Dacoit Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW: Dacoit

Cast: Adivi Sesh, Mrunal Thakur, Anurag Kashyap, Prakash Raj, Kamakshi Bhaskarla, Zain Marie Khan, Sunil, and others.

Music: Bheems Ceciroleo

Background Score: Gyaani

Cinematography: Dhanush Bhaskar

Dialogues: Abburi Ravi

Producer: Supriya Yarlagadda

Story & Screenplay: Adivi Sesh, Shaneel Deo

Direction: Shaneel Deo

From Kshanm to HIT 2, Adivi Sesh always impressed with properly crafted thrillers, and that sets huge expectations on “Dacoit” too. The film has hit cinemas today, and have a look at how it impressed.

STORY:

Hari Das (Adivi Sesh) hails from a lower caste family in Rayalaseema’s Hindupur area, and falls in love with an upper caste family’s Saraswati (Mrunal Thakur). Due to some reasons, not only did they split, but he went to jail. Holding a grudge against Saraswati for his current situation, Hari Das wants to escape from jail and take revenge on her, and is presented with an opportunity. So what happened between them in the past, and did Hari land in jail due to Saraswati, and what’s the journey like after he escapes, forms the rest of the story.

NARRATIVE-ANALYSIS:

Some films build hype over the director, some over the hero, and some due to the production house carving it. Based on the catalogue of movies they carved out so far, these expectations pile up, and if they don’t meet the bar, the audience tends to get disappointed. Being a writer-director, Adivi Sesh is one hero who made the audience flock to theatres with the kind of content he delivers. After delivering thrillers like Kshanam and HIT 2, he has taken a huge time again to build a film like Dacoit, in which he also took part in writing. Perhaps that resulted in huge expectations for the film, but then, the hero failed to reach the expectations and fell to the level of average thrillers that many directors make. If we look at it like a normal movie, this will be a good film that engages for 2.5 hours; however, if we gauge it from Adivi Sesh’s standards, it doesn’t give enough kick.

If it’s an Adivi Sesh film, surely the story should be stronger, logic should not go for a toss, twists should be mind-blowing and screenplay should make us feel choked, and characters should be out of bounds. Audiences always think that everything will be beyond their expectations in his movies. However, if scenes miss out on logic and emotions don't get stronger, it disappoints, and that’s what happened in the case of Dacoit. Though the film doesn’t bore anywhere, due to racy screenplay and storytelling, the whole film never gave the ‘kick’ that was expected to deliver. That’s because of poorly designed characters and weakly written crucial elements of the story. With emotional connection missing, and the lead pair’s romantic chemistry as well as breakup sequences not even creating impact, it turned out to be a big minus for the film.

When a hero is seeking to exact revenge on a girl he loved to the core, the reason behind it should be quite stronger and convincing. However, as the story should take a twist during that revelation, they did it for the sake of it. It’s shown as something that the hero mistook and misunderstood, and that leads to lots of errors, thereby inserting forced twists. Even the hero’s character design is patchy, given the elevations he gets while inside jail, and the way he behaves after coming out of prison doesn’t make sense. Sequences like Prakash Raj’s introduction, a hospital looting scene during the COVID times, make us expect a lot, but later they fizzle out. However, despite all odds, some thrilling scenes make it a worthy watch. Especially, the hero’s prison break sequence works out well, and the climax, 20 minutes in, induces emotion and awesomeness. If the whole film has a similar flair, surely Dacoit would have been a next-level film. While the finishing touch given to the hero’s role is good, the flashback episodes pulled things down earlier. If you expect more from the movie due to the Adivi Sesh factor, you tend to get disappointed.

PERFORMANCES:

Adivi Sesh is quite impressive as usual, but the Rayalaseema slang and dialect haven’t fit well. While his emotions peaked during the climax, his appearance as someone who led a prison life for 5 years is just okayish. Mrunal Thakur stands out as the best performer in the movie and dominates Sesh in some aspects. She proved herself as someone who could emote well. Anurag Kashyap and Prakash Raj’s roles haven’t lived up to the hype, while both are okay. Sunil’s role is average, and Kamakshi has done well. The artist who played Mrunal’s husband is also impressive. Zain Marie Khan’s role fizzled out with okayish acting.

TECHNICALITIES:

“Dacoit” has high technical standards and production values, with the budget and hard work visible in every frame. Cinematographer Dhanush Bhaskar’s visuals are stunning, while Bheems Ceciroleo’s songs are okay. Gyaani’s background score is a major highlight in the movie. The way characters and scenes get elevated, and make the film’s pace racier, is due to his score only. Something is amiss in Abburi Ravi’s dialogues. The natural tone seen in Adivi Sesh and Ravi’s previous works is not visible here. The dialogue lost its sharpness. Though Sesh and Shaniel Deo’s story has interesting elements, surely their screenplay hasn’t worked out. That’s the major missing element in the movie. As a director, Shaniel is also okay.

Finally: Dacoit, an okayish thriller!

Rating: 2.75/5