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Review: ‘Dasvi’: Underlying message and good performances elevate this film

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Film: ‘Dasvi’ (Streaming on Netflix); Duration: 126 minutes

Director: Tushar Jalota

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Nimrat Kaur, Yami Gautam, Manu Rishi Chadha, Arun Kushwaha, Chitranjan Tripati, Danish Husain, Dhanveer Singh, Abhimanyu Yadav

IANS Rating: ***

Director Tushar Jalota’s ‘Dasvi’ is designed as a satire in a political set-up, revealing the importance of education.

Set in the fictional state of Harit Pradesh, the arrogant and pompous Chief Minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Abhishek Bachchan) is arrested for a scam. But before getting locked up in judicial custody, he relinquishes his position in favour of his wife, Bimla Devi (Nimrit Kaur), and remote controls the state from behind the bars.

In prison, he is pampered by his sycophants till the arrival of super inspector, Jyoti Deswal (Yami Gautam), who insists that one should be assigned work according to one’s level of education.

Since Ganga Ram Chaudhary is only eighth-passed, he is eligible to work as a gardener, carpenter, or any other menial work. But being the CM and a man of clout, his pride is injured.

He tries seeking his wife’s help to get Inspector Jyoti transferred, but she blatantly refuses, citing a perception issue.

When he learns that prisoners who study are exempted from working in prisons, he contemplates appearing for the Secondary School Certificate exam, which is the tenth standard or “Dasvi” in Hindi.

But when he realises that education empowers you, he takes up the challenge, and how with the help of other inmates, he works towards studying for the exam forms the crux of the narrative.

Being a satire, the writers have crafted a vitreous cocktail of naked ambition and blustery bravado with a distinctly bitter aftertaste. On the face of it, you chuckle constantly, but subconsciously you realise the sad state of affairs that prevails. While the writing is good in parts, it is also the weakest element of the film as the narrative lacks chutzpah.

On the performance front, the film is an outright Abhishek Bachchan canvas. He plays the big-headed, self-important politician who mellows with time to perfection. He is aptly supported by Nimrit Kaur as his timid wife, who suddenly tastes power, and faster than a chameleon changes its colour, she transforms herself into a bumbling shrewd character who lacks any real conviction other than a desire for power and position.

Coming to Yami Gautam as the super-strict police inspector, despite delivering a competent performance, she does not have the persona to play such a character she seems to be a misfit in the film, and the makers of the film are solely to be blamed for it.

The rest of the supporting cast are flat stock characters who have their moments of limited on-screen glory.

The music and songs in the film appear of mediocre quality with oft-heard tunes.

Overall, the film is fairly entertaining and engaging.

Bollywood

When Ajay Devgn talked about his equation with his late father: You think they are stupid

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Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn appeared on the adventure reality show ‘Into The Wild With Bear Grylls’ back in 2021. During the episode, Ajay shared that children see their parents in a different light once they grow up. He added that their perspective especially changes once they have their own children.

Ajay also opened up about his relationship with his late father, Veeru Devgan.

Bear Grylls commenced the conversation by asking Ajay, “You have lost your dad recently.”

“Yes, two years ago,” said Ajay.

“So the last two years must have been very difficult,” Bear Grylls added.

Ajay explained how a person’s understanding of their parents can change as they grow up.

“It’s tough to lose parents, because you don’t care about them till the age of 20 in your life. You think they are stupid. They don’t know anything. You know everything,” he shared.

Ajay added, “Then when you have your own children, then you understand what parents are. They want the best for you. By then, it takes a lot of time to understand this.”

When Bear Grylls asked Ajay what had happened to his father, the ‘Golmaal’ actor said that his father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He added that his father also suffered many physical injuries while working on stunts in his films.

“Yes, he had Alzheimer’s,” Devgn said. “He had a lot of injuries due to stunts,” Ajay told Bear Grylls.

Recalling one particular incident, he added, “Once during the shooting, he had to go across a car, and he had an injury on his head.

Ajay explained that real cars were used for stunt sequences at the time, causing some serious injuries. “Because at that time, they used real glass. Now we use toughened glass. It also hurts. But the real glass hurts a lot.”

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Naseeruddin Shah backs SRFTI students’ protest: BJP trying to frighten future filmmakers

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Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah extended his support to students of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute who are currently staging an indefinite sit-in after a violent incident on campus recently.

Naseeruddin claimed that the BJP wishes to take revenge on all who do not subscribe to its beliefs and policies, and SRFTI students are the latest targets.

On Saturday, the veteran actor dropped a video on his official handle saying, “Namaskar, adab, I’m Naseeruddin Shah. The BJP, the bloody jhooti party, after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections, now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels.”

Naseeruddin added that BJP wants not just to back and encourage the shameless propaganda in its favour, and it is now hoping either to brainwash or frighten the future filmmakers of this country.

“I can promise you that is not going to happen. These are the young people who in the future will tell us the truth about themselves and about our country and about the state we are in,” he assured.

“I urge all right-minded citizens to support the demands of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students,” the actor said before ending the clip.

For the unversed, SRFTI students have been staging an indefinite sit-in outside Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s office since October 12, demanding his resignation.

Students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, got into a clash during a programme on September 27.

On October 4, another tussle took place as a protest was organised by the members of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha. According to reports, a few protesters attempted to force open the gate of the institute after police stopped them.

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Janhvi Kapoor admits she gained weight after Karan Johar stopped talking to her

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After Salman Khan, Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan will be seen as guests on the third episode of the popular chat show, ‘Koffee with Karan’.

As the makers unveiled the teaser of the forthcoming episode on Saturday, Varun and Janhvi revealed that filmmaker Karan Johar had stopped speaking to them both. The ‘Mili’ actress added that she even ended up gaining weight when the director was not talking to her.

During the teaser, Karan shared the reason of his silent treatment, saying “I was hurt with both of you.”

Janhvi pitched in with, “I gained weight when we stopped talking.”

Accusing KJo of being too dramatic, Varun added, “Karan, you said very dramatic shit. You became Bachchan from K3G: ‘Mein bada hoon, haq hai mera.'”

While it is not clear why the filmmaker stopped talking to both Varun and Janhvi, it seems like all is well between them now.

As a fun twist to the episode, actor Arjun Kapoor joined Varun and Janhvi for the rapid fire round on the show.

As Karan asked Varun, who will he like to take career advice and marriage advice from, he immediately took Arjun’s name.

Additionally, as Janhvi was asked to name one Instagram account that is ‘giving’ all the time, she replied, Ravi Kishan. After that, she also went on to imitate his viral punchline: ‘Money follows my brother!’. Arjun also accompanied his sister.

Sharing the teaser of the next episode of ‘Koffee With Karan’ on his Instagram handle, Karan wrote the caption, “@varundvn & @janhvikapoor on my couch…need I say more? This one was all madness and love + a very special (longstanding) guest. Koffee with Karan Season 9, Episode 3, streaming Wednesday at 7pm, only on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar.”

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