Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Gaurav Gera, Suchitra Pillai

Director: Shashant Shah

Every once in a rare while, a film comes along to pleasure you in unexpected ways. Dasvidaniya’, about a man who learns to live in the little time’s that left to him, is one such, and it’s gone right up there, on the top of my list.

Amar Vinay gets to know that he has the Big C, and that he is, not to put too fine a point on it, dying. Now he’s always been the kind of man who makes lists, so this is his last chance whip out a pen, and write on a piece of yellow paper: things to do before I die.

A big car? Check. He gets himself a spanking red one. An old love? Check. He tracks down the pretty girl Neha he’s always had a crush on, and confesses all. Dump the boss?

Totally. He stares down the overfed, oversized bully Saurabh who’s made him miserable all his working life, and quits his job. Getting estranged younger brother Gaurav home? Oh yes.

It’s easy to go wrong with films about people jousting with death, and more often than not, what we get is an overdose of maudlin melodrama. Dasvidaniya’ goodbye in Russian, and yes, there’s a reason for this, but we’ll let you discover it for yourself is just right.

Bitter-sweet, matter-of-fact, laced with little joys and sorrows, just like life. Be ready for involuntary tears, though.

And Vinay Pathak is pitch perfect. Nowhere does he send up the Amar-the-loser. No artificial sympathy is garnered. We’ve all known the Amars of this world, and there’s a little bit of Amar in all of us: pretty girls do sometimes run off to another, some best friends Rajat are happy to get the bigger share of everything, and their wives Suchitra are often mean and suspicious. So who says life is fair? This is Vinay’s finest performance, much more nuanced than his much-hyped one in Bheja Fry’.

Dasvidaniya’ is a little gem. Go watch.