Dus Tola Review

Its okay for a film to have a simple plot. However, when something that can be told in a 45-60 minutes short story is stretched to two hours, there are all the right reasons for boredom to set in. This is what happens in case of 'Dus Tola' where audience gets restless within first 20 minutes of the film's duration itself.

Manoj Bajpai, a goldsmith, is in love with his next door neighbour (Aarti Chabria). She pokes him into making a necklace worth 'dus tola' for her so that together they could convince her parents that Manoj is worthy enough to take care of her after marriage. However, a turn of events means that Manoj looses both the necklace as well as the girl. Whether he manages to get any of them later in the day forms the crux of 'Dus Tola'.

Since one does get an inkling of what would happen when Manoj would be ready with the necklace, there is no surprise element that sets in once Aarti goes through a turnaround. In fact while one waits for the interval point to arrive, the scenes continue to arrive, hence making one look at the watch time and again. Thankfully, when it actually arrives, the interval point is reasonably okay that sets ground for an engaging second half.

To give due credit to the film, the second half is better as well though it is mainly from comparison perspective. The love story between Manoj Bajpai and a dance teacher is forced into the narrative and belongs to fast forward variety. The struggles faced by Aarti at her household also tend to become repetitive. However, once the twist in the tale is revealed around the pre-climax, 'Dus Tola' does manage to fetch audience attention.

Whatever redemption that the film had gained by this time is lost once a silly fight emerges amongst the villagers. Really, what was the director thinking here? And was the editor sleeping? Couldn't he have taken a call to just chop off this portion entirely from the film?

Amongst the actors, Manoj Bajpai is just okay and makes one believe all over again that he is best suited for intense roles like 'Raajneeti'. Aarti Chabria is just about decent though she is capable of much better. Also, her characterisation becomes patchy in the second half. Amongst the supporting actors, it is Ninad Kamat who does something worthwhile though Asrani and Govind Namdeo are hardly integral to the film's plot.

In any case, 'Dus Tola' by itself is such a below average fare that you don't have much expectation even before the finale. The film starts and ends on a lazy note, hence ensuring that there won't be much audience base waiting to catch this film.

Rating: *1/2