Released last week in U.P. (at Dehradun; 1st week 6 shows 29,085/-), Star Fortune Movies and Reality Films’ DFO Diary: Fire Warriors (UA) is about a district forest officer’s diary and the officer’s courage and sacrifice. Set in Uttarakhand, it captures the resilience of forest officers and villagers. The story highlights their battles against poachers, timber mafia, and forest fires like the 2024 Binsar forest fire.
T.R. Biju Lal and Mahesh Bhatt’s story is not very interesting. Mahesh Bhatt and Rituraj’s screenplay has engaging moments but they are few and far between. A good part of the drama has a documentary-like feel. Mahesh Bhatt’s dialogues are commonplace.
Performances range from average to below-average. T.R. Biju Lal, Devendra Rawat, Rajesh Arya, Devender Bisht, Pawan Kumar, Manoj Shah, Mukesh Dhasmana, Shambhu Dutt Sahil, Sooraj Bisht, Ganga Butalkoti, Dr. Rajni Rawat, Harshita Kohli, Neelam Verma, Kiran Dimri, Saeed Saqlaini, Pradeep Mishra and the others are in the cast.
Mahesh Bhatt’s direction is weak. Music (Amit V. Kapoor, Vinay Kochar and Mann Chauhan) and lyrics (Vinay Kochar and Rituraj) are functional. Arpit Semwal’s choreography hardly deserves mention. Amit V. Kapoor’s background music is dull. Camerawork (by Manoj Sati and Santosh Pal) is so-so. Arun Singh’s action and stunt scenes are alright. Javed Hussain’s art direction is ordinary. Editing (Alok Singh and Aayushman Bhatt) is loose.
On the whole, DFO Diary: Fire Warriors is a weak fare.
