‘Dacoit’: Love and gore

A Telugu-Hindi action-drama, ‘Dacoit’ comes at a time when the nation and its favourite propagandists are hypnotised by another ultra-violent saga. Helmed by the emerging Shaneil Deo, who also directed Adivi Sesh in the stunning suspense thriller ‘Kshanam’ and the engaging ‘Goodachari’, pulls off a neat hat-trick with the actor.

‘Dacoit’ is a violent film, but the action never feels overbearing. Beyond the blazing guns and flaring nostrils, at its heart this is a love story, albeit a rather melodramatic one. But then, it doesn’t aspire to be any other way.

Sesh, who has co-written the frenetically impassioned tale of doomed love, sinks his teeth deep into the part with the besotted Hari, who can’t see beyond his ‘Juliet’ Saraswati (Mrunal Thakur).

The heart plays a pivotal part in this melange of blood and grief, regret and absolution. The blend is efficiently heady, though a concoction of love and rancour is somewhat overdone. But then, love is not only about roses.

The pace of storytelling is never unhurried. The asthmatic heroine runs out of breath quite often. The storytelling never slows down to catch its breath.

While the tender moments between the lead pair feel lived-in if a tad theatrical (a mood that defines most of the storytelling), the action sequences are staged with an arresting elan.

One such action piece, that has Anurag Kashyap’s character Swami intercepting the couple on the run, is so much fun and yet so gripping for capturing the hectic details without tripping over in the chaos.

Kashyap’s rogue cop character Swami is central to the dramatic tension. He slips into his slippery character’s thick but sensitive skin, making you wonder where this morally compromised chap comes from.

A lot of the fringe characters are smudgy and uni-dimensionally corrupt, just so as they are meant to be. Bhaskar (Vaibhav Tatwawadi), Saraswati’s husband, is so morally depraved that he sickens as the plot thickens. The normally dependable Prakash Raj is lost in his fiendish character of a hospital proprietor who gets robbed more than once. There is unintended humour here.

Atul Kulkarni as Hari’s mentor struggles in an underwritten part.

The three main characters bolster the drama with their sincere dedication to propelling the plot through the bumpy road. While Adivi Sesh plays the reluctant hero with swagger and sensitivity, it is Mrunal Thakur who surprises with her assured handling of a role that requires her to be vulnerable and strong, sometimes at the same time.

‘Dacoit’ is not a great piece of cinema, but it knows how to hold the audience without leaning too far backwards into compromises. There is an irreverent item song where a Bhojpuri star makes a guest appearance. This is where the language of commercial cinema gets over-anxious. Otherwise, ‘Dacoit’ knows where to stop.