Dry Day review: Jitendra Kumar, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor shine their way in the otherwise 'dry' film!

2.5/5

Dry Day story:

The film kicks off with PBP’s (Prachand Bal Party) Gannu bhaiyya (Jitendra Kumar) addressing a huge political rally. The USP of this political rally is that, not just Gannu bhaiyya, but even those who are attending the rally hold a liquor bottle in their hand! Its only after a few minutes of the rally, that Gannu realises that he was dreaming!

After spending the entire day loitering around the entire village, he gets a shock of his life when his wife Nirmala (Shriya Pilgaonkar) says that, not just her, its also his mother who is pregnant! Seeing the existing situations and circumstances, Nirmala tells him that she will not have the childl, if Omveer Singh Daujee (Annu Kapoor) does not make him the corporator of Jagodhar district!

Dry Day review:

One day, after having drunk fully, Gannu decides with his bunch of friends to go to Delhi. Without giving any spoilers, let us tell you that, a certain act of Gannu makes Omveer Singh Daujee disown him. Despite a thousand pleas by Gannu, still, Daujee is in no mood to accept him again. Back home, the air and the talks about Gannu becoming the next corporator becomes so strong that Nirmala decides to name her unborn girl child ‘chhoti corporator’!

Just as when the rituals for baby shower is taking place, there comes the candidate from the opposition party only to reveal what had happened between Gannu and the Delhi Police and why the latter had beat him the last night. He also goes onto reveal that, Omveer Singh Daujee had decided him to make him the next corporator and not Gannu. Hearing all this, Nirmala is totally distorted and heart broken.

Thereafter starts Gannu’s attempts to become the corporator. And for that, Gannu leaves no stone unturned. Be it performing religious pooja or meeting up with the ‘right set of people’, Gannu is totally at it! But, ‘chance meeting’ of an intoxicated Gannu with his wife Nirmala leads to a major clash between the two. 

Post that, the agenda of his party becomes to abolish liquor and establish a Dry Day! What started off as a one-off thing, gradually becomes a movement of sorts, where help comes to Gannu from unexpected ‘quarters’ (no pun intended!).

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What follows after that are acts of hooliganism, power politics, money power, fast unto death, media coverage, padh-yatra, self-immolation, political tit for tat and many other methods. Does Gannu Kumar become successful in becoming the corporator is what forms rest of the film.

As for the performances, the film totally belongs to the trio of Jitendra Kumar, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor who make no mistake with their respective characters. There are many moments when you stop seeing them as actors and start seeing them as their respective characters as they swiftly and effortlessly slip into the roles that they play in the film. The rest of the cast, however, help in taking the film forward.

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The film ‘Dry Day’ has been directed by Saurabh Shukla, who has also written the film. Even though the intent of the director is clearly visible in every frame of the film, the only place that could act as a roadblock is the backdrop of the film, which has been set in a rural area. While on one hand, there are umpteen films which had got rural India as the backdrop and secondly, in the era of OTT and AI, a film of this backdrop may could act as a roadblock.

Added to that, there are absolutely no songs that has a lasting effect on the audiences’ mind. If that wasn’t enough, the film’s editing could also have been watertight with a major chunk of the scenes being deleted. Altering the film’s length could have done wonders for the film and its appeal to the audiences. 

Dry Day verdict:
What really stands out are the performances by the trio of Jitendra Kumar, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor. The film could just face resistance from the audience on all the other levels.