Dasvi is reminding people of the real-life story of former Chief Minister of Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala, who was found guilty of a scam and served his sentence at Tihar jail. During this period, he, 82 at the time, passed his Class X exam while serving a prison sentence, fed up with his tag of an ‘illiterate politician’. He appeared for his board exams in 2017, while he was still serving his sentence, from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) at the exam centre set up for inmates at Tihar Jail. Securing 267 marks out of 500, he passed with the second division (53.4%).

The speculations have been a topic of conversation since the trailer was released.

The filmmakers, however, have said that their film has nothing to do with Chautala. Director Tushar Jalota in a recent interview, to GoodTimes, said that the idea was pitched to him by Sandeep Leyzell, who is one of the writers and producers of Dasvi.

He gave me a one-line pitch, about an older man who sits for his Class 10 exams. I felt instantly connected to the story, because a lot of my family, from my mother’s side, happen to be teachers and professors. My sister is a principal. There was an instant connection. Even my mother used to be a professor back in the day…Honestly, there were no references. There was no research done, in terms of basing the character on a real person.

-Tushar Jalota, Director

However, the similarities cannot be ignored.

Abhishek’s character, Gangaram Chaudhary, is the chief minister of the fictional state of Harit Pradesh. His demeanour and green turban is also similar to Chautala’s famous look while his tenure as Haryana’s chief minister.

Chautala was convicted for his involvement in the JBT scam (the junior basic teacher scam). In the movie, Abhishek’s character also gets arrested for his involvement in a similar teacher recruitment scam.

The film, which also features Nimrat Kaur and Yami Gautam in supporting roles, premiered at the Agra Jail, where it was also partially shot.