Dhadak review: Not as good as Sairat, but manages a strong message on honour killing

There is no doubt about the fact that Sairat in Marathi was a much more powerful and beautiful film than its remake in Hindi, Dhadak. The strength of Sairat was it's impressive and beautiful projection of ordinariness.

Those of us who have lived and loved in small towns of India know how difficult it is to fall in love there. Many of us have these stories of unsuccessful love buried deep in our hearts where, the nascent feeling of love was nipped in the bud because the person of interest belonged to different caste, community or religion.

Those who have seen Sairat admit and appreciate that they were as much charmed by the ordinary looking protagonists as they were shaken by the ruthless social reality brought forth through the rugged landscape of the region also.

Dhadak in Hindi lacks that. It just shows the beautiful landscape of Udaypur. The other details about how the girl arranges for their elopement are also missing. But the director, Shashank Khiatan should know that simply by skipping those details, you don't 'adapt’ a work of art. Most of the film is almost a 'remake’ of the original. Except that various brands are advertised very clearly at the backdrop, the hero and heroine both are given a glamorous makeover by all the shimmer attached to Rajasthan.

The music is composed by the same composers (Ajay-Atul) who created Sairat's music and it is melodious and has original flavour, but the composition of popular zingaat has been kept the same, which gives more of a Marathi feel than Rajasthani one. A small chunk of iconic romantic melody on piano from Marriage d’Amour has been picked up with a little modulation as a recurring tune of the film.

At times film slackens but the universal theme of a man and a woman trying to live together despite all the oddities of life (not society) keeps the grip all through. The social intricacies add to the difficulties, they have to face.

Watching the film, this embarrassment keeps haunting that even in 21st century, it’s so difficult for a young boy and a girl to fall in love in India. One has to first think of one’s caste, religion and economic status and then fall in love. The question reverberates in mind constantly-- what legacy are we leaving our youngsters with, a hate-ridden society where it's almost impossible to love?

It's shocking to notice the similarities in a love story on the silver screen back in the fifties and the love story told now through Dhadak. Only the violence quotient has increased. The mentality of a conservative patriarchal society remains the same. The contradictions have become even steeper- we will send our girls to colleges to study, but we don't want them to be self-dependent, we don't want them to love and marry according to their own choice; we want them to speak in English, but we don't want them to speak up.

The good thing about the film is that like Sairat, it is not loud, not melodramatic , but unlike Sairat, it has not used the visuals and silences and even comic reliefs to repeatedly reaffirm the tragic fate of the couple belonging to different castes in India.

Ishan khatter as an eager-looking innocent Madhukar is good. Janhvi as the bindaas, stubborn and wanting to be free-willed girl shows promise, though she will have to really work hard on her voice and expressions and she stands nowhere as against the Sairat heroine Rinku Rajguru. Ashutosh Rana has always been an under utilised actor. This film is no exception. Remarkable is Ankit Bisht in a cameo as Madhu’s friend.

Last but not the least, the last sequence leading to honour killing is effective with the absolute silence in the background.

Though the end sounds abrupt to a Hindi film goer's sensibilities, but a more melodramatic rone-gaane waala end would have marred the impact.

However, unfortunately, you and I both know that Dhadak will not be watched because it's talking about honour killing, a stigma on our society, but because the audience is more interested in seeing Janhvi’s debut.