ABCD 2: The dance group that inspired Varun Dhawan-Shraddha Kapoor's film

Last time you saw Varun Dhawan on the big screen, he was a vengeful widower and father holed up in Badlapur. In his upcoming release ABCD 2, Dhawan plays the real life Suresh Mukund, who along with Vernon Monteiro (Sushant Pujari) founded Fictitious Dance Group in Vasai-Nalasopara in 2009.

The hip hop group is best known for its stylish choreography full of awe-inspiring moves and competing in India's Got Talent, which they won in their second attempt - in season three -under the moniker 'Suresh & Vernon Group'.

Mukund and Monterio's fairytale journey from a rehearsal room in Vasai, to Las Vegas, where they became the first Indian group to compete at the World Hip Hop Championship, is the inspiration for part two of choreographer-director Remo D'Souza's popular dance film, ABCD (2013). Apart from choreographing six songs including Bezubaan Phir Se and the climax dance number, Mukund also gets credit as an assistant director in ABCD 2.

Fictitious' journey to the top was difficult, says Mukund. Accused of copying routines of Philippine All Stars, which Mukund and Monteiro cite as their idol, Fictitious Group may have garnered fame and success but respect of the dance community was harder to earn.

An internet backlash saw dance enthusiasts attacking them on Orkut as 'copycat' and videos uploaded on YouTube showed the similarities in the routines of the two groups. "They said that we don't know how to dance and that we just throw people around," says Mukund, who adds that Fictitious was inspired by, and never imitated, Philippine All Stars. Things became bad to worse for the group after a disappointing stint in the reality show Chak Dhoom Dhoom. "Our morale was down," says Mukund, whose father is a builder.

Mukund and Monteiro decided to silence their detractors. Their idea was to do it through moves and not words. They decided to prove their talent by participating in an international dance competition. The World Hip Hop Championship, which the two were following since 2006, was chosen as the destination. "We decided not to tell anybody we are going." says Suresh Mukund, 26, "and to go anyhow." It meant raising Rs 25 lakh for travel and accommodation for the trip.

With groups from over 40 countries including two-time winners, Philippine All Stars, the going was tough. But Fictitious wasn't deterred. After getting a standing ovation for their qualifying round performance, Fictitious made it to the finals and finished eighth; a commendable achievement, given it was their first attempt. "We managed to answer our critics," says Mukund.

Back home though, only a few knew of their accomplishment abroad. "I was hoping that we would be received (with fanfare) at the airport in Mumbai because I had dropped a message to a few media persons," says Mukund. "Instead, I was told that if we finished in top three and or won the competition, then we would have been covered."

The 10-member crew was disappointed but Mukund and Monteiro knew that their efforts won't go unnoticed. After D'Souza saw a show reel of their trip to Vegas, he was convinced that their story needed to be retold. ABCD 2 was born. "I knew it would not go to waste," says Mukund. He met Tushar Hiranandani, the scriptwriter, to recount their terpsichorean journey. Three years after their trip to Las Vegas in 2012, the film hits the screen now.

Hiranandani's script has retained some of the adventures of the group. Out of the 10 dancers, seven members were travelling abroad for the first time. In fact, six members of Fictitious - Chandan, Pawan, Pravin, Mohan, Rohit and Nikhil - are acting in the film as member of the group which has been renamed Mumbai Stunners. Says Mukund, "We were bindaas and awaara (free-spirited) types. At the check-in counter of the airport, we didn't know you have to remove the belts. Some of us were wearing old smelly socks. Once we removed them, there was a foul smell. It was an embarrassing and funny moment."

Not everyone was well-versed with English, which resulted in communication problems throughout the trip. Water was expensive, so most drank tap water to save money. Despite the troubles, the boys made through most of the trip. After the competition, they extended their visit and stayed for 12 more days in Vegas.

Suresh and Vernon and the dancers devoted a year to the project, with Suresh spending three months with Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor to train them at D'Souza's rehearsal studio in Andheri. The actors and dancers, which include Dharmesh, Lauren Gottlieb, Punit Pathak among others, were taught the Fictitious-style, which Monteiro, 24, explains is heavy on "flips, formations, blow-ups and choreography". "They were always excited to do all the moves," says Suresh. "It was our duty to make sure that they were not hurt and everything was done safely. We started training with normal jumps and then moved to catching."

The biggest task, say Suresh and Vernon, was to make the Indian cast compelling dancers who could take on real international groups seen in ABCD 2. Mukund especially praises Dhawan, who was regular at the rehearsals. Says Mukund, "He'd ask me, 'Are you happy? Did I get it? Varun was tenser than I was. But he worked hard to nail it." Meanwhile, Shraddha's character of Vinnie is inspired by Suresh's girlfriend and now wife, Pallavi. Adds Suresh, "Pallavi isn't a dancer, but she has always been by my side."

The film, for Mukund and Monteiro, is proof of how far the group, which now has 150 members, has come - from being the strange boys in Vasai-Nalasopara who raised eyebrows for their quirky hairdos and moving about in bright, oversized clothes, to dancers whose story is now being made into a Bollywood film.

It was in 2009 that Suresh and Vernon, who had separate groups of their own which would face each other off in local competitions, decided to join hands and named the new group Fictitious. "Fictitious for us reflects imagination," says Suresh. "We wanted people to look at us and think, 'Yes, they are indeed fictitious. What they do, only they can only do.' We (have always) aspired to stand out from the pack."

Mukund is grateful to D'Souza, who first gave the group a cameo in ABCD and later has collaborated with them on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. "It's not every day you see a film wherein a hero's name is Suresh," says Mukund. "It doesn't sound like a hero's name, but he kept it realistic. I feel proud that a film has been made on our group. When we grow old, we can tell our kids that a film was made on us. There can't be a better achievement than that."

For Vernon, who took up dancing after watching another dance film in You Got Served, the dream won't be over after the release of ABCD 2. "The film is the turning point (in our lives)," says Monteiro, who started out practising B-Boying in gardens and on streets of Nalasopara. "The common man doesn't know about our style and story. This film will make them aware about our struggles and it will help us in future." Monteiro's next goal is to go one step further and win the World Hip Hop Championships. He has his eyes set on Las Vegas in 2016.