Dono Star Cast/ Actors: Rajveer Deol as Dev Saraf, Paloma Dhillon as Meghna Doshi, Aditya Nanda as Gaurav, Rohan Khurana as Nikhil, Kannika Kapoor as Alina, and Tisca Chopra as Anjali Malhotra.
Dono Director: Avnish S. Barjatya
Dono Release Date: 5 October, 2023
Dono Available On: Theatrical release (and likely to be released on Jio Cinema app)
Dono Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi
Dono Runtime: 2 Hours 36 Minutes
Dono Critic Review:
She’s perky Meghna Doshi (Paloma Dhillon), ballsy enough to stand up in her cubicle and announce her relationship status to shut up her tittering colleagues.
A passing thought makes you wonder in which modern day workplace, colleagues openly laugh at someone who’s received an invitation to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Backbiting, yes. But blatant taunting?
Anyway, it turns out that groom Nikhil (Rohan Khurana) isn’t Meghna’s ex, it’s another guy called Gaurav (Aditya Nanda) but yeah, he’ll be at the wedding too.
Dev Saraf (Rajveer Deol) is a diffident guy, struggling with his start-up business in Bengaluru, the silent bestie who couldn’t tell his childhood friend Alina (Kanikka Kapoor) that he’s always been in love with her. Now she has agreed to an arranged marriage with Nikhil and it’s a destination wedding in Thailand.
The coy best friend who can’t disclose how he feels is also an overdone theme the world over. A little indigestible when women at any age have an instinct about the male gaze, they can differentiate between friendship, love and lust.
But these little asides don’t matter as debutant director Avnish S Barjatya takes off to Thailand for an over-the-top Indian wedding, adding to the cinematic wedding album of the Barjatyas.
Somewhat grating is Anjali Malhotra (Tisca Chopra) who hosts a show that sorts out relationship issues for its viewers and it seems like she’s talking directly to Dev, exhorting him to go to the wedding and get closure. The close-ups of ‘clllllosure’, repeated many times, is a bit annoying.
The introduction of motley characters is interesting with neat comic touches like Dev stepping in and introducing himself to the long line of invitees from the groom’s side who in turn introduce themselves to him. It’s Dev’s way of helping the bride’s parents who are flustered over how to keep tabs on the innumerable baraatis.
The Barjatya staple of having a game as an icebreaker for both sets of families is brought into the wedding itinerary in the form of a cricket match. A wedding planner (Poojan Chhabra) who means well but goofs intermittently is amusing in places.
It is inevitable that Meghna and Dev, both seeking closure, will be thrown together.
There are some scenes that are different like Meghna and Dev learning to tie a pagdi in Thailand. The song ‘Khamma Ghani’ will probably be an addition to the songs that are popular on the sangeet circuit at Indian weddings.
The soft title song Dono (music Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) also has romantic appeal.
But the overall grandeur doesn’t celebrate any newness. For instance, the costumes are as opulent as they are at all weddings these days. But there isn’t a single outfit or styling that stands out as creatively different.
The writing (Avnish with Manu Sharma) which veers between today’s thoughts and the conservativeness of a bygone era, seems like two different goals have been set. With flashbacks to what went wrong between Meghna and Gaurav, Avnish brings in abuse where a boyfriend chips away at the self-esteem of his girl. It is very much a part of today’s conversation, it features in the new season of Mumbai Diaries too. But that’s like a parallel track.
With no tangible tension or antagonist on the scene, Avnish blows up a kiss between Alina and Nikhil into a major scandal which has everybody looking at the bride like her character’s under scrutiny. In a supposedly modern film where it’s cool for Meghna to have ended a six-year relationship with Gaurav, who would kick up such a fuss over a kiss between the bridal couple? In trying to clear that up by bringing in gender equality, the climax is on Alina and Nikhil. So is this a story about the bridal couple or about Meghna and Dev getting together and learning to move on?
The freshness is in the new faces. Paloma Dhillon carries herself and her lines with confidence while Rajveer Deol will have to work on his dialogue delivery. Kanikka Kapoor makes a pretty bride and performs well too. Aditya Nanda as the abusive, supercilious ex-boyfriend is impressive and Rohan Khurana fits the role of the groom who doesn’t have too much to do.
Dono – Watch Or Not?: Watch it only for the freshness of a new team.
Dono Review Score Rating: 2 out of 5 (i.e. 2/5)
Dono Official Trailer: