Dasvidaniya

Dasvidaniya
The Best Goodbye Ever!
Directed by	Shashant Shah
Produced by	Guneet Monga, Vinay Pathak, Azam Khan
Written by	Arshad Syed
Starring	Vinay Pathak Neha Dhupia Rajat Kapoor Ranvir Shorey
Music by	Kailash Kher
Cinematography	Arun Varma
Release date(s)	7 November 2008
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Dasvidaniya is a 2008 Bollywood film released on 7 November 2008.^[1][2] The name of the movie is a pun on the list of ten things to be done before death made by Vinay Pathak, and is derived from the Russian phrase до свидания (do svidaniya), meaning good bye.^[3]

Synopsis

Shy Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak) lives a nondescript life with people oblivious to his existence. One day his doctor tells him that he will die within three months. Realising that his time is limited, Amar makes a list of things he wants to do during his life, and sets out to do them.

Summary

Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak) is a 37-year-old accounts manager at a company called Suraj Pharmaceuticals in Mumbai. He is single and lives with his partially deaf mother (Sarita Joshi). He is often bullied into doing ridiculous amounts of office work by his oversized boss Das Gupta (Saurabh Shukla) due to his introverted nature. Amar has a recurring stomach problem and has been informed by the doctors that he possibly suffers from an ulcer. But, upon further investigation, he is informed that he is suffering from stomach cancer which is currently in its second stage. He only has three months left to live his life.

Distraught, he returns to his normal routine of work but is disillusioned by the fact that his boss is extremely unsympathetic towards his plight as he missed doing some paperwork while worrying about his approaching death. He goes to a bar in order to drink alcohol for the first time in his life, where he meets an anonymous young man (Ranvir Shorey in a cameo), who describes his risky way of living life, including coming to the bar to drink even though his doctor has warned him not to owing to a bad liver condition. The next day, while making his regular list of priorities for his day-to-day life and office work, he is confronted by his soul, an Amar look-alike who ironically is dressed up in the same way the young man at the bar the previous night was. His soul criticizes Amar for going on with his regular, boring life despite knowing his time is up. Inspired by this, Amar sets up a priority list of the things he needs to do before he dies.

First on his wish-list is a new car and so he applies for a company loan, which is promptly rejected by his boss who categorically states that he will not help increase air pollution in the city, and also that Amar should not be a liability to the company. Finally enraged, Amar deletes all the files that he has completed for Das Gupta and pours an orange drink on him. Sacked but also boosted by a new compensation package, Amar finally buys a new car. He shows interest in the car's sales woman (Purbi Joshi) but learns later that she already has a boyfriend. His soul confronts him again and tells him that if he wants love, he should look no farther than Neha Bhanodh (Neha Dhupia), his childhood crush, to whom he has been struggling to convey his love to for years.

At the same time, Amar begins to take lessons from veteran guitarist Savio (Joy Fernandes) in order to fulfill his childhood dream of mastering the art of playing the guitar. Since Savio's niece works in a telephone company, Amar asks for Savio's help to track down Neha. He meets Neha but discovers that she is happily married with a kid. After spending some time with the family, he leaves but is again confronted by his soul who calls him a coward. Finally, under pouring rain, Amar gathers courage to walk up to Neha, and using sign languages familiar to them back from their childhood, confess his hidden feelings for her all along. Looking happy at his new-found courage, Amar contacts his long-lost best friend Rajiv Julka (Rajat Kapoor), who's a doctor currently staying in Thailand. By visiting Rajiv, Amar fulfills his wish of going on a foreign trip and also meet with his best friend. However, shortly after he reaches Rajiv's house, he overhears Rajiv's wife Suchi (Suchitra Pillai) suggesting that Amar has come for free treatment.

Hurt, Amar leaves the house and starts wandering the streets, where he is approached by a group of Russian call-girls. One of them, Tatyana (Manoylo Svitlana) offers herself for a night, but while trying to wave her away, Amar spills his hotdog ketchup onto her, causing the group to beat him up. Totally wrecked by the events, Amar weeps uncontrollably, labelling the whole idea of fulfilling his dreams as 'a joke'. Finally, Amar decides to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, but is stopped by Tatyana. Both of them do not understand each other's languages and struggle to communicate as Amar is desperate to jump and end his misery, when Tatyana finally slaps him in order to calm him down. She brings him to her house where he finally has a decent meal. Tatyana asks Amar about his native country, and Amar replies "Mumbai, India" to which she exclaims "Bollywood!" Amar nods and Tatyana reveals that she has the records of old Hindi film songs (incidentally, the song played by her i.e. Pal Bhar Ke Liye, sung by Kishore Kumar in an old Hindi movie Johnny Mera Naam, (meaning that I'm just looking for love for the moment even if it is fake, which is like the love of a prostitute) and starts dancing to them, asking Amar to join. Even though initially reluctant, Amar finally joins in, and Tatyana passionately kisses him and then leads him to her bed. Thus, possibly, Amar who has been celibate all his life finally manages to enjoy pleasure in the arms of a woman.

Subsequently, Amar finally finds one of the most difficult things on his wish-list, love, in the form of Tatyana. Despite finding it hard to communicate, they maintain their relationship and spend days with each other. Finally, Amar calls Rajiv and calls him to the airport as he is about to return to India. As a parting gift Tatyana presents Amar a Led Zeppelin T-shirt to which he responds that even he plays the guitar. He says 'Dasvidaniya' as he waves goodbye to Tatyana. He bids farewell to Rajiv as well, despite Rajiv urging him to stay as he can help find a solution to Amar's disease. Rajiv asks Amar to keep fighting and not to succumb.

Amar returns to India, and as a first measure of ensuring that his mother is taken care of after his death, makes peace with his brother Vivek (Gaurav Gera), a TV serial director, (his assistant is played by Sonel Singh of Roadies 5.0 fame), who had long ago left the house after marrying someone whom their mother disapproved of. Amar reveals his disease to Vivek and requests Vivek to care for their mother after his passing. His mother also overhears this and this brings the whole family together. Even though Amar's mother kept dragging him to self-certified yogis and faith healers to help cure Amar's cancer, the three of them constantly spent quality time together. Finally mastering the guitar with the help of Savio, Amar manages to perform a song for his mother and brother before finally dying.

It is later revealed that Amar has left behind gifts for all the significant people in his life. He gifts his car to Savio, the guitarist, given the fact that Savio doesn't have a car and struggles to travel everyday for his own performances, while gifting the guitar ironically to his boss Das Gupta, probably as a sign that Das Gupta needs to release some tension through music. He also gifts Neha his carefully preserved copy of their childhood album, and through Rajiv, leaves behind the DVD of a Bollywood movie for Tatyana. In his will he also specifies that his apartment is to be lent out to the sales woman who sold him the car, along with her boyfriend.

He significantly leaves no gift behind for Rajiv, probably an indication of the theme of their friendship (Amar, since childhood, had always asked Rajiv to keep the bigger part whenever they shared something, so Rajiv not being left a gift is probably a sign of Amar not giving Rajiv any part of his death. He took death entirely for himself and left Rajiv the biggest gift of all - life itself.) Rajiv however decides to keep Amar's wish-list with him.

On reviewing the list Rajiv tells Vivek that Amar managed to complete nine out of ten from his wish list, which isn't bad (the one he apparently missed being the ninth one, i.e. to have his photo on the front page of the newspaper). To this Vivek responds by telling Rajiv that before his death, Amar had already made arrangements for his obituary to be printed on the third page of the local newspaper, which means that all ten of his wishes on his list eventually came true.

The List

1. New car (Buy new car)
2. Foreign trip
3. Neha (Tell his childhood friend Neha, that he loved her)
4. Guitar (Learn to play guitar)
5. My boss (Take revenge from his bully boss)
6. Mumma (Make arrangements for mother after he is gone)
7. Rajiv Julka (Meet his best buddy Rajiv Julka)
8. Love (Find genuine love)
9. Photo on the front page (of a newspaper)
10. Vivek (Make peace with his brother)

Release

Box Office

Dasvidaniya had a collection of around Rs 1.2 Crores on its first week. ^[4]

Critical Reception

The movie received favorable reviews from critics. Martin D'Souza of Bollywood Trade News Network gave the movie 4 stars out of 5 calling it "a memorable experience, one that will leave you richer". ^[5] Gaurav Malani of Indiatimes Movies gave the movie 3 stars, praising the cast, dialogue and scripting and recommended that the movie "should top the list of your 10 most important things to do this weekend." ^[6] The movie has also been referred by its pun line as "the best goodbye movie ever." ^[7]

References

1. ^ "Vinay’s madcap adventure". The Times of India. 6 May 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Vinays_madcap_adventure/articleshow/3011805.cms. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
2. ^ "Not so Funny". Indian Express. 27 October 2008. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/not-so-funny/378376/. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
3. ^ "How DASVIDANIYA was named!". www.glamsham.com. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/08/nov/12-how-dasvidaniya-was-named-110803.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-29. 
4. ^ "Bollywood box-office report of the week". www.glamsham.com. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/08/nov/26-bollywood-box-office-report-of-the-week-110805.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-29. 
5. ^ "Dasvidaniya movie review". Glamsham.com. http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/15-dasvidaniya-movie-review-110801.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 
6. ^ "Dasvidaniya: movie review". The Economic Times. 2008-11-14. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Dasvidaniya_Movie_Review/articleshow/3714301.cms. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 
7. ^ "Dasvidaniya: The Best Goodbye Movie Ever". Guy Down the Street. http://standardwisdom.com/guydownthestreet/2009/05/movie-review-dasvidanyia-2008/. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 

External links

• Dasvidaniya Official Website
• Dasvidaniya at the Internet Movie Database
• Dasvidaniya at Rotten Tomatoes