Dacoit TamilYogi Review: The base of a love story of a woman sending her lover to jail is a delightfully sadistic premise and Dacoit knows its strength. The pulse of the film is propelled by that one twist. The movie has been riding on this hook successfully and with a sense of confidence during a time. The initial half is lively, the transition block hits the ground with a bang and the background music by Bheems Ceciroleo gradually ratchets the screws. However, as the story progresses, the emotional resonance fades, and what started as a powerful, fascinating set up, slowly becomes uneven, aggravating and much less convincing than it would have been.
The movie is centered around two lovebirds, fiercely and irrationally tied together and ripped apart by one, defining event. The choice of the woman to take the man to jail turns into an emotional and narrative drive. It is a naturally interesting concept with the questions of motivation, redemption and revenge. The movie capitalises on this to some extent.
The first half is sanely and regulated. The tone is created at the beginning and is backed by a song that serves as a thematic anchor and provides an authentic feeling of upliftment. The staging, editing, and visual rhythm are quite impressive and the film culminates in a powerful interval block that supports the initial promise of the film.
One of the factors that attributed to this effect is the background score provided by Bheems Ceciroleo. It is aggressive, not just functional, and adds tension and emotion in a precise manner. The score does tend to give the film a certain thrust of scenes that otherwise would have been underwritten, and the effect is one of a particular intensity that gives the film a technical lift.
The second half however, finds it difficult to maintain this momentum. The emotional disconnection is the most significant problem. Although the movie postures itself as a love film, it does not have the substance to justify this. The connection is structural, and its affective payoff is seldom achieved. The moments that require empathy or heart break are shallow instead of moving.
This comes as a great disappointment considering the power of the main idea. The idea is interesting, and the implementation does not always correspond to it. Beats of emotion are artificial and not natural, and they are made to serve the screenplay rather than occur naturally out of the characters.
The scenes of robberies, which should have been a climax, are surprisingly weak. Their execution is not complex and escalated, but it proceeds in a rather simple manner, which reduces tension. On one occasion, even the movie itself admits the ease with which such operations are implemented, which reflects its indifferent depiction inadvertently. The lack of consequence only lowers the stakes, and these sequences are strangely casual.
Problems are compounded by narrative inconsistencies. The significance of money is brought to the fore during a critical point and is subsequently brought down later, which brings about a feeling of disintegration. The screenplay starts to seem more like a set of loosely tied concepts rather than a continuity.
The movie has a hard time being realistic. Although it is set in Hindupur, the setting is seldom believable. The staged and controlled aesthetics, as well as the absence of expansive, inhabited spaces, bring about a world that is unnatural. This is a conspicuous disadvantage when it comes to a story that requires grounded realism.
The disconnect is added by the characters. Their slick, nearly global style is incongruent with the semi-urban setting and does not help their ease of immersion, making the world less believable.
Music, which ought to have reinforced the emotional center proves to be a weak point. None of the songs make an impact, which is a major weakness of a movie that relies on romance. The repetitive track at the climax, meant to bring about some form of emotional response, fails. The episode with Jonita Gandhi is especially clumsy, as its performance and positioning interrupt the narrative, and do not add to it.
Performance wise, Adivi Sesh holds the film with a steady strong screen presence, with some patchy moments. But there are some instances, especially in the jail scenes, when it seems a bit out of place, and his refined look sometimes contrasts with the down to earth quality the part requires.
Mrunal Thakur is an actor who offers a heartfelt performance, which makes the most important moments believable. The dubbing by Chinmayi, however, is a little overpowering, particularly in creating a slight disconnection.
The supporting cast such as Anurag Kashyap, Prakash Raj, Atul Kulkarni and Sunil are not fully exploited. They provide them with little space as the screenplay, although they give them some weight on paper. One of the highlights of the movie is a short scene with Prakash Raj, however, mostly because of the aura he possesses on screen.
Another area of weakness is the delivery of dialogue. Uncertain word sense impacts understanding, whether performance-based or sound-based, a little to break immersion in a number of cases.
The screenplay, promising at first, disintegrates over time. The flashback scenes are weak, and some of them seem to be expected and lengthy. Trying to uplift the story with the excessive use of dialogue usually appears as an effort instead of mightiness.
Even with these deficiencies, Dacoit should not be totally discounted. The fundamental concept has not lost its charm and the interwoven love, betrayal and consequence are all appealing on a basic level. The climax does have some emotional impact, although it lacks the impact it could because of a lack of groundwork.
Finally, Dacoit is a movie with good intentions and haphazard execution. It provides a strong premise and some technical prowess, but loses out on the emotional depth, narrative cohesion and authenticity. Its influence is very much dependent on the degree to which one has been moved by its main relationship as well as the degree to which one is ready to ignore its shortcomings.
Rating: 2.5/5
