‘Dasara’ movie review: Nani, Keerthy Suresh lead this gritty, emotional ride

‘Dasara’ movie review: Nani, Keerthy Suresh lead this gritty, emotional ride by debut director Srikanth Odela

Dasara, written and directed by first-timer Srikanth Odela, ventures into a space that mainstream Telugu films do not often dare to. It tries to be a ‘massy’ Telugu film that explores the ugly caste politics in a semi-fictional story set in the coal-laden hamlet Veerlapally, Telangana, with earnestness, and achieves this balance reasonably well. 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 is no scope for the display of machismo or bravado. The fear-inducing episode made me wonder, briefly, if this was the real incident based on which Srikanth had written this semi-fictional story. 

First, to address the elephant in the room, Dasara is not a wannabe Pushpa or KGF. Rather, it tries to bring in the grittiness of Tamil films such as Jai Bhim, Asuran and Karnan, in its depiction of power equations. 

It takes a while to warm up to the world of Dasara, where alcohol excess is a way of life, a way of escaping the travesty of the daily grind. For the men in the village, life revolves around the only bar named ‘Silk bar’. Srikanth tips his hat to the sultry Silk Smitha.

The bar is where the rules of power become evident. The upper caste men drink inside the bar while the others stay outside. A backstory of the conflicts within a powerful family, involving the characters played by Saikumar and Samuthirakani and later Shine Tom Chacko, forms the undercurrent for the power dynamics in the village. Srikanth places the three childhood friends Dharani, Suri and Vennela in this milieu. Their names aligning with the earth, sun and the moon are metaphors for their characters and relationships.

The film draws us into Veerlapally that is carefully built through its many characters, Avinash Kolla’s production design, cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan’s stunning frames in brown-black, earthy brownish-reds and the smart use of oil lanterns, along with Santhosh Narayanan’s rustic-meets-jazzy haunting musical score. Pay attention to the score in the cricket match that turns out to be a battle between the caste groups.

As Suri and Vennela, Deekshith Shetty and Keerthy take centre stage, Nani stays in the background and the narrative is in no rush to push him to the fore. The bonding between the three is depicted beautifully, punctuated occasionally with humour. One of the earlier sequences in the police station helps to delineate the naivete of Dharani as opposed to the comparatively smarter approach by Suri.

Srikanth narrates the story of the hamlet as an insider, depicting how men are numbed by alcohol and why the fact that women voters outnumber men is actually not a reason to rejoice. Not yet. Once the power dynamics is displayed at full throttle, as expected, the underdog rises to hit back and fight for survival. When he etches his name on a sword, you cannot help but root for him.