Dasvi

Dasvi movie review: Abhishek Bachchan is a perfect match for the kind of character he is playing. It's a pity that the material never quite knows whether it ...

A craven babu (Chittranjan Tripathy) who has served Chaudhary and is now busy yes-ministering his wife, is the butt of bureaucrats-are-no-good-jokes, and a couple of them land. Another is dubbed ‘anti-nasional’ (national), and yet another ‘liberal ki aulaad’. For a film to topline a newly-minted ‘ dasvi pass’ politician whose electoral plank is ‘free education’ is in and of itself a hugely subversive idea, given the current state of the nation. Abhishek Bachchan has the rare gift of not taking himself seriously, and is a perfect match for the kind of character he is playing: it’s a pity that the material never quite knows whether it is an exaggerated parody or a sharp comedy with realistic overtones. Furious Khap leaders are shown swallowing a ‘mixed marriage’, giving Chaudhary a chance to militate against ‘jaatiwaad ka jahar (zeher)’: all of it gets done in a jiffy, without any pushbacks. It has the feel of a modest resort, with Chaudhary disporting himself in a room with mod cons and gadgets, watched over by an obsequious jailor (Manu Rishi Chaddha). All the inmates are orderly and well-behaved, no bristling gangs, no reception committee, zero scary incarceration feels. The only one who barks orders is the newly-arrived prison-in-charge Jyoti Deswal (Yami Gautam), and everyone falls in line, except of course our hero who roars, till one fine day, he begins purring.