Anurag Kashyap, Nikhil Advani, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vasan Bala, Bottle Rocket Pictures Pvt. Ltd. and Flip Films’ Dug Dug (A) is a satire. A man is killed in a scooter accident in a village of Rajasthan. Soon word spreads that the man’s spirit fulfills people’s wishes if they offer alcohol to the scooter which is kept at the site of the accident. That does it. What starts as a trickle of people turns into a full-blown business when people in thousands and lakhs start worshipping the scooter to get their wishes fulfilled.
Ritwik Pareek has written a story which moves on a single track. Although the satire is good and entertaining, the drama stagnates after a while as there are no other tracks in Pareek’s story. His screenplay becomes monotonous after a while because of the single track on which the drama moves. No doubt, the height of superstitious beliefs among people and the lengths they can go to because of the herd mentality does tickle the funny bone but only up to a point. Ritwik Pareek’s dialogues are ordinary.
Altaf Khan is alright as Thakursa. Gaurav Soni does an average job as Pyare Lal. Yogendra Singh Parmar is so-so as Badri. Durga Lal Saini performs ordinarily in the role of Manphool. Others pass muster.
Ritwik Pareek’s direction is nice. Given the thin story-line, his narration is appropriate. Ankur Tewari and Salvage Audio Collective’s music is fair. Lyrics (Ankur Tewari, Salvage Audio Collective, Romy and Ritwik Pareek) are okay. Salvage Audio Collective’s background music is decent. Aditya S. Kumar’s camerawork is of a fine standard. Ranjit Singh’s production designing is okay. Bijith Bala’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Dug Dug is like a short story blown up into a full-length feature film. It doesn’t have much chance at the ticket windows as it is more a festival film than a commercial entertainer.
Released on 8-5-’26 at Cinepolis Andheri (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Flip Films. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.