Dhadak - Movie Review

A disclaimer before I begin – I have not watched the Marathi hit, Sairat, of which Dhadak is an official remake. I have not even seen its rushes or the extremely popular song, ‘Zingaat’. So, this is an opinion solely based on director Shashank Khaitan’s ‘Dhadak’, with no parallels being drawn to ‘Sairat’.

Dhadak, introducing Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter, is a poignant love story of two young college going protagonists, Madhukar (played by Ishaan Khatter) and Parthavi (played by Janhvi Kapoor). Parthavi is the only daughter of a powerful feudal lord and politician, Ratan Singh (played by Ashutosh Rana) and takes pride in flaunting her clout. Madhukar, on the contrary, is a simpleton and son of a small-time restaurant owner in Udaipur. This sweet teenage romance is soon disturbed by the upheaval caused by Ratan Singh, owing to the class difference between his princess daughter and the pauper she falls in love with. The lovestruck couple run far away from this mess and the rest of the movie tracks their shaky journey ahead.

True to Karan Johar’s Dharma style, Dhadak is shot on a grand and beautiful canvas. With the backdrop of a picturesque Udaipur, the camerawork by Vishnu Rao romances the beautiful faces of its leads. Director Shashank Khaitan, who has also written this adaptation, leaves his trademark stamp in the form of a pretty heroin, a rich-poor divide and – an unevenly paced narrative. This is the biggest problem with the movie – that it does not let its viewers get emotionally invested in it. The first half is used to develop the love story and feels rather long, especially since one can predict what is about to come. Post interval, the movie picks up pace, albeit a wobbly one. The plot is set against the backdrop of differences based on caste, social standing and politics. But these are not layered well to create a seamless flow. Especially towards the end, the director hurriedly moves towards the climax, without letting the viewer understand the gravity of the situation. Nonetheless, the movie has its elements – the banter between the lead couple and the antics by Madhukar’s friends. Ankit Bisht and Shridhar Watsar, who play Madhukar’s friends evoke quite a few laughs and act more than mere sidekicks. Ashutosh Rana as Parthavi’s arrogant and haughty father, Ratan Singh, gets an ill-conceived role, but is good in whatever little he gets.

But, the surprise package here are the leads, Ishaan and Janhvi. While Ishaan had already garnered praise for his first movie, ‘Beyond The Clouds’, it is Janhvi, who makes a strong and confident debut. She not only looks extremely beautiful, accentuated by Manish Malhotra’s creations, but emotes rather well for a new-comer. She looks a bit underprepared in the initial Udaipur sequences, but delivers a good performance once she gets comfortable. Ishaan fits the role perfectly, as a young first year undergrad student, and displays the nervousness and vulnerabilities of a regular 20-year old. Their equation looks endearing and their trajectory from uncomfortable teens to a married couple is captured beautifully. Both the leads are also gifted with extremely emotive eyes and show good command over their craft, much better than the histrionics shown by their respective half-brothers in their debuts (Arjun Kapoor and Shahid Kapur in Ishaqzaade and Ishq Vishk, respectively).

A word of caution, the movie uses a language heavily influenced by Marwari, so non-native Hindi speakers may find some dialogues hard to understand. Also, it is an adaptation of a much successful and gritty, Sairat. But, every director and writer brings in his own sensibilities and treatment to the narrative. So, watch it with an open mind, without comparing it with the original, because it is a good one-time watch!

My Rating – 3/5 (0.5 just for its lovely leads)

P.S – Interestingly, Janhvi’s half-brother Arjun had made his debut in a similar Romeo-Juliet kind of love story, Ishaqzaade. But he was lucky to have got Habib Faisal calling the shots with no colossal comparison to another film, and this is where Janhvi is unlucky.