One word to describe the film: dhamaal (as they say in Mumbaiyya Hindi, meaning a complete entertainer). Director, choreographer Remo D’Souza’s second stint as a director, the latest film, ABCD, from UTV Production house, is excitement from the word go.

Even if you aren’t a dancer, a lover of the arts or a strict follower of classical dances — Indian or Western — you will still love the vibrant feel created by the young dancers for whom the street is the stage. Be it hip-hop, parkour, b-boying, break, popping, locking, tutting, roboting and whatever, they have lived up to the dance form.

Remo knows his subject well and the dancers with whom he has spent months while judging a dance reality show, DID (Dance India Dance), aired on Zee TV. Plus, he has in the lead the former dancing sensation Prabhu Deva (Vishnu Sir), now a successful director; choreographer Ganesh Acharya of Chikni Chameli fame (Gopi) and the superb actor Kay Kay Menon (Jahangir Khan).

Then, you have the dancers who have made a name as contemporary dancers on TV — Dharmesh Yelande, Mayresh Wadkar, Price Gupta, Punit Pathak, Salman Yusuf Khan, Vrushali Chavan and others. Additionally, you get to watch Lauren Gottlieb, one of the most sought after dancers in the world. She was the last sixth finalist on Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance? TV show. Lauren is a regular on shows of Shakira, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias and several others. This is her first outing in Bollywood and looking at the way she has adapted to the Indian way of dancing, we may see her often on screen.

The story begins with a dance contest where students from Jahangir Khan’s dance academy take the crown despite their poor performance. Vishnu, the dance teacher of the academy, is unhappy with all the maneuvering by Khan. By opposing his way of winning, Vishnu gets promptly replaced by a foreign dance teacher. Disillusioned, Vishnu decides to return home to Chennai. And comes to bid farewell to his friend Gopi, living in a slum where he has his own group of boys with whom he enjoys unquestioned rapport.

Here Vishnu sees these youngsters, in two opposing gangs, dancing the way they are familiar with — untrained, but with verve and joy. The opening scene where these boys are trying to flee from the chasing cops is done in parakour-style. You just can’t miss this. It is fast-paced and exciting as they jump from roof tops, climb walls, leap through windows and all this without using a body double. This sets the tone of the film.

Vishnu trains these kids to compete against Khan’s dancers. The film deals with emotions, rivalry, love and fleetingly with drugs, too. But all these are sub-plots. The main agenda is dance and especially the penultimate one makes even the audience in the multiplexes dance, clap and whistle.

The film’s highlight is a solo performance by Prabhu Deva. At 40, he may not be as supple as he was in his early 20s when he made moviegoers dance to his Muqabala, Muqabala oh Laila. Still, it is a treat to watch him. The only grouse here is that Remo should have given Prabhu Deva more freedom to dance.

Menon is good especially when in a sinister voice he says, “We dance to impress.” Acharya in his portly self as a friend of Vishnu comes across as cute. Music by Sachin Jigar sets the mood.

Singers including Shankar Mahadevan, Vishal Dadlani, Mohit Chavan, Udit Narayan, Mika, and several others have sung. But the dance shadows all these songs.

ABCD is not an original concept. In Hollywood there have been several films on dance, especially street dance. ABCD is completely ‘inspired’ by them with a desi touch to it. Underdogs winning in the end have been done to death in almost all Indian films. Pre-release, Remo as a publicity stunt had declared that he would get copyright of the dance steps used in the film. That would surely make Michael Jackson laugh in his grave. There is not a single new step, forget an entire dance sequence. But this is a first Indian all dance film, that too in 3D format.

We will forgive the film on the acting zone. After all these are dancers and not actors. So to expect them to act would be asking too much from them. But if they were under the guidance of a director and not a choreographer, then maybe they might have acted a little better. Watch ABCD to lift your spirits.