‘DVAND: THE INTERNAL CONFLICT’ REVIEW | 29 September, 2023

Vsquare Films’ Dvand: The Internal Conflict (UA) is the story of how a rejection leads a man to seek revenge on the person who rejected him. The revenge is so evil that it casts aspersions on the victim’s character.

Bhola (Ishtiyak Khan), Bhaiyaji (Vishwanath Chatterjee) and some more people in the village want to stage a play in the village, for which they approach Guruji (Sanjay Mishra) to direct it. Guruji arrives in the village. Rehearsals begin but Bhola is not given any role as he is not up to the mark. Bhola’s jealousy knows no end when the lead role is given to the local tea vendor, Chandan (Vikram Kochhar). Guruji makes Bhola his assistant but Bhola is unhappy because he had put in a lot of effort to act in the stage play. He manipulates his wife, Naini (Ipshitaa), to get co-actress Raziya’s (Tina Bhatia) nightie from her house and plants it in Guruji’s room. He then spreads word that Guruji is in a relationship with Raziya. It may be mentioned here that Raziya’s husband (Faiz Khan) had initially been reluctant to allow her to act in the stage-play, but Guruji had wanted her to act. The story about the so-called affair affects Guruji very much. To make matters worse, he is asked by some villagers to leave the village in disgust. What happens thereafter?

Ishtiyak Khan has penned a story which is meant for a stage-play rather than a film. In fact, the film is based on a stage-play. Ishtiyak Khan’s screenplay is not interesting or engaging enough because it seems too convenient. Even his dialogues are just about okay.

Ishtiyak Khan does a fair job as Bhola. Sanjay Mishra plays Guruji with conviction. Vikram Kochhar is alright as tea vendor-cum-actor Chandan. Ipshitaa is okay as Naini. Vishwanath Chatterjee lends reasonable support in the role of Bhaiyaji. Tina Bhatia’s performance in the role of Raziya is decent. Faiz Khan is ordinary as Raziya’s husband. Dheerendra Dwivedi is passable as Tarzan. Ashish Shukla (as Gangaram), Abhinay Sharma (as Raees), Anil Jatav (as Babulal), Deepak Lohar (as Zakhami) and Sujeet Asthana (as Manglu) pass muster.

Ishtiyak Khan’s direction is average. Rohit Sharma’s music is routine while his background score is also nothing to shout about. Faiz Khan’s lyrics are functional. Chandra Shekhar Rath’s camerawork is ordinary. Ajay Deshmukh’s sets are just about okay. Sandeep Singh Bajeli’s editing leaves something to be desired.

On the whole, Dvand: The Internal Conflict was never meant for the big screen and it will, therefore, prove to be a non-starter.

Released on 29-9-’23 at Movie Time Goregaon (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Jumping Tomato Studios. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.