Dasvi review: A fun satire with a big message about the transformative power of education

Abhishek Bachchan in 'Dasvi', produced by Maddock Films and Jio Studios, and streaming on Netflix.

Dasvi is a raucous satire about Indian politicians. It is also an effective message film—the message is, education can transform people. In this case, the subject of transformation is Ganga Ram Choudhary (Abhishek Bachchan), a strapping politician who calls himself tiger and rules the state with muscle and cheek. He is the semi-literate chief minister of the fictitious Harit Pradesh who has not lost an election in several years despite having studied only till class 8. A scam lands him in jail and he has to wait for bail. Meanwhile, the power transfers to his uneducated, docile wife Bimla (Nimrat Kaur), who tastes the sweet pill of political power and goes through her own transformation aided by a flaky, pantsuit-wearing social media strategist.

Produced by Maddock Films and Jio Studios, Dasvi streams on Netflix from April 7.

Nimrat Kaur as Bimla in 'Dasvi'.

As the new chief minister, Bimla embodies the adage, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”— a potential hurdle to Ganga Ram’s bail. To make things more difficult for him, there's a new superintendent who is upright, egalitarian and punctilious, taking Ganga Ram to task. Ganga Ram is in a tight spot, but it becomes a springboard for him to change the course of his life when he decides to appear for the class 10 or “dasvi” exam. With the help of other inmates in the jail, including librarian "Raebareli" (Danish Husain) and "Ghanti" (Arun Khuswaha).

The preparations for “dasvi” are fodder to Jalota’s lukewarm, chuckle-worthy comedy co-written by Ritesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Sandeep Leyzell. History lessons of the freedom struggle inspire Ganga Ram with the ideals of Gandhi, Chandrashekhar Azad, Lajpat Rai and Subhas Chandra Bose. Being from the Hindi heartland doesn’t stop the Hindi language from posing the biggest challenge to Ganga Ram. Will he pass the exam, and if he gets out of jail, will he be a new, inspired leader for the masses he has ruled for years?

Much of the satire of Dasvi is not literal. There are digs at “anti-nationals and liberals”, bureaucracy (the character of the chief minister’s chief aide, an IAS officer played by Chittaranjan Tripathy, is a personification of academic success without conviction of character), and the favourite lampooning target of Bollywood directors: TV journalists.

The humour amplifies as the stakes for the chief minister’s seat get higher. Much of the humour derives from Kaur’s comic relish as an actor to play the deluded and haughty Bimla. She, and some the inmates, especially Ghanti, make up the comic force of the screenplay.

Some of the puns and jokes fizzle out as they are delivered and some are a hoot. The best part of Jalota’s treatment of his subject is that he keeps the tone light and cheeky, and steers entirely clear from being preachy.

It’s obvious Bachchan is invested in this role—it’s one of his best lead roles in a long time. He delivers a performance balanced on histrionics and small details of expressions and inflections. The entire cast is impressive—all doing their bit with rigour as well as relish to drive the message of the film. If at all a message that is so deeply entrenched in our social psyche has to find new wings, it has to be a brand of humour and satire that Jalota and his cast manage to weave in this film. At no point does the big message—and several small ones—interfere with the fun.

Yami Gautam in 'Dasvi'.