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Movie Review: ‘Dasvi’ (Netflix & Jio Cinema)

‘Dasvi’ is the latest Bollywood release on Netflix and Jio Cinema starring Abhishek Bachchan, Nimrat Kaur and Yami Gautam Dhar. The film tells the story of an illiterate politician, Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Bachchan) who as the Chief Minister of Harit Pradesh, is convicted and sentenced to jail for his role in a corruption scandal. Immediately, Ganga Ram tells his docile wife Bimla (Kaur) to become the Chief Minister in his absence. At first, the police officer in charge of the prison, Satnam Tomar (Manu Rishi Chadha) gives the newly convicted politician his own quarters inside the jail to reside. He’s allowed to eat food cooked from outside and moreover, he is not given any work to do, unlike other prisoners. All this changes once Jyoti Deswal (Gautam Dhar) is made the superintendent of the prison. She is a taskmaster who believes in doing her duty religiously. She compels Chaudhary to shift to a prison cell and consume jail food. She also orders him to take up the work of making chairs. His picture of making a chair goes viral and he becomes the butt of all jokes.

An enraged Chaudhry orders his wife, the newly initiated Chief Minister to transfer the police officer out of the jail immediately. However, Bimla has tasted blood after assuming power. She knows that her powers will be snatched away once her husband is released. Hence, she reminds him that it was he who had transferred Deswal to the prison after she had beaten up his party workers. Hence, shifting her again would go against him. One day, Chaudhry finds out that a few prisoners are students and are preparing for upcoming exams. He is also told that those who study are exempted from working. This and his childhood dream of getting a degree prompts Chuadhry to announce that he’ll sit for the Class 10 exams. In a fit of rage, he also bets with Deswal that if he fails in the 10th boards, he’ll never become a chief minister again in his life. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Ram Bajpai’s story is promising. Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Sandeep Leyzell’s screenplay, however, lets the film down. The movie is intended to be a comic caper but there are hardly any funny moments that’ll make viewers laugh out loud. There also seems to be several loopholes in the script – leaving viewers bewildered with more questions than answers.

Tushar Jalota’s direction is average though the message on the importance of education comes across well. He has also handled some moments nicely. This is especially in the latter part of the film. The scene where Ganga Ram’s results are called out is one such sequence that shows that the director has potential.

As far as the performances are concerned, Bachchan does well as the assertive Chief Minister. He could have done much more with the part if the writing had backed it. Kaur shines as Bimla, portraying all the layers of the character to the tee. Gautam Dhar as the principled and strict superintendent gives her all to the character, but isn’t very convincing in the part. All three, however, did very well in getting the Haryanvi dialect right.

‘Dasvi’ could have done with a lot more work, especially in the second half of the movie. Whilst the background score helps to lift-up the scenes, songs composed by Sachin Jigar are forgettable. The film also seems a bit rushed in the end, especially the last half-an-hour.

Overall, though it meant well, ‘Dasvi’ flunks the test because it walks into the examination hall without the necessary resources. Confused about its purpose, the film turns out to be highly inconsistent in nature. A shame to see so much potential fail the test.