Dus Kahaniyaan Movie Review

Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Dus Kahaniyaan’ is an interesting, engrossing and entertaining watch. A brave, stylish and intelligent attempt at storytelling. Brave because attempts like these have failed earlier and bringing this style back with such a huge cast was definitely playing a big gamble. It is stylish, just as every other Sanjay Gupta product. Technicalities are deftly handled. It is intelligent because it picked its cue from films that were attempted in this genre but failed.

Matrimony’
Cast: Mandira Bedi, Arbaaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey
Director: Sanjay Gupta

A story well told with a sudden twist in the tale revealed in the closing minute of the film.

’High On The Highway’
Cast: Jimmy Sheirgill and Masumeh
Director: Hansal Mehta

This film by Hansal Mehta is slightly ambiguous as the doped minds of its protagonists – Jimmy Shergill and Masumeh Makhija , film students who like to get high and hit the highway. But their lives change on the fateful, farewell night after an incident on the highway.

’Pooranmashi’
Cast: Amrita Singh, Minisha Lamba, Parmeet Sethi and Vishwajeet Pradhan.
Director: Meghna Gulzar

Very well written and executed. It explores how messy things can become if you stray that one bit from your bounds. One of the best stories in the movie.

’Strangers In The Night’
Cast : Neha Dhupia and Mahesh Manjrekar.
Director : Sanjay Gupta

The storyteller again recreates the magic here. Gives a new dimension to what was easily mistaken for lust when the story started to unfold. Extra ordinary circumstances but good nonetheless.

’Zahir’
Cast : Manoj Bajpai and Dia Mirza.
Director : Sanjay Gupta

Except for the twist in the end, the story of ‘Zahir’ looks plain and dull. Manoj Bajpai , a struggling writer shifts in as the next-door neighbor of Dia Mirza . In no time the two become thick friends. He makes the first move and kisses her. She rebuffs and walks away. Then a disturbing truth about Dia comes to the fore. But there is another truth that is more shocking than this one.

’Gubbare’
Cast : Nana Patekar, Anita and Rohit Roy.
Director : Sanjay Gupta

A story whose twists and turns you can easily foretell but it does not bore you. That again reaffirms Sanjay Gupta’s finesse as a storyteller. Rohit Roy gets a special appearance in a 10 minute film. It is Nana Patekar all the way in this one. Thumbs up for the emotional quotient.

’Love Dale’
Cast : Anupam Kher, Anooradha Singh, Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Uberoi.
Director : Jasmeet Dhondi

This is the dullest short story in the medley. Neha Uberoi gets down a train following a mysterious woman and ends up at the house of Aftab Shivdasani , a painter living alone in a house in the hills. The two share many tender moments but then comes the time for her to leave.

’Sex On The Beach’
Cast : Dino Morea and Tareena Patel.
Director : Apoorva Lakhia

Ramsay or shall I say Ramu effect coming into play. This again has supernatural element in it. It shows you how your pleasant fantasies can sometimes go wrong if they come real. Nothing great about this one.

’Rice Plate’
Cast : Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah.
Director : Rohit Roy

Debutante director Rohit Roy handles the theme deftly. Shabana Azmi is good. You don’t get much of Naseeruddin Shah in this one which made me feel a bit let down. A thematic story that scores.

’Rise & Fall’
Cast : Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty.
Directors: Hansal Mehta and Sanjay Gupta

The last story should have been a stunner. The audience should have left the theatre thinking about it. But nothing of the sort happens. With Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty at the helm, you sure expect some fire crackers but there were none.

On the whole, DUS KAHAANIYAN is a unique product in many ways as no movie in recent memory has told as many as 10 stories. Overall, not such a bad experience. The movie is definitely worth a watch.