Dhadak Review

Sairat a Marathi film that released in 2016 caught all the attention. The USP of the movie is its adherence to reality, real people and real feelings. Right from the starcast to the location to the performances, were extremely authentic , that the movie keeps you glued and also breaks your heart at the end. Now Karan Johar the producer of films where the clothes remained unwrinkled and faces doesn’t get blemished takes up the remake of such a film. He appoints the Dulhania director Shashank Khaitan to wield the megaphone. Will it yield a similar result? Of course not. But does it work stand-alone? May be not.

The original story is tremendously old. Caste and society standing as barricades for the young lovers. Bene there from Mughal-e-azam or much beyond. However, Sairat beautifully captures it in a most realistic way possible, highlighting the small towns still live in that era. Dhadak stays faithful to the original story for 70% . 30% has been changed and looks like they have been changed only for the heck of it and for worse. Coming to the faithfulness to the soul of the film, its only 20%, mainly attributed to the direction, production and the cast.

The film belongs initially to Udaipur where Madhukar Bagla and Parthavi Singh, played respectively by Ishaan Khatter and Jahnavi Kapoor are college mates. Their chemistry begins very playfully and very sooner they fall in love. They belong to the opposite ends in the band of caste and money. Parthavi’s father is played by Ashutosh Rana, and brother is played by the ‘Perpendicular’ of wasseypur. They elope once the ‘villains’ come to know. They leave for Mumbai and Lucknow (as opposed to only Hyderabad in the original). Once they move to the new place, the young couple starts facing real problems of roti kapda and makaan. However, the mutual love keeps them bonded and they happily live ever after until the climax, which is the shock factor of the film.

The biggest drawback of the film is the layer of superficiality that’s bene added to a realistic film. The movie has more of a dreamy feel than a rustic feel. The movie is so bright. Cinematography, also deviates the mood. The props are so filmy. The deviations that are made to the script also didn’t seem attractive. Direction is a minus for the film. Shahsank Khaitan tried hard to move away from his Dulhania world, but is subconsciously still there.

Performances wise, Ishan Khatter scores marks among the lead pair. The kid is talented for sure. Jahnavi is inconsistent. Comparing with original lead in Sairat will only make her look worse. Jahnavi has all the glamour and takes away the real feeling. However it is too early to write off the Sridevi legacy. Too young to be judged.

The music by Ajay-Atul is probably the only factor that does cent percent justice to the role. They know the mood, they know the heart of this film.

All in all, Dhadak barely does justice to the original.