Dear Dad Movie Review: Well-Intentioned, But Not Well-Executed

Arvind Swamy, who had made women go weak in the knees decades back with his role in films like Roja and Bombay, is making a comeback with Dear Dad, a film about a father and a son on a road trip.

However, though the premise of the film had promise, the weak execution and the unimpressive treatment made us feel that Arvind should have definitely picked up a better film as a comeback.

Nitin Swaminathan (Arvind), who stays in Delhi with his wife and two kids, insists on driving down his son Shivam (Himanshu Sharma) to his boarding school in Mussorrie because he wants to share something with his son, which will turn his life upside down.

While on the journey, Nitin reveals that he is a homosexual and also that he and his wife are planning for a divorce. Needless to say, Shivam is shattered by the news and grows resentful towards his father. How the father and the son deal with this situation and work around it, forms the rest of the plot.

We must say that though Arvind has made a comeback after many years, he has lost none of his charm and it is a sheer delight to watch him in the film. Himanshu as his teenage son Shivam too has done a decent job though the makers could have come up with better dialogues for their scenes.

However, what the film lacks is a good screenplay and a solid treatment. Though the concept of a father confessing about his sexual orientation to his teenage son while on a road trip is quite interesting, the film doesn't touch you in the right places. Also, the pace of the film is quite lethargic, especially in the second half of the film and some scenes (like the one where Shivam enlists the help of a 'Baba Bengali' to cure his father) seem forced and odd.

There are a few good scenes like the one where Nitin confesses about his sexual orientation to a reality show star (Aman Uppal), who has hitched a ride with them and his shock at learning about Nitin's homosexuality. “But dude, you are married and with kids!”, he exclaims when Nitin spills the beans and then zips up his jacket, much to the amusement of Nitin, who then proceeds to assure him that he is safe with him. However, such scenes are far and between, much to our dismay.

The cinematography is quite good and the scenic locales of Mussoorie have been captured quite well. Dear Dad seems like a well-intentioned movie, but sadly, the treatment prevents it from being a good film.