Dasvidaniya
Encyclopedia
Dasvidaniya is a 2008 Bollywood
film released on 7 November 2008.
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.
) 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.
) 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.
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."
The movie has also been referred by its pun line as "the best goodbye movie ever."
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film released on 7 November 2008.
The name of the movie is a pun on the list of ten things to be done before death made by Vinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak is an Indian actor and a theatre person born and raised in Bhojpur, Bihar. He is known for his great Comic timing and as a revolution in Indian Cinema along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapur, Abhay Deol, who are tagged as actors of a new genre...
, and is derived from the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
phrase до свидания (do svidaniya), meaning good bye.
Synopsis
Shy Amar Kaul (Vinay PathakVinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak is an Indian actor and a theatre person born and raised in Bhojpur, Bihar. He is known for his great Comic timing and as a revolution in Indian Cinema along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapur, Abhay Deol, who are tagged as actors of a new genre...
) 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 PathakVinay Pathak
Vinay Pathak is an Indian actor and a theatre person born and raised in Bhojpur, Bihar. He is known for his great Comic timing and as a revolution in Indian Cinema along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapur, Abhay Deol, who are tagged as actors of a new genre...
) is a 37-year-old accounts manager at a company called Suraj Pharmaceuticals in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. He is single and lives with his partially deaf mother (Sarita Joshi
Sarita Joshi
Sarita Joshi is an Indian stage, television and film actress. She is the daughter of Gujarati actress Jamnaben Thakkar and Marathi stage director Haribabu Joshi...
). He is often bullied into doing ridiculous amounts of office work by his oversized boss Das Gupta (Saurabh Shukla
Saurabh Shukla
-Early life:Shukla's family left Gorakhpur for Delhi when he was two years old. After completing his schooling, he did his graduation from Khalsa College, Delhi...
) 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
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
. But, upon further investigation, he is informed that he is suffering from stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
which is currently in its second stage
Cancer staging
The stage of a cancer is a description of the extent the cancer has spread. The stage often takes into account the size of a tumor, how deeply it has penetrated, whether it has invaded adjacent organs, how many lymph nodes it has metastasized to , and whether it has spread to distant organs...
. 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
Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
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
Purbi Joshi
-Biography:Purbi Joshi born on 19 August 1984 is the daughter of well known television actor Sarita Joshi and sister of Ketki Joshi . In 1995, Purbi got her first break in Faasle TV serial....
) but learns later that she already has a boyfriend
Boyfriend
A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed relationships, where other titles A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed...
. His soul confronts him again and tells him that if he wants love, he should look no farther than Neha Bhanodh (Neha Dhupia
Neha Dhupia
Neha Dhupia is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films. She is a former beauty queen and winner of Femina Miss India 2002.-Early life:...
), 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
Rajat Kapoor
Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, writer and director born in 1961.Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. As a teenager he would watch films with his family and decided to become a filmmaker at the age of 14. He mainly focused on acting at first...
), 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
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
" to which she exclaims "Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
!" Amar nods and Tatyana reveals that she has the records of old Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
film songs (incidentally, the song played by her i.e. Pal Bhar Ke Liye, sung by Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar , born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, was an Indian film playback singer and an actor who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter.Kishore Kumar was one of India's greatest performers of the late 20th century...
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
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
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
Gaurav Gera
Gaurav Gera is an Indian actor and comedian. He made his debut as an actor in the Indian television soap Life Nahin hai Laddoo. This was followed by roles in popular shows like Sanskruti, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin and The Great Indian Comedy Show. He has also acted in various Bollywood movies like...
), 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
- New car (Buy new car)
- Foreign trip
- Neha (Tell his childhood friend Neha, that he loved her)
- Guitar (Learn to play guitar)
- My boss (Take revenge from his bully boss)
- Mumma (Make arrangements for mother after he is gone)
- Rajiv Julka (Meet his best buddy Rajiv Julka)
- Love (Find genuine love)
- Photo on the front page (of a newspaper)
- Vivek (Make peace with his brother)
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".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."
The movie has also been referred by its pun line as "the best goodbye movie ever."