Review: Chance Pe Dance

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza, Mohnish Bahl, Parikshit Sahni
Director: Ken Ghosh
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala

Rating:

Ken Ghosh returns after a five year hiatus. His last movie Fida didn’t do any good at the box office. However expectations hardly diminished considering his first film Ishq Vishk was such a resounding success and loved by the youth. I am sure people are yet to get over dialogues like ‘Saloni mere saath chaloni’ and ‘Poly Pereira tu meri main tera’ or for that matter the loveable college kid Rajeev Mathur and Mambo so well played by Shahid Kapoor and Vishal Malhotra respectively, in their debut performances. Shahid returns with Ken Ghosh in Chance Pe Dance but you certainly fall in Ishq with this venture.

Chance Pe Dance is about Sameer Behl (Shahid) who has grown up pampered and loved by everyone due to his looks and ‘star appeal’. When he grows up, he naturally decides to try his luck in showbiz and lands up in Mumbai. Three years thence all Sameer has managed to do is an ad film for South Indian ‘lungi’ company. His hopes come crashing when the director who promises to launch him opts for a talent hunt for his leading man. Sameer is left broken, and also shelter-less as his land lord throws him out for not paying up on rent. Like most feel good films, love changes things for him.

Chance Pe Dance surely has a story in place, however clichéd it may sound. However Ken Ghosh just could not translate it into a script good enough to make this film memorable enough. What he ends up with almost looks a trial version made out of the first draft rather than a polished script. Situations created don’t lend enough drama and hence a feel good film falls terrible short of making you feel any better.

One thing that he gets right however are the music videos. With an enviable track record of making some of the best music videos we have seen in India, Ken Ghosh takes us back to the good old days of Indi-pop when we saw some great videos rather than skimpily clad models. And Shahid shows all that he has got – dancing moves to 8-pack abs to create the extra zing.

But dance was never supposed to be the central point of the movie. And the videos don’t help to make the film better. Shahid’s promising performance goes vain, almost like one of those centuries by Tendulkar when India lost. Film making is no on-man business.

Apart from Shahid, there is nothing much for Genelia fans either. Chance Pe dance ends up a complete disappointment. You could be better off without this chance. Trust our fried eye judgment on it!

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