Dono Review: A modern take on love and relationships peppered with sweet and simple moments
Dono Movie Rating: 3 Stars
Watched Dono movie on Zee5. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Rajveer Deol, Paloma Dhillon, Aditya Nanda, Kanikka Kapur, Rohan Khurana and Manik Papneja
Director: Avnish S. Barjatya
Release Date: 5th October 2023 in cinemas & 29th December 2023 on Zee5
Story: Movie revolves around Dev Saraf (Rajveer Deol) who is a young entrepreneur struggling to keep his startup afloat. He’s been in love with his best friend Alina (Kanikka Kapur) for about a decade but couldn’t ever muster up the courage to let her know how he feels. When his mother informed her about Alina wedding, then he declines to be a part of engagement.
Dev is unable to process the same but after much thought he decides to attend her destination wedding scheduled after 6 months to seek closure. Upon landing at the wedding venue, Dev meets Dulhe ki friend Meghna (Paloma) who’s nursing a broken heart herself. She was in a toxic relationship with the groom Nikhil’s (Rohan Khurana) best friend Gaurav (Aditya Nanda) and had a bitter breakup a month back.
Both are poles apart. While Dev is unable to come to terms that the love of his life is getting married, Meghna seems to have moved on rather well. On Alina’s persuasion, Dev musters courage to attend the wedding and all the pre-wedding functions. He convinces himself that his affair with Alina, even though it was one-sided, needed closure for him to move on.
Dev and Meghna meet at the pre-wedding celebrations and sparks fly. However, the love story is not simple as Gaurav tries to woo Meghna by apologizing to her for having treated her very shabbily, leading to their break-up. More complications arise when Alina has second thoughts about her own marriage with Nikhil. Will Dev get his first love? Will Meghna return to Gaurav? Or will the love story of Dev and Meghna triumph?
Positives
1. Performances
2. Climax
3. Cinematography
4. Direction
5. Screenplay
Negatives
1. Length
2. Story lacks Novelty
3. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this one on OTT as trailer looks good in parts only and there is nothing new in the story.
Two strangers nursing broken hearts meet at a lavish destination wedding in Thailand. As they foster a friendship, they help each other heal and move on. Will their companionship lead to a new chapter in their lives?
Dono story is too simplistic and fails to create an impact. That’s mainly because the warmth of a love story is missing. Screenplay is engaging and is peppered with sweet and simple moments. However, the writing gets stretched after a point. Avnish Barjatya’s direction is impressive for a debutant director. He directs a well-made, nuanced, progressive film which sticks to Rajshri’s roots. The conflicts don’t feel forced. The situations in the film are very relatable be it domination by a partner, the quest to find closure, unrequited love, hypocrisy of the society involving womenfolk etc. Also, the troubles and fun associated with a destination wedding, especially when it’s abroad, make for a great watch. Some characters and comical scenes like the cricket match, Dev-Meghna’s meeting at the pani puri stall, etc, add to the humour. The characters are all real and no one is villainised. The production design, cinematography, music and other technical aspects are all pretty impressive. Both Rajveer Deol and Paloma look great on screen and have a fine presence. Supporting star cast performances are impressive.
On the flipside, it falls short is in its execution, primarily led by lazy writing. the film is too lengthy. After a point, it becomes tedious to sit through the film. Secondly, the track of Dev and his parents is very unconvincing. It is strange that Dev is meeting his parents after three years at the Thailand wedding. Yet, he’s not shown spending time with them. Some factual errors distract viewers. For instance, Dev coolly says that he has a flight in 2 hours. Yet, he’s seated in his hotel which is more than an hour’s drive from the nearest airport. This is merely an example of several hurdles that seem to have been force-fitted in the story to make up for the absence of a strong antagonist/villain. The uneven pacing of the narrative further dampens the mood and tests your patience. Music is another major drawback as for any romantic drama music has to be excellent which is missing for this film.
Overall, movie is a clean family entertainer and works due to its simplicity, relatable goings-on and some funny and emotional moments. The romantic saga is refreshing in the times of edgy dramas; however, it will only appeal to those who have an appetite for warm and fuzzy love stories. My view on this movie Recommended.
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