Dhuin review: Subtle, heart-breaking reflection of our times

Achal Mishra’s 50-minute feature Dhuin captures the dreams of Pankaj (Abhinav Jha), an aspiring actor in the small town of Darbhanga, who hopes to make it big in Mumbai. Caught between the dire financial situation at home and his ambitions, he is forced to make a choice.

Part observation, part rumination, the film subtly takes us into the mindscape of its protagonist. We see Pankaj acting in a street play, making plans with his friend to take the big leap and move to Mumbai to make it as an actor. At home, his family’s economic condition has been worsened due to the lockdown and his elderly father is desperate to find a job. But jobs are scarce and finding one involves a bribe. 

Trying to shut out the pressures weighing down upon him, Pankaj escapes into his room, where he watches videos on acting techniques, trying to hone his skills. He laps up every opportunity he gets, meeting senior actors and filmmakers, all for just one shot at realizing his dream. 

The camera focuses on Pankaj’s reactions, as he laps up every word that the revered National School of Drama graduate has to say, his eagerness tangible. In the scene where Pankaj sits amongst filmmakers who discuss Abbas Kiarostami’s oeuvre, he is at sea with the affected conversation. We see his enthusiasm to learn, his search for avenues, his pain at being cruelly dismissed by Mumbai filmmakers who seem to know a lot more than him, and his belief in himself being shaken.

Abhinav Jha’s superlative performance is certainly one of the highlights of the film as he melds together his characters’ desires, vulnerabilities and crushing disappointment, bringing him to life almost effortlessly. Mishra creatively weaves in the fog that envelops the town as a signifier for Pankaj’s mind. He struggles as the road ahead is shrouded from him, his helplessness palpable. Ever so slowly, we get drawn into Pankaj’s world and become emotionally invested in his fate and heartbroken at the decision that he must make.

The most life-altering decisions are ones that are taken quietly, in the dead of the night. Dhuin poignantly presents the quiet fading away of a young man’s dreams. There is a scene in the film where Pankaj and his friend go outside the airport and pose for pictures. They climb a tree and strike poses, even as the planes taking off signify their desperation to escape their predicament. They are so close, yet so far. Like countless people in the country jostling with the socio-economic reality of the country, their dreams are shackled.  

With Dhuin, which follows his debut feature Gamak Ghar (2019), Mishra exhibits his ability to bring to the fore the lives and aspirations of people on the fringes.

Gamak Ghar review: Eloquent look at the rise and fall of an ancestral home

Dhuin was premiered at the 22nd Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival.