Dasvidaniya

Cast: Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Saurabh Shukla, Gaurav Gera, Suchitra Pillai, Sarita Joshi
Language: Hindi
Banner: Lemon Tea Productions, One More Thought Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
Director: Shashant Shah
Producer: Vinay Pathak, Azam Khan
Camera: Arun Varma
Story: Arshad Ali Syed
Screenplay: Arshad Ali Syed
Dialogue: Arshad Ali Syed
Lyrics: Kailash Kher
Music: Kailash Kher, Paresh, Naresh
Year: 2008

Director Shashant Shah’s movie Dasvidaniya is a slow but heart-wrenching tale of a 37-year-old man who has few months left to live and sets out to live it to the fullest before he says his final goodbye.

The movie, though not based on a novel premise, works because of actor Vinay Pathak ’s emphatic performance as a dying man with an ironic name Amar, and because of the finely etched-out characters in the story. It also works because the protagonist Amar Kaul is a simple, submissive man who learns to live fully only when death stares at him in face. It’s a character that you empathize and sympathize with. It’s a character you laugh and weep with. That precisely is what keeps you hooked to the screen even when the movie hits a few bumps and begins to drag in the second half.

Amar (Vinay Pathak) is a meek and unambitious man working for a bullying boss (
Sourabh Shukla ) and living with a mother (Sarita Joshi) who’s hard of hearing. Amar lives a dull, mundane existence. His life changes after he finds out that he has only three months left to live. Thereafter, the simpleton draws a list of things to do before he dies.

Faced with death, Amar discovers life anew and transforms from a subdued and repressed person to a man who steps out to embrace and explore life and fulfill all his desires, which include taking on his snooty boss, expressing his unspoken love to his childhood sweetheart ( Neha Dhupia ), buying a colourful car, learning to play the guitar, traveling abroad, sleeping with a Russian chick, and mending a few family ties.

‘Dasvidaniya’ takes off very well but loses its gravity in the second half when a couple of uncalled-for deviations take the story off the course. But credit must be given to Vinay Pathak who, being neither a superstar nor drop-dead handsome, carries the film with his earnest and poignant performance. Sarita Joshi wins your heart with her charming portrayal of a mother hooked to TV soaps. Sourabh Shukla is excellent in the role of Amar’s gluttonous boss. Rajat Kapoor is okay as Amar’s friend. Neha Dhupia is first-rate as Amar’s childhood crush.

First-time director Shahant Shah does a neat job for the most part of the film but botches up in the second hour. A few flaws notwithstanding, ‘Dasvidaniya’ turns out to be an above-average, eminently watchable film that charms you with its dry humour and touches your heart with its underplayed drama.

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