Dange Movie Review: Much like Bejoy Nambiar’s previous works, Dange is marked with a distinct style, voice, colour and texture. Its biggest strength lies in its fresh appeal and treatment. Set against the backdrop of a fictional St Martin’s University in Goa, the film revolves around the lives of college students Xavier, Yuva, Rishika, Gayatri and Ambika. The torchbearers of the future, these youngsters can be best described as tropes that the social media can write long paragraphs about.
Studying isn’t their priority at all. They spend their time engaging in student politics, fights, drugs and activism. They believe in rebelling for a cause and raising their voices against injustice. While Xavier wants to take revenge against his childhood friend who eventually became a silent spectator as he was bullied and molested in school, Gayatri along with Ambika wants to be the flagbearer of justice for students by taking on another influential student named Siddhi. Yuva and Rishika, on the other, are regular fun-loving students who eventually find a purpose of their being.
Now, this is a college where students break into fights at a drop of a hat and rag juniors against a board that reads ‘anti-ragging zone’. For the most part, St Martin’s University is a quintessential Bollywood college where students are ultra cool and liberal and are at their fashionable best. And yet, you believe this world that Bejoy creates. Dange has an extremely novel feel and vibe to it. The themes touched upon are not first world, but quite relatable and doesn’t call for mockery.
Along with the director, editor Priyank Prem Kumar and cinematographers Jimshi Khalid and Presley Oscar D’Souza deserve brownie points for making the film a visual treat. At around 153 minutes, Dange makes for a quick-paced ride. The makers waste no extra time in introducing the characters and dive into the crux of the narrative rather quickly. Most of the frames are stunning to the eye with the neon lighting amping up the cool quotient of the film especially during fight sequences. Dange is chaotic and it works in its favour. It is also all about style and suaveness and in doing so, it makes sure that it doesn’t fail to focus on substance and nuance. The background score add to its panache.
Touted to be an adventure of love, Dange without being preachy makes many statements on students and the modern world they inhabit and have the potential to change. Here, there’s no room for sappy romance and every sub-plot only adds value and sheen to the principle story. And yes, if you manage to not get anxious and irritable with the high decibel levels of the thumping score, you might just enjoy this slick adventure ride.
Bejoy and his team also deserve applause for their on-point casting choices. Harshvardhan Rane, who proved that he cannot go wrong with his choices (courtesy: Haseen Dillruba and Tara VS Bilal) irrespective of their commercial outcome, reiterates that given the right roles, he can do wonders. He brings a rare ‘thehraav’ to the table and plays Xavier with a lot of subtlety, sensitivity and beauty. Ehan Bhat as Yuva complements his stillness with a high-voltage performance and yet manages to hold your attention with an envious restraint. Nikita Dutta as Rishika impresses as well. Her Rishika is no nonsense, sometimes loud and still holds a lot of empathy.
TJ Bhanu delivers another stellar act after her compelling debut as a blind girl in Modern Love Chennai’s short titled Vaazh. It may be co-incidental but rather interesting to see her constantly play these parts (add Guns & Gulaabs to the list) that subtly and inadvertently challenge gender roles. Kudos to her for playing women with an unyielding inner strength and eloquent eyes time and again that definitely elevates a screenplay several notches high!
The rest of the cast including Taniya Kalrra and Zoa Morani are impressive too. It’s Danish Sait as Father Francis who we wish had more screen time. However, if you’re tired of the same old thrillers and want to relish a good, thought-provoking and new-age action drama, don’t miss out on Dange because stories like this deserve a wider audience for them to be told time and again.
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