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Jio Studios, Maddock Films and Bake My Cake Films’ Dasvi is the story of chief minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Abhishek Bachchan) who has not completed his school education. He is insulted so badly by jailor Jyoti Deswal when he is imprisoned for a scam that he vows to pass the Std. X examinations. Studies begin in right earnest in the prison, with staff and prisoners helping the chief minister prepare thoroughly for the examinations. Why, even Jyoti Deswal starts taking interest in Ganga Ram’s studies. Meanwhile, Ganga Ram’s simpleton wife, Bimla Devi Chaudhary, takes charge as the interim chief minister. From being barely able to speak coherently, Bimla Devi transforms into a woman with attitude once she occupies the chief minister’s chair. A stage comes when Bimla Devi poses tough competition to husband Ganga Ram. What happens thereafter? And what about the results of Std. X? Does Ganga Ram pass?
Ram Bajpai’s story idea is novel and, therefore, interesting. However, the story and screenplay, written by Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Sandeep Leyzell, are not half as interesting. For one, the script is lengthy and boring in parts. The screenplay starts to meander after interval. Too much emphasis is laid on Ganga Ram’s preparations for Std. X examinations and, in the process, there is repetition which gets irritating. For instance, Ganga Ram’s fear of alphabets and studies keeps getting presented at regular intervals, serving no purpose except boring the viewers. Had the track of preparations concentrated on the comedy that arises therefrom, it would’ve at least made the audience laugh or smile. There are light moments in the drama but they aren’t enough. A constant track of fun and frolic would’ve had a fantastic impact. The track of freedom fighters is not very cleverly knit into the drama and hence sticks out like a sore thumb. Why jailor Jyoti Deswal has a change of heart towards Ganga Ram has not been convincingly explained. Likewise, what is it that Bimla Devi Chaudhary has done for the public that they become so fond of her, is not conveyed. The message which the drama gives the audience is definitely good. The trio’s dialogues are far better than their story and screenplay.
Abhishek Bachchan acts ably as chief minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary. Yami Gautam Dhar impresses as the strict and principled jailor, Jyoti Deswal. Nimrat Kaur stands out as Bimla Devi Chaudhary. Her performance is excellent. Her transformation from a simpleton housewife to a well-dressed chief minister with an attitude is superb. In fact, she is so good that the audience misses her whenever she is not on the scene. Chittaranjan Tripathy is wonderful as Tandon. His facial expressions are superb. Manu Rishi Chadha makes his presence felt in the role of the jailor’s assistant, Satpal. Dhanveer Singh (as Atul), Danish Husain (as Rae Bareilly), Arun Kushwaha (as Ghanti), Rohit Tiwari (as Imandar), Abhimanyu Yadav (as Goonga), Shrikant Verma (as doctor), Shivankit Singh Parihar (as Kavish), Sachin Shroff (as Sandeep Sangwan), Sumit Shekhar Rai (as Prem Qaidi), Aditi Vats (as manager of Bimla Devi) and Sarthak Gambhir (as Sunny) lend ordinary support.
Tushar Jalota makes a fair debut as director. While he has extracted good work from out of the actors, he has not been able to make a hilarious drama or even one which can keep the viewers engrossed from the start till the end. Also, the drama lacks meat which is why it becomes repetitive after a point of time. Sachin-Jigar’s music is quite nice and so are the lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Ashish Pandit. Vijay Ganguly doesn’t get much scope for choreography; it is okay. Sachin-Jigar’s background music ought to have been better. Kabir Tejpal’s cinematography is alright. Sunil Rodrigues’ action and stunt scenes are average. Nitin Vasantrao Wable’s art direction and Mayur Barathe’s production designing are so-so. A. Sreekar Prasad’s editing is tight. That the film gets boring at places has nothing to do with his editing.
On the whole, the good thing about Dasvi is that it has been premiered on OTT. Had the film released in the cinemas, it may not have passed the box-office test.
Released on 7-4-’22 on Netflix and Jio Cinema.