Expectations
Right since the retro era, South Indian films used to be dubbed in Hindi in order to get the wider audience. The ratio increased after the successful launch of Kamal Hassan, Rajnikant, Sridevi and Jaya Prada in Hindi films.
Except for films like 'Appu Raja' none of these dubbed films managed to make their mark until, the arrival of Maniratnam's award winning film 'Roja'. This movie marked the proper arrival of dubbed films along with re-launching of Madhoo followed by launching of A.R Rahman, Maniratnam and Arvind Swamy.The latter three, repeated their magic once more in 'Bombay', after which there was immense fan following for all of them, especially for Arvind Swamy who was the most loved actor among the ladies. His popularity motivated few more film makers to dub more films like 'Sapnay', 'Maun' and 'Priyanka'.
The Hindi film directors also cashed in the popularity of Arvind Swamy in the form of films like 'Saat Rang KeSapnay' and 'Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar Ho Gaya'. Sadly, the failure of these films paused the celebrations and also shelved his film with Madhuri Dixit. Now, after almost two decades, he returns back to Hindi films in the form of 'Dear Dad'. Thus the expectations are there but only for all those who have been waiting to see back their blue eyed hero Arvind Swamy.
Story
'Dear Dad' is a story of Nitin (Arvind Swamy) and his son Shivam (Himanshu Sharma). After so many years of marriage, Nitin comes out of the closet and decides to reveal about his homosexuality to Shivam. This leads to separation with his wife. Nitin loves his son and has to send him to boarding school and on his way to the school he decides to reveal the truth to his son.
The 'Glitz' Factor
On the positive side, the whole issue related to homosexuality has been handled in a matured manner. The initial phase of the journey is filled with many sweet moments and also the finale part succeeds in touching your inner soul. The writers should have created many such situations in the centre part of the film. The cinematography is of top notch and adds as additional screenplay to the film. The locations are breathtaking and colourful. The director dares to come up with such a sensitive subject and partly succeeds in presenting it.Though there are few scenes which are remarkably shot and deserves a watch.
Arvind Swamy is superb in his role and it's great to watch him after such a long time. Himanshu Sharma lends good support and tries to match up to the intensity of Arvind Swami.
The 'Non-Glitz' Factor
The story in one liner and a great content for feel good type of films. But such films need to be presented in a light manner, whereas here, it is presented in a bit lethargic manner. The narration is super slow due to which connect with the film keeps missing. There are few sub plots involving Bengali babas, which fail to go with the flow of the film. The sarcasm in such scenes fails to go with the flow of the film. After setting the tone of the film the director loiters around for a long time to come back to his right track. These middle portions of the film, keeps testing your patience level.
Final 'Glitz'
'Dear Dad' has a sensitive subject with ace performance by Arvind Swamy, which gets diluted due to weak, slow and lethargic treatment. It could have been one among all those great feel good film, instead succumbs to an average to decent watch.
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