Dyavre: The iron cage of freedom

DyavreKannada (U/A) ****Director: Gadda VijiCast: Yogaraj Bhat and others

Jail reforms. Granting parole or early release for good behaviour. Class hierarchy among prison inmates. Last, but not the least, the world’s perception of them. All wrapped inside the cocoon of another commentary on the ever-changing society.

Dyavre, the first effort by Gadda Viji, is endearing, among many other things. The story is presented well, with loose ends tied up in true filmy fashion. 

In Dyavre, Yogaraj Bhat’s outlook towards life finds proper expression with his deadpan humour and expressions getting the message across very well. 

Turned cynics by, what else, a system that’s so lethargic that it has forgotten to even make the most basic repairs at the jail, Jailer Bhimasena and his wards are content, poking fun at the difficulties they face inside and around while dreaming of making The Great Escape someday. Till a TV crew comes to interview one of them, who’s finally getting “freedom” after 30 long years. The irony of this episode is palpable, as with that of others’, with Bhat’s voiceover doing the essential narration throughout. Soon, the inmates’ prayers are answered but in an unexpected manner. Many of them flee, but not before several are injured. 

Then begins the blame game, culminating in a sinister conspiracy and frantic efforts to save the “innocents” from the big, bad world. 

Veera Samarth scores again with his folksy tunes carrying the story forward as required. Song placement is spot-on; whenever the film tends to lag, a song that is much better than recent fare, relieves tedium. Guruprashant Rai’s camerawork too deserves praise as well as Sanath-Suresh and others for a fine job. 

Led by Yogaraj Bhat, the actors enrich Viji’s screenplay the best way possible — be it Petrol Prasanna, Chethan Gandharva, Neenasam Sathish, Sonia Gowda, Sonu Gowda, Rajesh Nataranga, Sathya Sardar, Mico Nagaraj and Shruthi Hariharan. Arasu Maharaj, however, is the pick of the lot. 

Dyavre is raw, yes but provides food for thought about some whom can be called marginalised.