Alcohol is an integral part of the villagers living in Veerlapally. This much becomes absolutely clear when we see a group of men eagerly waiting for the arrival of a barkeeper. What this implies is that the bar - Silk Bar - is treated as a temple by the alcoholics. So when the place is shut down by the government, we get an amusing song where a character on a cycle explains how miserable life has become in the village. No one lifts corpses or dances at weddings. A man gets sick during summer, and some men desperately attempt to salvage drops from empty bottles. Even the frame initially becomes blue to accentuate the gloominess of the villagers.
In Veerlapally, the one who owns the bar basically rules over the villagers. That person is the one with the most power. Unsurprisingly, then, a political feud arises over its ownership. Two flags are planted on the top of the bar. One has an ear drawn on it, while the other has a ring as its symbol. The joke is that no one listens to the problems of the villagers (a woman complains how no one moved the Silk Bar to another place), and the village itself is cuffed with casteism (if you are from a lower caste, you cannot enter the bar).
All these moments come with a specific mood embedded into them. There is a massive influx of emotions in Srikanth Odela's Dasara. On the surface, it's your typical "hero-worshiping crowd-pleaser." Dharani (Nani) single-handedly defeats his opponents and stylishly poses against a sunlit sky. But zoom in, and you will discover that these moments are far from your typical mass movie moments. For starters, Dharani's one-man-army stunt comes with a muted adrenaline rush. Dasara doesn't grab your collars and force you to whistle at the "hero moments." Rather, it observes the action with a subdued sensibility.
By action, I don't just mean the action sequences. The beats in Dasara are softened. Some of them are muddled (a brief, awkwardly inserted flashback neuters the impact of a final execution). Odela knows how to play with the mood and use the elements at his disposal. He expertly converts characters into vessels that deliver the screenplay's intentions. For instance, Dharani's eyes mist with tears when the love of his life, Vennela (Keerthy Suresh), expresses sadness over her disapproving parents. And Nambi effortlessly exudes bad vibes because he is played by Shine Tom Chacko, who looks like a natural villain. I was shocked - and laughed a little - when everyone gasped after learning Nambi was responsible for a character's death. I mean, he is such an obvious culprit. Look at his face! It has "main bad boy" written all over it.
Consider the title of the film. It refers to a festival that is all about good overcoming evil forces. The "mythology" thingy is baked into the movie's DNA. Nambi is not an ordinary criminal. He is Raavan. In one of the scenes in the film, a young Dharani and a young Vennela stand in front of a burning statue of Raavan. This small moment foreshadows later events, where an adult Dharani has to kill Nambi in order to achieve that happily-ever-after life with Vennela. Moreover, it's interesting that our hero requires alcohol to gain confidence (if the bar is the temple, the alcohol is like a prasad that gives him powers). Otherwise, you can scare him with a stick if he is sober.
I admire Odela's efforts; he has certainly made Dasara with a vision. But I like my masala with heightened emotions. What Odela has done is he has shown that you can make a film like this with a repressed tone. He is a film school student/scientist who has completed an experiment. Some people have appreciated this approach, and the movie has got a positive critical reception. And while I respect this film, I don't like it very much. It's one of those movies that affects you intellectually but leaves you dry emotionally. A beheading on a cycle is more stylish (there is smoke and slow motion) than emotional. And we don't hold our breath when Suri (Dheekshith Shetty) finds out that Dharani loves Vennela. It's a love triangle that doesn't sing. It's a tragedy that doesn't sting. Dasara is a masala movie for people embarrassed by melodrama or intense "masala" emotions.