Newsletter | Dasara Isn’t Enough To Establish Nani As True-Blue Action Star

This column was originally published as part of our newsletter The Daily Show on April 3, 2023. Subscribe here. (We're awesome about not spamming your inbox!)

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NANI. NANI. NANI. That’s all I’ve been hearing for almost a month now. Now, I’m never one to complain about too much Nani, because his presence is always pleasant. Of course he’s putting himself out there so much these days to promote his latest release, Dasara (dir. Srikanth Odela).

I like watching Nani’s interviews as they’re mostly fun (often peppered with good-natured jesting with his co-stars). His comments arrive, if not at the speed of light, at the impressive sprint of a cheetah at least. This is what I like about his on-screen persona too. He’s great at portraying goofy men who are prone to turning simple observations into sizzling one-liners. If there’s another actor in Telugu cinema who can deliver a punchline without intending to deliver a punchline, it’s Venkatesh. But he belongs to another generation.

Now, even an in-his-early-60s Venkatesh can still give the likes of Naveen Polishetty a run for their money. Admittedly, I’m not doing either of them justice by including them in the same sentence: Venkatesh has been at the apex for over three-and-a-half decades; Polishetty, in comparison, has just begun his walk in the park.

Nani, however, can rightly be sandwiched between the two of them. Since his debut in 2008 with Ashta Chamma, Nani’s witnessed several highs and lows in his career. The one thing that he’s consistently looked for throughout, is to headline an action drama that ticks all the big boxes.

Action movies, for better or worse, regularly feature in the category of top grossers. They aren’t all fantastic obviously. There are hundreds of trashy ones that are injurious to health. But the genre has survived and thrived all over the world. RRR, KGF 1 & 2, Vikram and Pathaan are only the latest in the genre to experience box office triumphs.

Dasara surely wanted to join this impeccable list. It was also pitched as the magic potion that would finally turn Nani into a bonafide action star. Alas, this one too stands on a slippery slope. Although it is miles ahead of Nani’s thrillers V and Tuck Jagadish, it still isn’t compelling enough.

(Note: Some spoilers for Dasara follow.)

For the most part, Dasara is about the bond between Dharani (Nani) and Suri (Dheekshith Shetty) that deepens as they grow older; to this, Srikanth Odela introduces a romantic angle with the presence of Vennela (Keerthy Suresh). The film starts off as a powerful critique against casteism before morphing into a revenge drama. Formerly a wayward drunkard, Dharani becomes an unstoppable force as he seeks vengeance for the death of Suri at the hands of antagonist Chinna Nambi (Shine Tom Chacko). As for the institutionalised discrimination that previously barred Dharani’s entry into certain places, it’s ignored as soon as he receives information about Nambi’s penchant for womanising tendencies from the latter’s wife.

Odela seems to draw an important line between the hero and the villain. When he discovers that like himself, Suri is also in love with Vennela, Dharani decides to keep his feelings hidden. On the contrary, Nambi gets rid of Suri as he wishes to remove the “obstacle” between himself and Vennela. The hero sacrifices; the villain seizes. There’s a battle of minds as much as one involving deadly weapons, but the scenes that build up to the climax do not exist on their individual strengths — they depend on the final confrontation (set amid a colourful festival where Nambi’s henchmen face off against Dharani’s buddies) for heft. And that’s a bummer.

Since Dasara isn’t exactly an out-and-out action movie that pushes Nani’s envelope in a positive direction, it might fall to HIT 3 to do that. We’ve already caught a glimpse of his character’s unpredictable nature in the final few minutes of HIT: The Second Case. Maybe that’s what Nani needs at the end of the day — a little bit of chaos that brings out the best in him. I, for one, cannot wait to see him play with handguns. Although deep down, I’ll always be cheering him on in romantic comedies.

Dasara is currently playing in theatres. Stay tuned for OTT release updates here.