Director: Bejoy Nambiar
Cast: Harshvardhan Rane, Ehan Bhatt, Nikita Dutta, T.G. Bhanu, Zoa Morani and others
Where: In cinemas near you
Rating: 3 stars
Filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar brings back the campus-drama genre that was missing for a while now. Mani Ratnam’s Yuva is the best example of the genre and Bejoy, being his assistant to the maverick Mani, keeps the flavour intact. Bejoy’s Dange is stylised, edgy and a trippy ride.
Bejoy has kept his narrative that comprises chapters — Zee Aur Mandi, Yuva Ki Entry, Jigri Toast, Ishq Vishq Pyaar, Sorry, But No Sorry and Dange. However, the film looks like the refurbished version of Yuva and strongly resembles an urbanised world of Josh, but still Dange has its own route to Bejoy’s world.
Zee aka Xavier (Harshvardhan Rane), a drug addict, shack owner, is secretly in love with Bhanu, a leader of Awaaz Community that aims for students' well-being. Rishika (Nikita Dutta), a senior medical student falls for Yuva aka Yuvraj (Ehan Bhatt), college’s blue-eyed boy. But what happens when Zee and Yuva cross paths with each other?
The noticeable thing in Bejoy’s film is his ability to take the audience on a psychedelic joyride. His characters are strong, have back stories and are very-well arched. But with such films, one can’t expect a surprising ending, although, not an ordinary one too either. Bejoy’s non-linear storytelling isn’t a new thing but the plot twist could have been timed a little better in Dange.
New entrant Ehan Bhatt is watchable. He certainly looks better on-screen. His voice and boy next door’s image works in his favour. Nikita does a decent job and has an amazing screen time probably for the first time ever. TJ Bhanu is powerful and has a bigger playground to enact her role. Zoa fits into her given role quite well but her dialogue deliveries aren’t apt here and there.
Dange is by far Harsh’s best performance. He is earnest with his performance. He does maximum justice to bring out Bejoy’s vision with so much ease. The two seem like hand-in-gloves and Dange is collectively a notch higher product than Taish.
The highlight of the film is BGM that has always been a USP of Bejoy’s piece of work. Dange is enjoyable but highly recommended for a one-time watch since it’s not strictly about college politics but also projects aimless youth, how one’s sexuality can be used for a bigger betrayal and etc.
