'God be with you!'. Review on Dasvidaniya Movie

This was in my list of ‘to be seen’ movies but I was more willing to see ‘fashion’ ahead of this one. Well, inspite of the reluctance, we finally set out for this ‘lost in the crowd’ movie ‘Dasvidaniya’.

Intro: This is one of those movies where you need to be very clear before going what you are expecting from the movie and it is quite apt to not to expect much in terms of so called ‘entertainment’. This type of movies fall altogether in a different league and one need to have varied interest in other aspects of the movie too. While going into it, I was a bit worried whether we would get to see something different or not because some of the things (including a bit of story) had been made predictable by the promos itself. When you know the story in the beginning itself, it becomes difficult for the movie to win your heart. Moreover me going at an odd time in a complete empty hall made it more difficult for the ‘vinay pathak’ starrer to win praise(s) from my side atleast. But it's here only the forte of these movies lies.

About the movie: The first half had been a bit difficult with me (unfortunately) constantly searching for something impressing. But some of the moments and the prefect ending made it worth a watch. Infact the ending was a perfect punch and if I look back in a last year or so, I don’t find any movie with an ending as much stronger as in this one. Out of the three punches in the end, the first one was that they didn’t exaggerate the main situation on which the whole story was based i.e the death of the protagonist. The next punch comes when Vinay Pathak’s brother in the movie mentions about the gifts his brother has left for some people. And the last punch isn’t directly said or expressed. Nor I am going to mention it here. Its upon people to understand that.

Generally, in a movie whenever anybody’s death is an important of the movie, his last moments with all climax and emotions are always shown. But in this one it was good to see that the focus throughout the movie was kept on the theme of the movie i.e what goes on in the mind of a person who is approaching his last moment, how he fulfills his last wishes.

My verdict: I wont say that it was a strong ‘made your day’ movie such as Munnabhai, Rang de basanti, Sarkar, HAHK etc. but it has got those little moments which tend to hit you strongly.

Generally, I look for good dialogues as the main quality in a good movie but this was for the first time that a movie has been able to impress for the quality of expressing things without saying anything.

The pace of the movie was a bit on the slower side but the transitions from one scene to another were quite delicate.

I am happy that I was able to experience something new, something different and something unexpected.

Other aspects:

Performances : Initially it seemed as if Vinay Pathak was overacting, but as the movie progressed, the eye was able to accept him as the peculiar ‘Amar Kaul’. There is not much to say about others’ performances but ya Rajat kapoor’s performance looked better than his earlier ones. There was energy in his reactions. And lastly, I would have loved to see a bit more of Ranvir Shorey’s class acts.

Songs: The number of songs (i.e 2) suited the length of the movie and ofcourse they were soothing too. My ears always love Kailash kher’s throat. So no complain in that regard either.

Direction: Direction was sensible, I think. There were some scenes which had the scope of looking melo-dramatic or exaggerated had it been directed by our regular commercial directors. For e.g: The scene where Vinay Pathak tells his brother of his stomach cancer. The scene where Vinay Pathak expresses his love for Neha Dhupia to her. And of course the last moments of his life. These were handled sensibly here and were not made to look like another ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.

I don’t have much knowledge in the areas of Cinematography, Screenplay and other things. So it wont be apt to comment anything on these aspects of the movie. Though cinematography looked good.

Final verdict:  It was a light, neat, sweet and a different movie. The title ‘Dasvidaniya’ was one of the sweetest ones I have heard ever. Its pronunciation matches the rhythm of ‘God be with you’ (the origin of the word ‘Good bye’).

And as I end this review of mine, I could see, coincidentally, the same movie being aired on our cable channel but my heart says **‘No, not again. One was enough!’

*Sourav..

P.S:  I dont indulge in story telling.