Dasvi REVIEW: Abhishek Bachchan, Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur starrer leaves you chuckling

Director: Tushar Jalota

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Nimrat Kaur, Yami Gautam

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3 stars

Borrowing flamboyance from Munna, a plot twist from Hindi Medium and marrying it with satire is Maddock Films’ Dasvi. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur in the lead roles, Dasvi is not your ordinary practice-what-you-preach story, it, in fact, takes ahead the bandwagon of Maddock Films with intelligent story writing and understated humour which I believe is the biggest highlight for the film.

Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Abhishek Bachchan) is an unapologetically eccentric Chief Minister of a state who gets embroiled in a scandal and is sent to jail. Jail for ‘lord of the land’ Chaudhary means clean bed, outside food and people throwing themselves in to appease him. In the interim, Gangaram appoints his wife, an amateur Bimla (Nimrat Kaur) as CM. However, all his ‘swag’ is brushed aside with Superintendent Jyoti (Yami Gautam) being transferred to the said jail.

 

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A dedicated police officer, Jyoti quashes aside any special treatment given to Gangaram and makes him do basic ordeals which even forms memes. Later, in order to escape those ordeals, he decides to take up studies and pass Dasvi. What is interesting about Dasvi is that there is no 180-degree revolution or change in one’s personality. ‘A tiger never changes its stripe,’ Gangaram reiterates multiple times. However, it shows us how education can bring a change if done right. There are no villains or heroes in this story and that is the beauty of Dasvi.

In fact, if anything the story serves reference points to many other iconic films. For instance, in the part where Ganga starts studying history and sees himself during the freedom struggle, I was instantly reminded of Lage Raho Munna Bhai in a good way. Similarly, with Ganga’s struggle to understand language, Hindi Medium served as a reference point.

It was interesting to see how with corruption as the subplot, the writer was able to pull off a satire without overexposing or underplaying. Using normal nuances of power being exploited in various forms, to jail mates treating Gangaram as ‘God’ to information being leaked to the media and just media coverage to controversies like this, it is all picked from real life. The writing is not boring and is filled with timely laughable lines. The dialogue writing is not complicated and very relatable.

 

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Abhishek Bachchan is convincing as Gangaram. He is speaking in Haryanvi dialect throughout and even though it might seem foreign in parts, it only adds to Chaudhary’s flamboyance. Abhishek carries off the swag with an understated charm. His camaraderie with all the cast members is hilarious.

Yami Gautam as Jyoti is powerful and emotional. I wished we would know the backstory of these characters. She is a no-nonsense person with a soft heart and it was refreshing to see Yami in uniform.

Nimrat is perhaps the star. She easily slips from being a housewife to the CM and the personality change within is so apparent. She is perhaps one of the most hilarious characters of Dasvi.

Dasvi is overall an entertaining one-time watch that will leave you chuckling. It promises a good time, but don’t enter with sky-high expectations.

Dasvi is streaming on Jio Cinema and Netflix.

Also Read: Sharmaji Namkeen REVIEW: Late Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal serve an appetising story that satiates your hunger but not your want

Bhavna Agarwal

Assistant Editor at Bollywood Bubble. An ambivert who is currently high on K-dramas and K-Pop. A forever Bollywood fan, who continues to gush over solid stories and characters. Hit me up for a fine conversation over chai.

You can also reach me on – https://twitter.com/filmybugB