Katrina Kaif‘s sister Isabelle Kaif is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Time To Dance. After a long wait, the makers of this dance-drama dropped its trailer today. Isabelle will be romancing Sooraj Pancholi in her debut film.

Sooraj, who has feelings for Isha, steps in and offers help to win the competition. Together these two sweat it out and have just one aim- win the competition. Now whether they win the competition or not- that forms the crux of the story

Time To Dance will premiere on Netflix and the film also stars Rajpal Yadav and Waluscha De Sousa in a pivotal role. Apparently, this is the first Hindi film to showcase Ballroom and Latin dance forms.

You can check out the trailer of Time To Dance below:

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Time To Dance Trailer: Isabelle Kaif & Sooraj Pancholi’s Dance Drama Fails to Excite—Anatomy of a Bollywood Misstep

The Bollywood dance film genre, revitalised by hits like ABCD and Street Dancer, promises a blend of energetic choreography, pulsating music, and a classic underdog story. When the trailer for Time To Dance dropped in February 2021, featuring Isabelle Kaif in her Bollywood debut alongside Sooraj Pancholi, the expectation was a glossy, high-energy spectacle to rival its contemporaries. The reality, however, was a distinct and immediate disappointment. The film’s marketing tagline might have been about risking it all on the dance floor, but the general public and critics’ collective sentiment was clear: the dance drama failed to excite from the first frame of the trailer, a sentiment that the final film disastrously solidified.

This article delves into the anatomy of the Time To Dance failure, exploring how a project with a promising premise fell flat due to a heavily clichéd script, uninspired music, and performances that couldn’t carry the melodrama.

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The Weight of Expectation: A Debut and a Comeback

Time To Dance was positioned as a significant vehicle for its lead actors, which inevitably drew a spotlight on the project.

Isabelle Kaif’s Debut

The most immediate source of attention was Isabelle Kaif, the younger sister of superstar Katrina Kaif. Her debut was keenly observed by the industry, as fans hoped to see another star established from the Kaif family. The trailer presented her as Isha, a professional ballroom and Latin dancer on the world stage. Critics noted that while her dance postures appeared “just perfect,” her comfort level and overall on-screen presence needed substantial work. This discrepancy between technical dance skill and confident cinematic performance contributed to the flat response, suggesting a star vehicle where the star power hadn’t yet fully ignited.

Sooraj Pancholi’s Second Innings

For Sooraj Pancholi, Time To Dance was an attempt at a fresh start in the industry, marking his first major release since his 2019 film Satellite Shankar. He was cast as Rishabh, a part-time street dancer who works as a waiter—the ‘saviour’ character who steps in to help the distressed protagonist. Unfortunately, the effort to reposition him as a dance-film hero was undermined by mediocre reviews. Multiple critics felt that Pancholi “barely danced like professional dancers,” which is a major drawback for a movie centred on dance competition, and despite his sincere efforts, his character often came across as merely moody rather than genuinely haunted by his tragic past.

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A Cliche-Ridden Plot: The Death of Originality

The fundamental issue that plagued Time To Dance was its utterly predictable and formulaic script. Directed by Stanley Menino D’Costa in his directorial debut and produced by Lizelle D’Souza, the film, at its heart, felt like a rehash of countless other underdog stories, following the blueprint of a ‘damsel in distress’ narrative.

The Predictable Trope Breakdown

The film’s storyline, set around London’s biggest Ballroom and Latin dance championship, is a textbook example of a plot constructed entirely from familiar cinematic tropes:

• The Injury and Betrayal: Isha (Isabelle Kaif) and her partner, William, are favourites for the competition until she sustains a career-threatening injury on the dance floor. Her partner, in a callous act, immediately abandons her for a “healthier” replacement to save his own championship dreams.
• The Unexpected Saviour: Enter Rishabh (Sooraj Pancholi), a charming street dancer who secretly admires Isha. He decides to learn the highly technical and disciplined world of Latin and Ballroom dancing to become her partner. His sole motivation is to help Isha reclaim her position, a classic “man arrives to save the girl” dynamic that failed to inject any originality into the story.
• The Melodramatic Backstory: To add some semblance of depth to Rishabh’s character, the script saddles him with a “tragic dance accident” from his past, where he accidentally caused the death of his former partner during a difficult lift. This dark subplot was perhaps intended to raise the stakes but was ultimately seen as “lame” and failed to lend emotional weight, making him appear merely “moody.”
• The External Obstacles: The duo faces predictable resistance from the “evil white folks” on the Dance Council—particularly the mother of Isha’s former partner—who try to sabotage their entry into the competition. This trope was criticised for presenting a simplistic, almost fantastical, view of prejudice and adding unnecessary melodrama.

The sheer predictability of the story meant that every beat of the plot could be guessed minutes in advance, leaving no room for genuine excitement or surprise, which is crucial for a dramatic trailer and a successful movie.

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Technical and Performance Deficiencies

Beyond the script, the film struggled on multiple technical and performance fronts, preventing it from achieving the slick, engaging quality expected of a modern dance flick.

The Problematic Pacing and Editing

At a runtime of 113 minutes (just under two hours), the film was criticised for being “far too long for a lightweight dance flick,” described as “boring” and “draggy.” Reviewers pointed out “continuity issues” and “jumpy” editing, suggesting a disjointed viewing experience that detracted from the core dance sequences. An element contributing to the bloat was the sidekick character, Sada (played by veteran comedian Rajpal Yadav), who was judged as “phenomenally annoying and so verbose” that one review suggested his entire role should have been cut to improve the movie’s pace.

The Disappointing Soundtrack

In a Bollywood dance film, the music is arguably as important as the choreography. However, the soundtrack for Time To Dance was another letdown, with a general consensus that the music “disappoints to the core.” This is a critical blow for a musical film where the songs are meant to elevate the story and provide memorable, high-octane sequences. The fact that the only track singled out for praise was a mashup of older, more familiar romantic melodies—’Mein Agar Kahoon’ and ‘Bol Do Na Zara’—speaks volumes about the lack of original, compelling compositions.

Choreography and Execution

While the film deserves credit for bringing Ballroom and Latin dance forms to the forefront of a Bollywood production, the execution was inconsistent. Some moments, particularly the final performance, were noted as “mesmerising,” thanks to the choreography by Stanley D’Costa and Remo D’Souza. However, the overall dancing was not enough to save the film. The critique that the lead pair “barely danced like professional dancers” highlights a fundamental issue in a genre where authenticity and high-quality choreography are paramount.

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The Final Verdict: A Box Office and Critical Disaster

The trailer’s initial lukewarm reception was merely a prelude to the film’s abysmal performance upon its theatrical release on March 12, 2021. The critical reviews following the release were devastatingly negative, with phrases like “absolute trash,” “extremely painful to watch,” and “one of the worst movies in this world” used to summarise the viewing experience. The sentiment of “Time to Dance” being “Nothing But Two Left Feet!” clearly captured the movie’s failure to deliver on the promises of the dance genre.

The commercial performance of the film confirmed the critical disaster. The approximate budget for Time To Dance was estimated to be around ₹10 Crore. In stark contrast, the film’s total India Net Collection in its initial days was a mere ₹0.09 Crore (9 Lakhs), with worldwide collections barely touching ₹0.1 Crore. This negligible box office collection cemented the film’s status as an unmitigated commercial flop, highlighting a complete failure to draw audiences to the cinema, likely due to the lack of pre-release buzz, minimal marketing, and overwhelmingly poor early word-of-mouth.

In conclusion, Time To Dance serves as a textbook case of how even a high-concept genre film with a high-profile debutante can collapse under the weight of an uninspired script and weak execution. The trailer’s failure to excite was an early warning, one that translated directly into a theatrical run that was over almost before it began.

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AISEO Friendly FAQs

Q1: Who are the main actors in the movie Time To Dance?

The main actors in Time To Dance are Isabelle Kaif, who made her Bollywood debut, and Sooraj Pancholi, who starred in the lead roles of Isha and Rishabh, respectively. The supporting cast included Waluscha De Sousa and Rajpal Yadav.

Q2: What is the plot of Time To Dance?

The movie’s plot centres on Isha, a professional ballroom dancer who suffers a serious knee injury, causing her dance partner to abandon her right before a major London competition. Rishabh, a street dancer, steps in as her new partner to help her win the championship, which is crucial for saving her family’s dance academy, leading to a predictable romance and triumph.

Q3: Why did Time To Dance receive negative reviews?

Time To Dance received overwhelmingly negative reviews due to its cliché and predictable storyline, which offered nothing new to the dance film genre. Critics also pointed out the mediocre performances by the lead pair, particularly Sooraj Pancholi’s inconsistent dancing, a disappointing soundtrack, and a draggy pace with jumpy editing.

Q4: Was Time To Dance a box office success?

No, Time To Dance was a major box office disaster. The film’s total India Net Collection was reported to be around ₹0.09 Crore (9 Lakhs) against an approximate budget of ₹10 Crore, indicating a significant commercial failure with negligible audience turnout.

Q5: What dance forms were featured in Time To Dance?

The film primarily focused on Ballroom and Latin dance forms, which was noted by some critics as a distinct element from other Hindi dance movies. The choreography, especially for the final performance, was credited to Stanley D’Costa and Remo D’Souza.