Daas Dev, starring Rahul Bhat, Richa Chadda, Aditi Rao Hydari, Saurabh Shukla, Vineet Kumar Singh and Dalip Tahil among others, has lofty ambition but not enough impact: the film lives in moments, but droops as a whole.

Daas Dev is meant to be a study of power and what happens to those who lust for it. It’s a solid idea lost in execution.

Daas Dev is more interested in telling us the story of power, than the story of ishq…

Nothing more than a brave attempt…

Sudhir Mishra is perhaps telling us that we are all politicians waiting for our chance at the podium and that it takes a real silly to see the absurdity of it all.

Mishra seems content to let this mediocrity play out, cluttering his story with too many characters and plot points, none of which is satisfactorily resolved. The result is that “Daas Dev” ends up on the opposite spectrum of its original inspirations.

With all the bad cards played – backstabbing, lies and mudslinging – Daas Dev drags on to a predictable end. The shades of Mishra’s last great film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi are evident in the climax but this film is no match.

The pacy pessimism of the picture effectively captures that of the street. Psychopaths on screen strongly mirror elected leaders, who’ve herded us together to where we are now, and where we’re headed. What’s in their head? This pic is one way to ponder over that. This cycle of democracy, violence continues unabated though. As it would. Play it again, sham!

While the film boasts of decent production values, overall it fails to engross you.