Dhadak review: Janhvi-Ishaan’s film doesn’t strike a chord as the original

Two years ago Marathi film Sairat made headlines as it became the first Marathi film to cross not only Rs 100 crore at the box office but also go beyond the borders of Maharashtra to become a pan India film. Starring two rookies in Rinku Rajguru and Akash Thosar, the Nagraj Manjule-written and directed grand romance set in a village registered an impact with its compelling performances, striking landscape, lovely soundtrack and acute understanding of how deep-rooted casteism continues to be in India.

Sairat began as a story that celebrated the unbridled joy and childlike innocence of first love, only for Manjule to give his audiences a harsh reality check as he put his protagonists on a fraught journey in a world alien to them. In Shashank Khaitan’s adaptation of the film, casteism is an afterthought and even struggle comes sugar-coated.

To Janhvi goes the tough job of filling National Award-winning actress Rajguru’s shoes as an upper caste girl, Parthavi, who proudly wears her privilege on her sleeve but can’t help falling for a boy lower down the social strata in Ishaan’s Madhukar. Set in Udaipur, which seems to have become Bollywood’s go-to setting for star-crossed lovers (remember Goliyon Ki Leela… Rasleela), the two exchange surreptitious looks and otherwise flirt in slo-mo against the city’s heritage locations and of course the famous lake.

Madhukar has two friends (Ankit Bisht and Sridhar Watsar) who here are more sidekicks that watch the romance from the sidelines and provide half-baked humour a lot of it directed at themselves. The obstacle here is Parthavi’s father (Ashutosh Rana) who runs a palatial hotel to Madhukar’s father who has a modest rooftop restaurant. Ratan Singh won’t let his political ambition and social repute be dented with Parthavi’s passion and so the couple run more out of a necessity to survive than anything else.

While Sairat soared in the second half as it highlights the trials and tribulations that emerge as a relationship progresses, Dhadak goes downhill. Madhukar and Parthavi never experience any credible danger or challenge as they escape. As Khaitan cuts down the running time to appeal to a wider audience, he denies his characters a discovery of their true selves in the real world. Instead the pair easily moves about from one city to another until they settle on Kolkata as their new home.

The impact of Ajay-Atul’s infectious soundtrack here is limited because it isn’t accompanied with Manjule’s sweeping vision and his affinity and knowledge of his setting. In Dhadak the tourist gaze is prevalent throughout and the film never truly belongs to the backdrop it unfolds in.

But this is us measuring Dhadak against its superior inspiration, currently streaming on Netflix. For those who still haven’t seen Sairat there will be an all-too-familiar romance in the time honoured tradition of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak only with an ending which in this case is conveniently manipulated only to showcase that the film has been re-imagined for audiences. The shock here is not deadly, and more contrived provocation.

With supporting characters left to the sidelines, Dhadak depends on the young leads to create magic. They labour with the responsibility with Ishaan abler of the two. After running a lot across Mumbai in his debut Beyond the Clouds, he continues to explore the gullies of Udaipur with same gusto. His fool-in-love act has the spirit and naiveté which subsides as he is compelled to become a man with responsibilities and frustrations.

Janhvi wobbles with her accent throughout and makes more of an impression as a joyless young woman forced to leave her home than one who provokes and dares. Far more emphasis is paid on looking the part than actually embracing it. With a more substantial and empathic script, Dhadak could have struck the heart. Instead it barely touches the surface.

MOVIE REVIEW | Dhadak

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