This will spoil my sleep.
2008 has been one jubilant year for me as far as Bollywood is concerned, the industry regularly dished out unique, off-beat movies, or simply put- path-breaking films. Be it Shyam Benegal's 'Welcome to Sajjanpur', Santosh Sivan's 'Tahaan', Ashustosh Gowariker's 'Jodha Akbar', Neeraj Pandey's 'A Wednesday', Abhishek Kapoor's 'Rock On!', or Nishikant Kamat's 'Mumbai Meri Jaan', Bollywood has oozed with quality all over, films that could stand on par with much of Hollywood products.
Add to this longing list one more film- Dasdivaniya. 'Dasdivaniya' literally means 'Goodbye' in Russian. Directed by Sashanth Shah and produced by the film's lead actor Vinay Pathak, the film also marks the debut of wonderful soul singer Kailash Kher as a music director. To be perfectly frank, 'Dasvidaniya' is not an original concept. It is just a story of a dying man and how he spends his last days.
But you can't help but agree with the film's tagline- "The Best Goodbye Ever", yes, it most probably is. A great film is a film that grows on you as the hours pass by after the end credits roll by, so this is definitely a great one.
Synopsis:
Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak) is a 37-year-old single accounts manager at a company in Mumbai who learns that he is suffering from stomach cancer. He makes a list of things he wants to do for the remaining three months of his life, which includes buying a new car, making a foreign a trip, which he does to Russia to meet his long-lost best friend, confessing his long-hidden love to his childhood crush Neha, who is now happily married with kids, make peace with his estranged brother and bring his tiny family together, learning his childhood dream of mastering the art of playing guitar, finally peg back his bully-ish boss, make his mother happy, and above all to find love (which in the most unexpected circumstances comes in the form of a Russian call-girl called Tatiana).
The film is predictable from the word go, you know what is going to happen- he is dying, so he will live his life to the fullest and realize the value of life by the end of the film, and he will say 'Dasvidaniya' as a goodbye sign. But that is where the film rakes its speciality, despite all the predictability, you will just watch it, and keep watching it and still be moved by the end even though you know he will die.
Vinay Pathak is simply phenomenal in his role as Amar Kaul. Ditto for him for producing and acting in such a quality film. Rajat Kapoor is delightful in his role as Rajiv, who is Amar's best friends. Neha Dhuphia doesn't come for long but nevertheless leaves an adequate impact, but who impresses me most is Russian new face Manoylo Svitlana in the role as the Russian call-girl Tatanya. Sarita Joshi is also wonderful as Amar's nagging but lovable mother. Ranvir Shorey in a cameo, Gaurav Gaura as the brother, Saurabh Shukla as the bullish boss, and Joy Fernandes as the veteran guitarist are all extremely adequate in their roles, I have to say there is absolutely no mis-cast in the whole film.
Shashanth Shah's direction is extremely commendable in this film. Knowing that he has a predictable story in hand, he leaves out a lot of logistics that would have turned out unnecessary scenes. For instance, the film never shows Amar struggling in his deathbed or any melodramatic scenes of Amar telling in detail the truth of his disease, and people sobbing. The film may not have melodramatic scenes, but even the subtle transition of scenes will urge tears from your eyes. One of the most masterly scenes is when Amar's mother discovers about his son's condition. Instead of shoring her sobbing or anything such, the director freezes the shot at her state of denial after listening to the fact and then pans to a scene where his mother brings him to a 'samy' who tells that he can heal any wounds by religious chants. It's a masterstroke to put such a scene just after a serious scene- you will want to laugh at the absurdity of his mother's actions but you will also find tears in your eyes because you know his mother is in denial that her son is dying and cant come to terms with it.
Despite made at such a low budget, the film oozes with delight all over and will definitely have an everlasting impact on you long after the credits roll.
Watch 'Dasvidaniya'- It will make your day for sure!
Rating: 9/10
Verdict: Miss it at your own risk!
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