It's about the family
Film: Dasavala
Cast: Prem, Akshara Menon
Director: MS Ramesh
Relationships are somethings that has been discussed and dissected time and again on the big screen. This time director M S Ramesh chooses to deal with familial relationships, evaluating the hope for better things through Dasavala.
Set against the backdrop of village life, the film is about Sathya (Prem), a tourist guide in Badami who stays with his relative played by Rangayana Raghu. Sathya is accompanied on work by Raghu, a photographer.
Both are content with their lives, happy with making small money, drinking and merry making.
The two bump into five persons coming from different backgrounds and all of them take shelter in Sathya’s house. This house becomes the place where they discuss their lives, loves, illusions and realities.
They make for a family of sorts. Among them Aishwarya (Akshara Menon), coming from a rich family, is shown to be mentally challenged and one who feels safe with Sathya. As days pass, Sathya learns that Aishwarya is not mentally ill and forces her to reveal her true identity. Why did Aishwarya and others want to take shelter in Sathya’s house and how they all go back to their respective families is shown by the director with a lot of thought and through long takes.
Ramesh tries to capture the vitality of each of the actors’ performances. Though there is no dearth of such kind of scripts in Kannada and in other language films, Dasavala will definitely demand attention for the right and wrong reasons.
Actor-director Prem has done well. There is no doubt about his acting skills as he comes through as a natural. However his make-up is overdone. He and Rangayana Raghu share good chemistry. There a few good sequences between the two where we can see a striking balance of emotions. The two are supported well by actors like Avinash, Hema Chaudhary, Shobhraj and others. Akshara Menon, a Malayalee actress, has justified her role in her first Kannada film.
Ramesh has managed to capture the small moments of everyday life with care.
We understand the director is someone who has deep appreciation for art, something that has influenced music director Gurukiran to compose different kinds of music. But the many songs in the second half are an overkill.
The double meaning dialogues might put off some, but many were seen whistling to good dialogue delivery. Cinematography doesn’t play a big role in this film.
The Verdict: If you wish to revisit and rekindle a relationship, then go watch Dasavala along with your family.