Story outline: Dashavatar takes place in a remote village in Konkan, Maharashtra. The story revolves around Babuli Mestri (Dilip Prabhavalkar), an ageing folk theatre artiste and a celebrated figure in the village. He is specifically known for playing Dashavatar – the act of playing different avatars of Lord Vishnu. But because of the health issues born out of his advanced age, his son Madhav (Siddharth Menon) wants him to retire from his acting duties. Their doctor also feels the same.

Babuli, however, is adamant in continuing to act as he believes it is his duty towards God. At the same time, he is also concerned about Madhav’s future and is eager to see him secure a good job. Madhav too wants to start earning, so that he can marry his lady love Vandana (Priyadarshini Indalkar), who is from the same village.

Madhav finally lands a job at the new factory started in the village by the businessman Sarmalkar (Vijay Kenkre). But just when Babuli felt that life has gotten better, a shattering incident takes place in his life.

Review: Dashavatar scores high in getting you transported to the small Konkan village where it’s based. The scenic place is shot well by cinematographer Devendra Golatkar. The village’s folk theatre culture is portrayed in a realistic manner. It also acts as a tribute to the unsung theatre artistes from various corners of India. The bittersweet relation between Babuli and Madhav also brings a smile, although the song between them could have been done away with.

Dashavatar brings a shocking incident at the interval point. From here on, you expect the film to rise further. But, instead, it starts suffering from the second half syndrome. The incidents where various avatars of Lord Vishnu are brought in not only make the narrative predictable but also lack logic as it’s difficult to believe what one character keeps doing. Plus, the screenplay starts becoming messier as the film nears the climax with quite a few questionable incidents. The climax gives an important social message but it suits more in the medium of theatre than cinema.

It is the legendary Dilip Prabhavalkar’s act that turns out to be the major plus point. He gets into the skin of an ageing Dashavatar artiste and displays his talent throughout. There are also times when his act keeps the script’s shortcomings hidden in the second half.

Siddharth Menon provides an earnest act as Babuli’s son. Priyadarshini Indalkar has more to do than just romance, which she does well. Mahesh Manjrekar arrives late but leaves behind his mark as the cop Michael D’Costa. Vijay Kenkre, Abhinay Berde, Ravi Jadhav, Sunil Tawade and Ravi Kale lend able support in negative roles.

Overall: Dashavatar doesn’t live up to the interest it generates in the first half. The film becomes watchable more because of Dilip Prabhavalkar’s act.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Director: Subodh Khanolkar

Producers: Ocean Film Company and Ocean Art House

Writers: Subodh Khanolkar and Guru Thakur

Cast: Dilip Prabhavalkar, Siddharth Menon, Vijay Kenkre, Priyadarshini Indalkar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Abhinay Berde

Also read: Inspector Zende review: Manoj Bajpayee’s period crime drama is a one-time watch

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs in the world as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/