Dasvi Director Tushar Jalota: ‘It is a take on politics but the film is mainly on education'

In his recent release  Dasvi , Abhishek Bachchan plays an illiterate politician who learns the value of education during his jail term (he is taken in judicial custody on charges of a teacher recruitment scam), and in his absence he appoints his ‘wife’ Nimrat Kaur (Bimla Devi) as the chief minister. While the resemblance of Ganga and Bimla’s story to the real-life husband-wife political team of former Bihar CMs Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi is unmistakable, debutant director Tushar Jalota insists that the story isn’t modelled on any politician. In fact, the film also has some very overt similarities to the real-life story of ex-Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala who also sat for his Class 10th exams while being in jail for a teacher recruitment scam.  Again, denying that there was no reference drawn, the director says he was pitched the idea by one of the film’s writers (and producers) Sandeep Leyzell. “It is not even inspired by some people. Sandeep gave me a one-line pitch, about an older man who sits for his Class 10 exams. I found it interesting. Also, I felt instantly connected to the story, because a lot of my family, from my mother’s side, happen to be teachers and professors. My mother and aunt used to be a professor back in the day. My sister is a principal,” says Jalota. He furthers, “Then I thought let’s make it a little more difficult for the character and give him some sort of a stature and we decided to make him larger-than-life. I started writing, developing the story, characters and much later we came to know that O P Chauthala gave his tenth board exam from within the jail premises in his 80’s. The story isn’t inspired but possibly bears some resemblance. Again there is no reference to any politician’s wife. Bimla is subservient and doesn’t have a voice in front of him. It’s all done in a very light-hearted manner. The film is a take on politics but the film is on education. We wanted to make a light, easy breezy watch. The core idea was to make an entertaining film with great characters and while developing them I tried to make them endearing. We could have made Abhishek’s character harsh and ruthless but we were making an entertaining film. Even though he is playing this crooked, cunning, boorish, corrupt man who is entitled, self-absorbed, powerful and intimidating, I wanted him to be loveable. It is not meant to be a documentary on education but there is a message that education can reform you into a better person.” Jalota always had Bachchan in mind for the part. “The fact that Abhishek has started to identify and choose roles very wisely in terms of playing strong character roles is great. He is a very fine actor and one of the better actors that we have. He has got this inherent intensity, charm, wit, humour and the experience he has brought to the character is commendable. It all comes from a person who is extremely learned, you grow, understand and mature with age. The idea that there is no defining hero in today’s times, Abhishek has taken really well to that. Whether it is Ludo, or Manmarziyan, or Bob Biswas, they were all character driven roles and those are the heroes of the films. I have always been a big fan of his and always wanted to work with him. I never worked as an assistant in any of his films but I am glad that I got to work with him in my very first film,” says the director. Talking about the film’s female leads, Jalota says, “I have been Nimrat’s fan since Tera Mera Pyar (music video) and then of course, Lunch Box. I wondered where she went. Her manager arranged our meeting and I was sure that I wanted her in Bachchan’s wife’s role but I had one condition that she needs to gain weight because this was a role of a typical desi North Indian Haryanvi jat housewife. On the other hand, Abhishek had to lose weight because he had gained a lot of weight for Bob Biswas. Nimrat brings in a lot of humour, she owns that space, she has worked relentlessly hard on her dialect. She speaks good Punjabi and I would keep reminding her to take a right turn and enter Haryana. She is an absolute delight to work with. Yami was also always on my mind. She is a solid actress. She is a thorough professional; she knew everybody’s lines." Jalota assisted the Bhatts (Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt) on as many as five to six productions – Saaya, Murder, Zeher, Kalyug, Gangster - before getting a break as a leading man in Showbiz (2007). He has also assisted Anurag Basu on Barfi, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Ram Leela, and Padmaavat. “These have been the best institutes. Each of the filmmakers is completely different and I have spent enough time with each one of them. I learnt not to ape or copy somebody and be the best version of yourself. Being with Mr Mahesh Bhatt you get to learn more about life and that you incorporate into your films. I have learnt from Basu on multiple films. His way of story-telling is very different. With Mr Bhansali it was more about giving attention to details, learning colour palettes and bringing drama to every scene. But nobody is really going to teach you what filmmaking is, you have to learn, observe, absorb…and the film that I have made is like finding your own voice. It is not doing a specific cinema because I have worked with somebody, but, of course, I have tried to use some of the learnings in my own way,” he says. And one of the most important learnings, Jalota says, comes from the quote he saw on the walls of (Mukesh Bhatt’s) Vishesh Films the first time he visited the office – ‘If you want art then don’t mess with movies, buy a Picasso’. Dasvi, Jalota says, was designed for theatres “but it is safer to be on OTT today”. “I don’t want my producers to suffer loss. My first and foremost teaching was that film is an art but it is still a commercial art. And that quote, that thought will always stay with me. It is my job to ensure my producer doesn’t lose money. Times were still vulnerable when we decided whether it should be theatrical or OTT release,” he says. Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.