Dasara Review – No Sparks Here
Friend and I decided to stream “Dasara” on Netflix since we both understand Telugu and it looked like a fun mass-masala entertainer. Twenty minutes later, my friend fell asleep beside me, even though it was her idea to watch the film.
Written and directed by newcomer Srikanth Odela, “Dasara” stars Nani, Keerthy Suresh, and Deekshith Shetty as childhood friends Dharani, Vennela, and Suri, respectively. However, it is their village, Veerlapally, that is introduced as the principal character of the movie. Veerlapally is a small hamlet where drinking is the primary pastime, and whoever owns the famous ‘Silk Bar’ essentially becomes the lord of the region. So, “Dasara” attempts to explore how liquor and caste dynamics control power balance in Veerlapally, but ultimately evolves into a protracted romantic story about a boy yearning for his childhood sweetheart and how circumstances unfold for him. The politics, violence and everything else is just a distraction for viewers to not realize it’s all about a girl.
It’s just had to get onboard with the over-glorification of drinking alcohol in the movie. Why should we care about Dharani and Suri, when all they do is steal coal and drink alcohol? Venella and Suri are in love, but her mother rightfully isn’t interested in marrying off her daughter to a wastrel. But apparently an emotional little rant and drama by the best-friend is all it takes for a family to let their daughter marry a thief. If only getting Indian parents to agree to love marriages were as easy. Sigh.
The jokes aren’t funny, the story isn’t compelling and even though the actors do justice to their parts, their characters are not worthy of much attention. Even the songs aren’t great and some of them could’ve just been chopped off. Had this film come out in the 1990s, one could imagine it being a blockbuster hit, however, for a 2023 drama, “Dasara” is quite outdated.
Stream the film on Netflix if you want to.
