DVD review: Dharm 
By Joginder Tuteja, January 14, 2008 - 17:22 IST
THE FILM
It is hard to forget the battle which nearly turned into a full blown war a few months back. When Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya - The Royal Guard was chosen as India's entry for Oscars, there were voices around Dharm being an ideal choice. Dharm, a film by Bhavna Talwar, was released sans any fanfare and disappeared without a trace from the theaters with negligible box office collections. Hence, not many except for a handful of critics and some visitors who go to festival circuits got an opportunity to watch the film.
This is why the DVD release of the film is special. A film, which was the center of all the controversy, is finally available for all to watch and decide if it was worth all the hype, which ironically was generated only after the film came and went.
Surprisingly, despite the entire hullabaloo around the film and rave critical acclaim, Dharm comes across as a pointless 100 odd minute's affair. Reason is plain and simple - it moves in various dimensions, which comes across more as a propaganda proposal than a story, which was really required to be told. In fact, to think of it, it doesn't quite have a solid story base to it as well. A tale of a 'Brahman' [Pankaj Kapur] who has followed 'shastras' all his life and changes once he sees communal riots breaking around him doesn't come convincingly at all.
On one end, he gets into rigorous penance once he finds out that the abandoned child he and his family had nurtured over the years in fact belonged to the Muslim community, while on the other, he decides to take on a bunch of riot-makers and changes the moment he finds out that the child's life was now in danger. Ok, so the narrative does have scenes, which describe the man's transition as he struggles between what he has read in books and what is actually revolving around him, but none of them has the kind of punch, which actually come across really convincing and make you empathize with the character.
What is convincing though is film's brilliant cinematography, background score and Sonu Nigam's haunting 'Bhaee Bhor', which plays on throughout the film's narrative. Pankaj Kapur is good but his act in Maqbool would still stand out as his best ever.
PACKAGING
Dharm comes in a basic plastic case packing sans any glam value associated with it (rightly so). Black base of it's cover is interesting though with Pankaj Kapur's full profile towering large. Review comments in appreciation of the movie have also been plastered all over the package to let the audience be known about the impact Dharm created with critics.
DURATION
The film comes in a single DVD with the film's duration being 103 minutes, while added features span only around 10 minutes.
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Hrishita Pathak, Krish, KK Raina, Dayashankar Pandey, Pankaj Tripathy
Director: Bhavna Talwar
Music: Debajyoti Mishra
SPECIAL FEATURES
There aren't many special features in the film with just a couple of music videos and a few promos from the film spanning across 10 minutes. Even these music videos are also not special creations and the ones which were showcased during the film's television promotion and comprise of shots from the film with the songs playing in the background.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Anamorphic Widescreen format presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio (enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs)
- Subtitles In English
- 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
CONCLUSION
Dharm starts off with it's epicenter on religion and in the end suddenly changes colors with communal riots breaking and the lectures that follow. In short, the film comes across as a confusing tale - whether it wanted to take a religion route or challenge the ugly battle of communities. Pick it up only if you feel it is worth checking out what the hype was all about. Overall disappointing.
Rating: **
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'Dharm' closing film at S.A.I.F.F.
