Dus Tola Review

Dus Tola is a movie directed by Ajoy Verma and it stars actors like Manoj Bajpai who plays the central character of Shankar, Aarti Chhabria who enacts the role of Suvarnalata, Siddharth Makkar, Pallavi, Sharda, Govind Namdeo, Asrani and Dilip Prabhavalkar enacting the role of Daya Shastri. The movie is produced by Sushma Reddy (who is also sister of well known actress Sameera Reddy) and Sanjay Bhattacharya.

The story is about a local goldsmith Shankar who falls in love with his neighbor's daughter Suvarnalata. Seems like a sweet love story, doesn't it? But, there is trouble brewing below. Suvarnalata's father Daya Shastri is against this relation as he has some other wishes and desires. Daya Shastri wants his daughter to marry a rich Dubai resident. He was looking out for someone who would drape his daughter in gold right from the head to the toe.

Searching for a way to save their relation Suvarnalata suggests Shankar to gift her a necklace worth 10 tolas thinking that maybe that would convince her father that he is the right person who is quite capable of keeping her happy all her life. So, Shankar sets out to achieve this mission and spends every bit of money that he had saved till date in order to get her that necklace.

But, he faces the ultimate blow after gifting her that necklace when he gains knowledge that Suvarnalata has cheated him and has married a guy from Dubai named Ravi (character played by Siddharth Makkar). Horrifying! Certainly difficult to go through a heart break like this! The later part of the movie reveals whether he would be able to get over this betrayal and how would he be able to get that necklace back from Suvarnalata.

Manoj Bajpayee once again proves his excellence in his job of acting and has certainly enacted the character of Shankar to the very core but a younger actor would have been a better choice for the role. Yet, besides that factor the lack of a proper screenplay is more evident than Manoj's ability as a fantastic actor. Aarti Chhabaria was fine but could have been better. The character of Daya Shastri suits Dilip Prabahvalkar quite well. Performance given by Govind Namdev, Ninad Kamat and the simplicity portrayed by Pallavi Sharda is definitely exceptional. Pallavi plays the role of a girl who likes Shankar but hides it due to various reasons- one of the reasons being that he is in love with the wrong girl. Siddharth Makkar's performance was okay. The movie even contains a cameo by Vidya Malvade.

Sandesh Shandilya is the music director of the movie and consists of fantastic lyrics by Gulzar. There are songs like 'Aisa hota tha' which is a soft and slow number. A song by Sukhwinder by the name 'Jee na jalayiyo' is also quite good. 'Tumse kya kehna' is another really slow number sung by Sonu Nigam but certainly soothes you.

There is a lot of inconsistency in the script of the movie. You may find yourself yawning at times and may be totally engrossed in some others. But, it still manages to hold on the attention of the audience. The twists and turns in the movie are simply unimaginable. You will certainly be delighted by the climax of the movie. You may even find it quite similar to a Malayalam film by the name 'Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu' released in the year 1998.

Ajoy Verma, a debutante director, does have the talent to tell his story with accurate precision. The movie is shown like a parable or a bed time story with the moral of the story at the end. The characters of the movie are quite realistic and not the overtly crazy types you see in some others.

You really feel for Shankar especially in the scene right before the interval where he is left totally devastated and broken. The scene is really performed quite well by Manoj Bajpayee.

The movie lacks pace in the first half and may even seem sluggish to some. But, it picks post interval. At times it even gets monotonous but doesn't let your attention wander. Actually the movies is based on the good old Malgudi days and as such seems a bit like a chapter in history and maybe that is one reason why it is not able to connect with today's audience.

It is a good movie which can leave you quite lighthearted. Overall it's an average movie not too good and not too bad.