Dashavatar is a Marathi film that is creating waves at the box office in Maharashtra. It tells the story of a ‘half-mad’ veteran actor who is famous in his village for performing the traditional folk theatre form, Dashavatar. The film suffers in the first half as it’s a bit slow. And in the second half, it gets unconvincing with the climax being a bit out of place. Yet, the film works because the revenge angle is very imaginative. The tribute to the Dashavatar theatre form is lovely, with Konkan being depicted beautifully. And lastly, Dilip Prabhavalkar‘s performance is outstanding. It is worthy of National Award and it’s he who makes the film worth it. Mahesh Manjrekar has a late entry, but makes up for it with his performance and presence. Priyadarshini Indalkar (Vandana), Siddharth Menon (Madhav), Ravi Kale (Sarpanch Tandel), Sunil Tawade (Parab; cop), Vijay Kenkare (Sarmalkar), Bharat Jadhav (Wadekar; forest officer), Abhinay Berde (Monty), Aarti Wadagbalkar (Sawant; constable) and Lokesh Mittal (Mansukhani) do fine in supporting roles. Music is fine while A V Prafullchandraโs background score is exciting. All in all, Dashavatar is worth watching for the imagination and performance of Dilip Prabhavalkar.
My rating – *** out of 5!