Nani and Keerthy Suresh in director Srikanth Odela’s Telugu movie ‘Dasara’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Dasara, written and directed by first-timer Srikanth Odela, ventures into an area that mainstream Telugu movies don’t typically dare to. It tries to be a ‘massy’ Telugu movie that explores the ugly caste politics in a semi-fictional story set within the coal-laden hamlet Veerlapally, Telangana, with earnestness, and achieves this steadiness moderately properly. One of Dasara’s highlights is a chilling pre-intermission episode. The three central characters — Dharani (Nani), Vennela (Keerthy Suresh) and Suri (Deekshit Shetty) — are integral to the happenings. There isn’t any scope for the show of machismo or bravado. The fear-inducing episode made me surprise, briefly, if this was the actual incident primarily based on which Srikanth had written this semi-fictional story.
First, to handle the elephant within the room, Dasara is just not a wannabe Pushpa or KGF. Rather, it tries to herald the grittiness of Tamil movies similar to Jai Bhim, Asuran and Karnan, in its depiction of energy equations.
It takes some time to heat as much as the world of Dasara, the place alcohol extra is a lifestyle, a approach of escaping the travesty of the every day grind. For the boys within the village, life revolves round the one bar named ‘Silk bar’. Srikanth suggestions his hat to the sultry Silk Smitha.
The bar is the place the foundations of energy develop into evident. The higher caste males drink contained in the bar whereas the others keep outdoors. A backstory of the conflicts inside a robust household, involving the characters performed by Saikumar and Samuthirakani and later Shine Tom Chacko, varieties the undercurrent for the facility dynamics within the village. Srikanth locations the three childhood associates Dharani, Suri and Vennela in this milieu. Their names aligning with the earth, solar and the moon are metaphors for his or her characters and relationships.
Dasara
Cast: Nani, Keerthy Suresh, Deekshith Shetty
Direction: Srikanth Odela
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
The movie attracts us into Veerlapally that’s fastidiously constructed by its many characters, Avinash Kolla’s manufacturing design, cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan’s gorgeous frames in brown-black, earthy brownish-reds and the good use of oil lanterns, together with Santhosh Narayanan’s rustic-meets-jazzy haunting musical rating. Pay consideration to the rating within the cricket match that seems to be a battle between the caste teams.
As Suri and Vennela, Deekshith Shetty and Keerthy take centre stage, Nani stays within the background and the narrative is in no rush to push him to the fore. The bonding between the three is depicted fantastically, punctuated often with humour. One of the sooner sequences within the police station helps to delineate the naivete of Dharani versus the comparatively smarter strategy by Suri.
Srikanth narrates the story of the hamlet as an insider, depicting how males are numbed by alcohol and why the truth that ladies voters outnumber males is definitely not a purpose to rejoice. Not but. Once the facility dynamics is displayed at full throttle, as anticipated, the underdog rises to hit again and battle for survival. When he etches his identify on a sword, you can’t assist however root for him.
In the latter half, a sudden shift within the relationship equation between two characters occurs whenever you least count on it. Was it only a ‘mass’ second to announce the arrival of a saviour? This comes after a tear-jerker sequence that appears plucked from among the Tamil and Telugu films of the Nineties. These are the parts during which the narrative wobbles a bit. But the narrative redeems itself in an endearing scene the place Vennela questions if she has no say in her life selections and the person, although his coronary heart beats for her and he supposed to guard her, apologises.
The quiet, understated romance that follows, units the tone for the ultimate encounter that runs parallel to Ravana dahanam. The motive of the antagonist is a trope that we have now typically seen in cinema. However, it serves to attract a parallel to the battle between Ram and Ravana.
Deekshit Shetty is a revelation as Suri and exhibits that he’s an actor with immense potential. Dasara isn’t any Mahanati for Keethy Suresh. Nevertheless, she is central to the drama and provides it her all. She portrays Vennela’s spring within the step as a younger bride and later the quiet resignation to destiny adopted by resilience convincingly. Jhansi and the a number of supporting actors contribute by doing their elements properly. The movie in the end belongs to Nani. In a very de-glam half, watch him cower in concern and later in disgrace that he can’t assume straight inebriated. Several parts require him to convey his feelings together with his physique language and silence, and he’s unbelievable. In the ultimate episode, he shows the fashion of Dharani in full glory.
Dasara is just not good. Just a few tropes may have been smarter. But this is a movie with quite a lot of coronary heart and succeeds in hitting the candy spot between a gritty drama and a ‘massy’ mainstream movie.
