Dinesh Kamath's article on film 'StreetDance 2' that was published in Newsband

StreetDance 2 is the sequel to StreetDance 3D which was released on 21 May 2010. The film has been released in RealD 3D, XpanD 3D, and Dolby 3D with Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini returning to directing. Britain's Got Talent stars George Sampson and Flawless return along with Hip-hop dancer Sofia Boutella (backing dancer for Madonna and face of Nike) and Falk Hentschel. The cast also features b-boys such as Lilou, Niek, and Yaman.

The movie has an interesting plot. To beat the world's best dance crew at a dance-off in Paris, France, streetdancer Ash (Falk Hentschel) and new friend and manager, Eddie (George Sampson), gather the greatest streetdancers from around Europe, whilst hoping to add a Latin element courtesy of salsa dancer Eva (Sofia Boutella).

The film has Sofia Boutella as Eva, Salsa/Latin dancer and romantic interest, Falk Hentschel as Ash, the protagonist, George Sampson as Eddie, Ash's manager, Richard Winsor as Tomas, Akai Osei as Junior, Tom Conti as Manu, Eva's uncle, Flawless as dance crew "The Surge" and Ratisha Belush as Catacomb Clubber

StreetDance 2 received its first review with Screen International chief film critic, Mark Adams, describing the dancing as "toe-tappingly cool" and stating that lead actress Sofia Boutella is "destined to be a big star"

The film caused significant outrage among Algerians living in both France and Algeria due to their compatriot Sofia Boutella's appearance in scenes that are excessively risqué by Algerian standards. Viewing the film as an "insult to Algerian traditions and ethics," some Algerian immigrants in France boycotted the film and a campaign was launched through social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to prevent the showing of the film in Algeria.

Actor Falk Hentschell has so far played dark characters and his experience in Street Dance 2 has been fun-filled. His experience in this film has been very different because usually he plays dark or tough characters that don't get to be so playful. So to do a movie that is so fun with a lot of laughter and isn't too serious, it was great. Hentschell plays a street dancer in Street Dance 2. He wanted to be an actor when he was little. There wasn't a real way in, so his mum, she asked him as to why he didn’t learn how to dance. So he started with Latin and Ballroom which is so unusual for a 14-year-old.

That turned into hip hop. Then he wanted to know a bit more about dance like jazz and tap. Later he became a back-up dancer which led him to Hollywood. He has been focusing on acting for 10 years now and solely acting for the last five years. Then he got this role in Street Dance 2.

The film also has the first film's dancing sensation - George Sampson. Street Dance 2, scripted by Jane English, releases June 22 in India.

Flawless reached the finals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 with their street dance routine and have since gone on to star in feature movie Streetdance 3D and Streetdance 2. The film has moments of breathtaking brilliance.

Streetdance 2 has energy; Falk Hentschel is Ash, a guy with something to prove, having embarrassed himself in a confrontation with a streetdance crew hubristically named Invincible. So he assembles a super-cool crew of his own from all over Europe to take them on again, and incidentally falls for Eva (Sofia Boutella), his most luscious signing. And after some ups and downs they are the winners.

In the middle of Streetdance 2, a breakdance crew storms a Parisian bar to show off their moves. They flex and writhe as the music thumps. On the edge of the circle, away from the sweat and the fury, Tom Conti leads a partner through a gentle spot of salsa.

The film is really not about dancing. It is about the connection between man and woman. The streetdancers don't connect with each other, they just do phenomenal acrobatics. There's no sex, really.

Conti in this film doesn't like to dance. He has some problem but he likes music, girls and sex. And he is, despite his cautious Cuban motion , the heart of Streetdance 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the most successful British independent film of recent years. The film sees Conti, who is Scottish, play Manu, a curmudgeonly French club owner who helps a troupe of young breakdancers learn how to fuse the energy of street dance with the raw sexuality of Latin. It's a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Conti has loads of fun with it. The salsa scene may send up his reputation as a sex symbol although there was a definite sexual tension between Conti and his twentysomething street dance partner. Conti is thoughtful company. He laughs a lot and doesn't guard himself.

There are 54 years between Conti and Sampson, but the phenomenal success of the first Streetdance film – which took £2.5m on its opening weekend in the UK – suggests that the audience for Streetdance 2 might be broad enough to cover both of their bases. Conti is no doubt a useful draw for older cinemagoers, though it's a stretch to imagine those who remember him from his Tony award-winning performance in Brian Clark's Whose Life is it Anyway? making the leap into Streetdance territory.

Thus Street Dance 2 is a fun-filled film. There is a lot of laughter and it isn’t a very serious film. The film features the return of the first film's dancing sensation - George Sampson. Street Dance 2 releases June 22 in India. Talking about other dancers in the film, everyone is an expert. I don't think dancing is ever to be about the best, it's supposed to be about expressing yourself and you are ok whatever you do. To me, everyone is expert in expressing themselves. You’ll love Sofia Boutella a lot because she's a hard worker and she had never done salsa before and yet she has performed excellently in the film. So do watch StreetDance 2. You’ll enjoy it.