Dus Tola Movie Review: No Shine At All

Posted by admin on Oct 23rd, 2010 | 0 comments

Dus Tola has a similar story line to the Malayalam film “Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu”; it spins the tale of a goldsmith who falls in love with the daughter of a vile astrologer. This movie has the feel of the unbeatable ‘Malgudi Days’ TV series. With better execution, Dus Tola would have been one of the feel-good movies that you love to cuddle up and watch. However, it falls flat on its face due to a confusing script, sloppy direction and bad choice of actors.

Story of Dus Tola:

Dus Tola narrates the story of one Shankar (Manoj Bajpayee) who falls in love with a beautiful girl called Suvarnalata (Aarti Chhabria). She is the daughter of the cunning astrologer Shastri(Dilip Prabhavalkar). Naturally, the father is opposed to the budding romance. The girl tells Shankar to make a necklace out of ten tolas of gold so that he can show it to her father, saying that he is capable enough to take care of his daughter. But the job is not as easy as Shankar thought. There is a shocking turn of events that stumps Shankar along the way. Though he stumbles across a few road blocks, finally all’s well that ends well.

What is good about Tola:

There are quite a few endearing scenes that may go well with the audience.

What is not so good about Dus Tola:

The director wastes a lot of time on driving home his point about ‘reaping what you shall sow’. There are many parallel tracks and sub plots that divert from the main track and make you wonder if you are really watching the story of Shankar and Suvarnalata or something else. There is a romantic track between a dance teacher and Mano, there is another one about Govind Namdeo and his third wife and there are some crude scenes involving Manoj’s father. The climax leaves a lot to be desired. The songs damage the proceedings as well.

Performances in Dus Tola:

The casting is a suspect, Manoj Bajypayee is not suitable for this role, someone younger would have been better. Aarti Chhabria is also miscast and you get the feeling that she would prance around in a mini skirt anytime. But yes, she tries hard to do a good job. Among the few actors who impress are Dilip Prabhavalkar, Ninad Kamat and Siddarth Makkar.

Conclusion:

Frankly speaking Dus Dola did not have much of a chance against the other three releases, which have been hyped better. But since content wise also, there is not much to write home about, you can avoid this one.

Rating:*(Poor)