread (which he has toasted with a clothes iron) and sleeps in a roll-up-along the-wall bed. But he does all this with such a starry attitude ! It’s like he already is a star in his head – the swagger, the confidence of a man who’s made it, come off him like sweat. And for this I blame Ghosh. Really, I do. He had the opportunity to correct this capable actor and get him to deliver, but he didn’t. Sort of like Rituporno Ghosh, only I don’t think Aishwarya could have delivered anyway.

And on Genelia, not to harp or anything, but here are the key-words : zero personality, wallflower, limp performance. The only guy I actually liked acting-wise was Parikshit Sahni. Mohnish Behl was quite OK too. Vikas Bhalla (is his singing career over or what ?) makes a small appearance in this film as Sameer’s ungrateful friend Gaurav.

The film having given us the basics, wannabe-star etc., meanders. There are unexplained, and unneeded ventures into a school dance competition. And what with over-doing Sameer’s poor-me sob-story, this film loses the plot somewhere in the middle. But then post-interval , and with the end approaching, it picks up and heads towards a reasonable climax. The characterization is a little flat, no grittiness, no realism etc., but with a name like “Dance pe chance” I didn’t really expect that.

And so, after royally dissing the acting, screenplay and the storyline, what’s good on the menu ? There is some decent dancing, and some peppy songs. The direction is OK. Plus there’s the hero. For all his crappy acting here, (he does get better post-interval) Shahid Kapoor exudes good-natured charm. He “seems” like such a nice guy, that you root for him anyway, dash it all ! It’s his face see? And I don’t think Kapoor can help it, he is perfect “good” hero material.

Another big plus – this is a clean film. It doesn’t descend into the gutter with it’s jokes, like the hazaar films around, and in that sense it is “quality”. And for what it’s worth, the hero is kid-friendly, has morals, and does the right thing, which is nice, no ? I have no qualms calling it family-friendly. My kids who watched it with us, loved it.

I don’t share that opinion, but it wasn’t bad, and for a lazy viewing on a lazy weekend, where you didn’t even have to run out and get a dvd (you fried samosas instead) this was a reasonable watch.