Movie Review: Dhadak 2 - A Worthy Remake

Dhadak 2 Theatrical Poster

A review by Akshita G.

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi & Triptii Dimri

Presented by: Dharma Productions, Zee Studios & Cloud 9 Pictures

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Producer: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Adar Poonawalla, Syed Zaid Ali, Meenu Aroraa, Umesh Kumar Bhansal, Pragati Deshmukh, Marijke Desouza, Somen Mishra

Director of Photography: Sylvester Fonseca

Story And Screenplay: Shazia Iqbal & Rahul Badwelkar (adapted screenplay)

Music: Tanuj Tiku, Rochak Kohli, Tanishk Bagchi, Javed-Mohsin & Shreyas Puranik

Lyrics: Siddharth-Garima

Editors: Charu Shree Roy, Omkar Uttam Sakpal & Sangeeth Varghese

Dhadak 2 is a love story? Nah! It is a poignant conversation on privilege and what it means to have or not have it.

Dhadak 2 is a spiritual sequel to the 2018 film by Shashank Khaitan and an official adaptation of the 2018 Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal (also the name of the male protagonist) by Mari Selvaraj that sheds light on caste based atrocities (we have left discrimination in the rearview mirror at this point).

Within the first 5 minutes of Pariyerum Perumal, Mari Selvaraj shows you just how raw and real this journey is going to be. He does not hold back on the gut-wrenching, bone-chilling imagery (something that is seldom, if at all, seen in mainstream Indian cinema) that is not for the faint of heart. But that is the reality we live in, and he serves it right back, reminding us of the cruelty we have constructed in the name of society. Not only is the screenplay in on Mari’s vision, but he uses his camera to dowse his story further into realism. The camera doesn’t just watch, it breathes. Mari places us inside the moment, blurring the line between viewer and witness, until we’re no longer watching a film, but living it. His take is raw, crude, and violent.

With Dhadak 2, director Shazia Iqbal approaches this story with a restrained tenderness. A story about oppression, helplessness, and caste based atrocities told from a female lens adds sensitivity to the source material that makes this film stand independently in the larger landscape of Indian cinema.

A Still from Dhadak 2

The story follows Neelesh (Siddhant Chaturvedi), a young man from a marginalized community and the first in his family to pursue higher education, as he enters law college. There, he meets Vidhi (Triptii Dimri), a young woman from an upper-caste, privileged background. What begins as a personal journey soon takes an unexpected turn, as a series of events force him to go from being a man who vows to stay away from politics to being thrust into fighting not only for his life but also for a cause that is much bigger than any one person.

Marketing materials for this film will have you believe that this is an intense love story set against the backdrop of casteism, when in reality, it is the other way around. This almost feels like a bait and switch, because the ‘love story’ is merely a plot device that provides the impetus to amplify the already prominent theme of the film, and this is done with utmost care - once the film finds its voice. Unlike its source material, for the first 15 minutes of run-time, the film is almost confused about what it wants to be - does it want to be a frame-for-frame version of the original? Does it want to be a love story? Or does it want to be a message-driven narrative that asks hard questions? There is a precise moment in the screenplay where you can actively witness the story picking its lane, and once it does, we leave the back roads and hit the highway at full speed.

A Still From Dhadak 2

Shazia was an incredible choice to helm this project. One of the greatest aspects of telling stories from a female perspective is the treatment of its female characters. In the original, Jothi’s character is depicted as having a mind of her own, albeit in a timid manner. With Dhadak 2, Shazia Iqbal brings nuance to the female characters (particularly Triptii Dimri’s character, Vidhi) that was a miss in the original. This is not a story about the female lead, yet she makes the limited presence of female characters highly impactful by giving them a defined and elevated sense of agency. She also masters the art of balancing the tone. For a film dealing with a sensitive topic like this, makers ordinarily seem compelled not to take any chances with the audience’s intelligence, and end up being extremely on the nose and preachy, with every scene serving as a lesson. Shazia takes a different approach by trusting her audience. Throughout the screenplay, she sprinkles moments and dialogues that subtly convey deep thoughts such as freedom, liberty, intolerance, and quiet rebellion. She does so, predominantly, through her female characters. It is almost as if she is saying, 'I trust you to pick up, acknowledge, and think about this long after you have left this theater.'

This version of the story feels very accessible. Whether it is by shifting the setting from rural to urban or by the styling of the characters, these people look like us; it can easily be you or me. For a moment, you will forget that this is a Dharma production. In Dhadak, the styling of the leads wrapped them in a cinematic sheen (also known as Dharma-fication), too curated to feel real, keeping us at arm’s length when we were meant to see ourselves in them. Here, Triptii’s hair is seldom styled, often showing flyaways and frizz. She wears washed-out kurtis with mismatched sweaters at home and simple kurtis with jeans at college. It is great to see that Shazia was able to keep the integrity of her vision intact from paper to celluloid.

The soundtrack holds promise, but the film lets it linger on the sidelines. A missed opportunity to let the music pulse through the story and stir the soul.

A Still from Dhadak 2

Speaking of performances, I was very apprehensive about the performances from the leads, as both have been underutilized in their recent projects. We saw Triptii dazzle our living room screens with her performance in masterpieces like Bulbbul and Qala, both of which were straight-to-Netflix releases by Anvita Dutt. This is the magic we sought on the big screen from her, but unfortunately, that is not what we got. Triptii’s performances in her theatrical releases (barring Laila Majnu) thus far have been awkward and almost uncomfortable, with shoddy dialogue delivery and a lack of emotional range. Here, she has come alive on the screen again, bringing an almost firecracker-like sparkle. My theory: Under female directors, Triptii comes alive, no longer framed as decoration, but finally seen, heard, and unleashed in her full brilliance.

Siddhant Chaturvedi, on the other hand, has been underutilized differently. All this while, we have only seen him in roles that require him to exude and enhance his natural swagger, limiting the range of emotions he is free to display. It is commendable to see him showcase his entire range as an actor in Dhadak 2 - from starry-eyed and infatuated to enamoured, scared, oppressed, innocent, helpless, completely broken, and angry. Anger in this kind of story is a critical emotion to convey, and there are a few scenes where he misses by just a beat to reach the crescendo and achieve the necessary intensity; however, when he does nail it, it is truly impressive. He particularly shines in the scene right before the interval. His performance in this scene will crack your heart open.

Dhadak 2, while a sanitized and tamed version of its source material (whether this was an artistic choice or the result of the numerous cuts ordered by the central certification board), appeals to your humanity and urges you to ask the question: what is right and wrong?