Emmay Entertainment’s Dry Day is the story of Gannu (Jitendra Kumar), a good-for-nothing guy living in a village of Madhya Pradesh. Men in the village are drunkards and so their wives are unhappy about their excessive drinking. Gannu wants to become a corporator. Dauji (Annu Kapoor), a minister, takes Gannu under his wings but soon realises that Gannu is not the right candidate to support. Here, Gannu’s pregnant wife, Nirmala (Shriya Pilgaonkar), drills it into his head that their yet-to-be-born child would feel ashamed when he would get to know that his father was good for nothing. This makes Gannu all the more resilient about wanting to do something in life. With nothing better to do and after being disowned by Dauji, Gannu announces that he would go on a hunger strike. The aim is to make it to the headlines so that it would help him become popular and ultimately become a corporator without Dauji’s support. Soon, the hunger strike becomes a talking point in the village. By the by, Gannu takes up the issue of prohibition in the village, because of which the ladies become his staunch supporters.
Dauji sees red in the growing popularity of Gannu and decides to take him on his side for fear of losing his own popularity to Gannu. Does Gannu join Dauji again? Or does he have another plan?
Saurabh Shukla has written a story with a thin base. Oftentimes, the audience feel that his story is much ado about nothing. Shukla’s screenplay has a fairly engaging drama but again, it does look exaggerated and gets repetitive although with additional points. The second half is better than the first half which is rather dull. Also, not everything in the drama is convincing. Saurabh Shukla’s dialogues are raw, what with a liberal use of four-letter words.
Jitendra Kumar is pretty impressive in the role of Gannu. Shriya Pilgaonkar is so-so as Gannu’s wife, Nirmala. Annu Kapoor is natural as Dauji. Akash Mahamana does an outstanding job as the TV news reporter. Kiran Khoje makes a fine impression as Janki. Shrikant Verma makes his mark as Balwant. Jagdish Rajpurohit lends fair support as Nirmala’s father. Aditya Sinha provides able support as Kunne. Saurabh Nayyar is effective as Maddi. Sunil Palwal has his moments as Satto. Sakshi Malik exudes oomph in the song-dance she appears. Others are adequate.
Saurabh Shukla’s direction is class-appealing. Music (Protijyoti Ghosh and Javed Mohsin) is melodious and in synch with the film’s mood and setting. The songs, though, have not become popular. Lyrics (Danish Sabri and Saurabh Shukla) are good. Adri Thakur’s cinematography is nice. Aejaz-Gulab’s action and stunt scenes are natural. Abhijit Agnihotri’s production designing and Abhishek Saxena’s art direction are appropriate. Kunal Walve’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Dry Day is an average entertainer.
Released on 22-12-’23 on Amazon Prime.