Language: Hindi
Ganga Ram Chaudhary in Dasvi is chief minister of a north Indian state. His wife Bimla Devi manages their home and cattle, treats him with reverence and is so intimidated by him that her voice is a near-whisper in his presence.
Ganga is sent to judicial custody while a scam is being probed. Confident that he holds the diffident Bimla’s puppet strings, he appoints her as the CM in his absence.
Contrary to his expectations, Bimla changes once she gets a taste of authority. And the arrogant Ganga’s clash with an incorruptible jail superintendent results in him returning to his school books – he studied up to Class 8 as a child, and now decides to take his Class 10 exams.
This and quite a bit more are already revealed in the trailer of Dasvi (Tenth). Director Tushar Jalota’s film stars Abhishek Bachchan (credited as Abhishek A. Bachchan) playing Ganga, Nimrat Kaur as Bimla and Yami Gautam Dhar as the policewoman, Jyoti Deswal.
Dasvi’s concept has obvious potential. Among other reasons – notwithstanding the standard opening disclaimer that it is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons “is purely coincidental and unintentional” – the resemblance of Ganga and Bimla’s saga to the real-life husband-wife political team of former Bihar CMs Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi is unmistakable and hardly appears coincidental or unintentional (*insert laugh emoji here*).
The first half-hour races along then, on the strength of the amusing similarities, the naturally appealing cast, a sense of humour and the energy in the narrative. A light touch and vitality somewhat sustain the rest of the film too though it wears thin beyond a point under the weight of its limited substance.
The idea of a version of Rabri Devi rebelling against her Lalu is intriguing, but before Bimla in Dasvi becomes a manipulative power-chaser, the film does not explore a progression of events that could make this trembling, stay-at-home wife’s transformation convincing. What we see of her journey from being a scared pawn is wrapped up during the course of one song, which intercuts between Ganga dancing with his prison-mates and Bimla’s political life.
Snapshots laid over a single song – this is a formula commercial Indian cinema has used for decades to portray a hero and heroine meeting and falling in love when a script does not view her as anything more than his “love interest”. It is odd that Jalota would use the same narrative device to depict the evolution of a woman whose actions are pivotal to Dasvi’s plotline.
Jyoti Deswal too suffers from incomplete writing. This policewoman who is sincere to a career-destroying degree has no layers at all to her character. What makes her tick? How did she get to be this person who does not bat an eyelid before chiding the most powerful man in her state or even insulting him publicly? Does she feel even a flicker of fear ever? Don’t know.
Hindi cinema is yet to give Nimrat Kaur another role to match the lonely wife she played impeccably in The Lunchbox (2013). She, at least, has her moments in Dasvi. The film, which is designed as a comedy, does not give space to Yami Gautam Dhar’s talent as a comedian that was evident in Bala (2019). Her personality cannot compensate for Jyoti’s flat characterisation.
Abhishek Bachchan gets the better-fleshed-out role of the three, however improbable Ganga’s later choices might be. The actor dives into Dasvi – and its mission to promote education – with enthusiasm. He is lively and seems to be having a good time here.
Ganga’s prison associates are played by interesting actors. Manu Rishi Chadha as a sycophantic policeman cracked me up. And Arun Kushwah (credited here as Arun Kushwaha) has a striking personality. This is a rare – and welcome – instance of an actor with dwarfism being treated as a real person rather than a mere source of humour in a Hindi film.
Dasvi is written by Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Sandeep Leyzell based on a story by Ram Bajpai, with poet-politician Kumar Vishwas as a script and dialogue consultant. It is fun to see Ganga inserted into significant historical events, but the writers do not go into those scenes or any of their other ideas with depth – they flit over a reference to dyslexia, and their treatment of inter-caste violence is as simplistic as their depiction of the media and the political class.
Dasvi is also not as brave as you might assume from the fact that it partially mimics the lives of two living Indian politicians.
The Yadav couple, after all, are no longer in power. The film opens with a clever joke about Fit India and other catchphrase-led initiatives of the present Central government, but in retrospect, that moment of courage pales in the face of the decision to skip Jawaharlal Nehru while highlighting four leaders from India’s freedom movement. Nehru – who is anathema to the governing party – is mentioned only in passing.
Sachin-Jigar’s songs for Dasvi include Macha macha re and Ghani trip with their infectious tempo and okay tunes. Thaan liya (sung superbly by Tanishkaa Sanghvi, Sukhwinder Singh and others) is the best in this soundtrack, though its melody and choral arrangement have an Ek jindari hangover harking back to the composers’ own hit in Hindi Medium (2017, Hindi).
This then is Dasvi – part fun, largely skimming over the surface of its concerns and characters, but with just enough going for it to make it a mildly entertaining experience.
Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)
Dasvi is streaming on Netflix and JioCinema
Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial
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