Ten on ten

Amar Vinay Pathak gets to know that he has the Big C, and that he is, not to put too fine a point on it, dying. Now he8217;s always been the kind of man who makes lists, so this is his last chance whip out a pen, and write on a piece of yellow paper: Things to do before I die. A big car? Check. He gets himself a spanking red one. An old love? Check. He tracks down the pretty girl Neha Dhupia he8217;s always had a crush on, and confesses all. Dump the boss? Totally. He stares down the overfed, oversized bully Saurabh Shukhla who8217;s made him miserable all his working life, and quits his job. Getting estranged younger brother Gaurav Gera home? Oh yes.

It8217;s easy to go wrong with films about people jousting with death, and more often than not, what we get is an overdose of maudlin melodrama. Dasvidaniya goodbye in Russian, and yes, there8217;s a reason for this, but we8217;ll let you discover it for yourself is just right: bitter-sweet, matter-of-fact, laced with little joys and sorrows, just like life. Be ready for involuntary tears, though.

And Vinay Pathak is pitch-perfect. Nowhere does he send up the Amar-the-loser. No artificial sympathy is garnered. We8217;ve all known the Amars of this world, and there8217;s a little bit of Amar in all of us: Pretty girls do sometimes run off to another, some best friends Rajat Kapoor are happy to get the bigger share of everything, and their wives Suchitra Pillai are often mean and suspicious. So who says life is fair? This is Vinay8217;s finest performance, much more nuanced than his much-hyped one in Bheja Fry.

Dasvidaniya is a little gem. Go watch.

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