Dasvidaniya

Dasvidaniya another winner from Vinay Pathak, and yes it is his first production venture. Some people have that thing, that Midas touch, like Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shorey, Irfan Khan, Rahul Bose who just turn anything they do into a special treat, and specifically in situational comedies that too very contemporary topics. Dasvidaniya, I came across this movie due to this typical song mumma, and then “alvida” was the one that took me away by a storm, and I realized that Kailash Kher too is blessed with that touch, may it be a song from days when he was a mere amateur, allah ke bande to teri deewani to mumma or “alvida”, or even saiyaan for that matter, and how can I not mention jalwa re jalwa from Sarkaar Raaj, he has emerged a winner. “alvida” is such a true song; it’s about truth and accepting that truth bravely.

This movie Dasvidaniya, I always assumed to be a follow up to Bheja fry, and so always thought that it'd be a continuation of where Bheja Fry left us. Frankly I had no idea what Dasvidaniya meant until I saw the movie, I always thought it must be some variant of Bheja Fry in Bengali. But to my shock in the title itself I was very much assured that this film was going to be much more serious and mature than Bheja Fry coz Dasvidaniya means goodbye and the movie carries a tag line the best goodbye ever. I had those notions going through me that it will have a sad end and I better get up and leave it. But then I had full trust in Vinay and his team, that even if they make you cry it'll not be because an aamir khan is crying with a kid for some reason that doesn’t really cater to masses, it'll be because you'll feel attached to this character, you’ll cry because an ordinary man is hurt.
Bheja Fry came some time back and was an out and out comedy, a movie where you laugh like crazy, even when you are watching it alone. Bharat Bhushan was a singer who used to carry his scrapbook with all his songs, poems and pictures, and the manner in which he used to pack it and keep it so safely in so many packets and the noise those packets would make twice each time he would take out his scrapbook and twice he would pack his scrapbook. Situational comedy(Sitcom) to me has been best form of comedy that is always very true and you really relate to it and laugh that much more, coz you see yourself in it(I really never ever liked govinda’s foohad kind of comedy), how can one leave out Friends out of the list of Sitcoms, the best sitcom series ever.
While Bheja Fry was out and out comedy, Dasvidaniya has more than mere comedy to it, it has sorrow, it has tragedy, and above all it connects to you and the shots that opened the movie were so real that one could feel there itself ki it is me. Amar making his to-do lists, a loving mother so very disturbed for TV or remote not working. It was all so real in the first frame itself, and then the boss, he was so very mumbaiya... I was touched by the movie and just can’t imagine how people can do such work that is so real.
For me when Amar comes to know about his cancer, one could feel him saying, FUCK, this cannot happen to me, I'm not like this, it isn’t meant for me, this is not how it was meant to be, what happens to my mom, his arguments with the doctor were so very real and justified coz these arguments were his last hope. How often we get stuck up in situations where we just pray that something happens and the nightmare breaks…. I like songs and the way “alvida” was infused into the storyline was just how a song should be recognized and respected and treated.
What I liked was Amar's quest to win back, or rather say goodbye to whatever he lost all his life at various stages. In his urge to say those three magical words to his childhood and only love Neha, he ends up playing with her daughter and having dinner with her husband and mother-in-law, and that was really the only option he had, and then when he finally conveyed those feelings, for which he waited all his life, one could feel the sense of accomplishment and sense of losing it forever. This is what these movies nowadays manage to portray, which was no way visible in those silly days of black and white movies, when dilip kumar was assumed to be a great actor. Even Neha’s reaction was so very well measured and presented when she got the message from Amar, it was all too real to take. The way Amar told her that he loved her all his life and the way he left the place without complicating the matters for a married lady and left without even talking or listening to her, one can still feel the emotion.
To me the most touching scene was encounter with his brother at home. I mean they were actually fighting over issues from their past, which were so common and close to everybody’s life, younger brother going for a love marriage and elder brother sacrificing his dreams, to take better care of an ill mother, and Amar just trying to convince Vivek to take their mom with him, without once again complicating the issues and crying out loud that he was dying, just trying to convince that its now the younger bro’s responsibility to take care of their mother. And then when Vivek actually comes to know about Amar’s illness and cries main aapko nahi marne doonga, again a kind of emotion where a person is crying I don’t want to lose it, GOD just save me this time, I’ll never ever do anything wrong, I’ll never leave my mom and bro; that for me has been the scene that can make anybody feel what it is like, losing a loved one; that too me, is being family, despite of all the differences, relations are above everything else.
Amar’s relation with his Dr. Friend was so touching, how they were chatting in their silly coded language when they talked over phone, after a long gap, Amar going all the way to see his friend once before Dasvidaniya, I could easily relate to why a person like me came down to a place like a community site from google, it’s all about friends. And an emotion that could have gone unnoticed, but for Rajat Kapoor, who has played each of the characters he ever took with full loyalty and hardly seems to act in a role, he just lives that role, how so ever small it may be. Remember his role in Bheja Fry, where he was stuck up between his wife whom he really loved and his girl friend whom he got involved with but was regretting the relationship, and who actually was a good guy by nature, yes had a bit of arrogance, but deep down loved his wife and was not such a bad person. He once again sprung up a great effort. His getting caught up between his wife and a real childhood friend about to die, trying to convince Amar to stay and get treatment, just trying to repay the bada wala tu rakh le, that Amar gave him all his life, but knowin that it was all too late. A movie I have watched more times than Bheja Fry and Delhi Heights and Bachna Aie Haseenon, and recent one Dil Kabaddi(but yes less than Dil Se re dil se re, SRK mind-buster), and don’t mind watching if I come across it here and there.