Jitendra Kumar’s Gannu in Dry Day is modeled after Ayushmann Khurrana’s larger-than-life common Indian man, but he fails miserably. Continue reading to find out why!
Dry Day Movie Rating: 1/5.
Jitendra Kumar, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Annu Kapoor, Shrikant Verma, Kiran Khoje, Sunil Palwal, and others star.
Director: Saurabh Shukla
What’s Good: It doesn’t give you a headache. In fact, it’s about as good as a drunken conversation.
What’s Bad: It gives you a bad hangover, starting with a headache once it’s over!
Loo Break: As many times as you want!
Watch or Not?: After two drinks, yes. Do you have insomnia? Attempt Possibly!
Language: Hindi (subtitled in English)
obtainable through Amazon Prime India
Duration: 128 minutes.
The best part of a drunken conversation, you might ask? It is unclear what you are discussing, when you are discussing it, how you are discussing it, and with whom you are discussing it! You will sometimes make sense and other times you will make a lot of effort to make sense. It would sound like complete silliness in 2023 that most of the things you discuss are unrealized, unfulfilled dreams from the past, but since you are high, you are still free to discuss them. To be exact, the same inebriated conversation appears in Jitendra Kumar’s film Dry Day!
Even though it may sound harsh, inconsiderate, and cruel, that is exactly what it is. As a movie enthusiast, I have the utmost respect for artists, and Saurabh Shukla especially, but his directing is as muddled and purposeless as a drunken discussion.
The best thing about this entire “talli” conversation is that, despite talking complete garbage, one would not think it was said, and they most likely won’t remember it the next day. Similarly, I have to work far too hard to recall anything I saw in the last two hours and I can’t recall a single thing about this movie! And believe me when I say that this has been even more exhausting in person than it appears to be.]
Now, though, let’s move on to what the movie is about: An alcoholic and outlaw named Gannu, portrayed by Jitendra Kumar. He helps a neta played by Annu Kapoor and hopes to become a politician one day. Can a “sharaabi” become a neta, though? Of course, that is true in the real world, but from what I recall, alcohol oddly gets in the way of Gannu realizing his dreams in the world of Dry Day. Before I forget, Gannu is motivated to realize this dream by his wife. Does he make it? Yes, of course, but the route to this achievement is a taxing two-hour narrative that aims to be a social satire and is overly dramatic and stretched.
Review of the film Dry Day: A Script Study
Let us establish two very important facts about this film right now. 1. Gannu is an alcoholic, which he conveniently blames on his friends, to the point where he wants to believe that his flaws are a reflection of the people he hangs out with. He will be flawed because they are flawed.
Now, 2. Gannu aspires to be a politician but wants to start small – as a corporator. He has a wife who tries to educate him on his bad habits despite being warned by her father not to marry an alcoholic, which she found cute while courting him but problematic after marrying him! Women, phew.
These two facts form the foundation of Dry Day’s entire premise. Gannu’s problem with alcoholism, how he fights it and then against it, becomes a problematic story that is disjointed despite following a blueprint for a commercial dramedy – It checks all the boxes: there are songs and dances from everywhere, there is a forced romance between the lead pair, there are vile politicians, there is local Gunda, there is a fight with crackling’sheeshe ki botal’ on heads, and there is an item dance.
Review of the film Dry Day: Star Performance
So someone, probably drunk, told Jitendra Kumar, the lead actor, that you are the Ayushmann Khurrana of the OTT, and he, unfortunately, believed it, trying too hard to step into his shoes, leaving aside what comes naturally to him – playing a common man; a regular Indian guy struggling in his 30s. Be it Jitu Bhaiya from Kota Factory, Sachiv Ji from Panchayat, or Aman Tripathi from Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, the actor has effortlessly transformed into these characters that people can relate to.
However, Gannu from Dry Day appears, a larger-than-life Hero who tries too hard – is this Jitendra’s failure? Probably not, because in this half-baked story, he tries to hold the fort.
Review of the film Dry Day: Direction and Music
Saurabh Shukla was credited as the scriptwriter for Satya, which was followed by a string of successful films. He became a director and hasn’t done much noteworthy. He falls hard for this political/social satire, which features the most befuddled protagonist and the most cringe-worthy dialogue of the decade.
Gannu’s wife, played by Shriya Pilgaonkar, wishes to abort her child because her husband is an alcoholic. But her character also says, “Thank God.”
The story loses its plot in the first 20 minutes as the director tries to project Gannu as the messiah of distressed women trying to get their husbands to quit drinking in a village where the main problem appears to be drinking men. As previously stated, the remaining 100 minutes are a drunken conversation.
The Last Word, a Dry Day Film Review
When you’re wasted, words are just blabbering sounds constructing out-of-context sentences – and so is this film, every single minute. It aspires to be a strong political satire, similar to Well Done Abba, with a single focus. It is inspired by the lyrics and music of Welcome To Sajjanpur and Peepli Live, but it goes nowhere. But never mind. Just keep an eye on it.
