Dassehra

Dassehra Story: Honest inspector Aditi Singh (Tina Desai) and hard-boiled cop Rudra (Neil Nitin Mukesh) investigate a multiple suicide case. They stumble upon a darker truth revolving around the corrupt politician Yadav (Govind Namdeo) and Shankar (Manish Vatsalya). The political nexus forces Rudra to become the angry-young-man and one-man-army all rolled into one.

Dassehra Review: An honest man fighting against the corrupt political system is a concept that’s nearly done-to-death in Hindi cinema. Yet, the formula of a quintessential hero fighting a gang of bad guys, always holds promise for an action film. Dassehra, working with the age-old metaphor of good winning over bad, looks like a film that you’ve probably seen a hundred times before. The Rohit Shetty-style over-the-top action sequences, with baddies flying off in different directions, looks good in slow motion, but it feels jaded, too. For viewers seeking a movie with action, item numbers and paisa-feko dialogues, Dassehra has the right amount of masala. It’s just that the formula-driven narrative of the film feels like it’s older than the Ramayana itself.

Aditi Singh (Tina) and Rudra (Neil) are honest to a fault. They love each other with the same passion that they uphold the law in their profession as cops. When the suicide case of four college girls looks like it’s actually cold-blooded murder, they stumble into the dark and deceitful world of corrupt politicians and their muscle-men. A tragic twist puts Rudra into Singham-meets-Dabangg mode and he beats the bad guys into a pulp. The writing by Saurabh Chaudhary and Varadraj Swami is uninspiring. The film is also overly generous with item and dance numbers like Maee Re and Joganiya, which only end up adding to the length of the film.

In a brief role, Tina Desai plays the modern, independent girl with ease, while Neil Nitin Mukesh pulls off the larger-than-life hero with gusto. But the baddies, played by Manish Vatsalya and Govind Namdeo, are just not convincing enough. Even though, Dassehra is a quick watch, the dated content and the loud background score turn it into a real hotchpotch.