India’s answer to the Step-Up franchise, the ABCD series has featured some of India’s best dancers and choreographers for foot-tapping performances. While song-and-dance numbers are common in Bollywood since the film industry’s inception, ABCD reinterpreted the dance musical genre by putting the focus on real-life performers.
Directed by choreographer and Dance India Dance judge Remo D’Souza, the first ABCD movie was an instant hit featuring an ensemble led by Indian dancing veteran Prabhu Deva. Fans of reality shows like Dance India Dance also had plenty of Easter Eggs to spot with many actual contestants playing members of a fictional dance crew from the urban neighbourhoods of Mumbai.
The franchise went down a more mainstream route with ABCD 2 featuring Bollywood actors like Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead. Since then, the franchise received a spiritual sequel in the form of Street Dancer 3D. The latter was eventually conceptualised as ABCD 3 but had to be rebranded with Disney (that produced the first two movies) exiting from Indian film production.
Here’s a guide on how and where to watch the ABCD movies.
How to watch the ABCD movies in order?
None of the ABCD movies are directly connected and can be streamed individually in any order as standalone movies. Even though all three movies share recurring artists like Prabhu Deva, Dharmesh Yolande, and Lauren Gottlieb, they end up playing different characters in each one.
A common theme in each of the ABCD movies is the underdog journey of dance crews. While the protagonists battle it out in a pan-Indian competition in ABCD, Dhawan and Kapoor play Indian dancers aspiring to break it onto the global stage in ABCD 2. Street Dancer 3D similarly incorporates an international tournament while focusing on the rivalry between Indian and Pakistani dancers.
Where can you watch the ABCD movies?
ABCD can be streamed on Netflix and Hotstar. As for ABCD 2, you can watch it on Netflix and Sony LIV. Street Dancer 3D, meanwhile, is available on Prime Video.
