Khaitan’s Glossy Film Looks Less Like Sairat Remake; & More Like New Film in Dulhania Series

In 2016 when Sairat hit the screens nobody expected it to be such a success. Not only did it change the perception of how regional cinema was perceived earlier, but also set a huge benchmark for the Indian cinema by breaking Bollywood stereotypes of love and gender. It was so much more than just a love story. Sadly but expectedly, Shashank Khaitan’s Dhadak doesn’t come close to capturing the impact of the original film’s path-breaking story, at all.

The basic plot of Dhadak is more or less same as the Nagraj Manule-directed movie, but has a couple of variations that don’t go down too well. Madhukar Bagla, a lower-caste young boy (Ishaan Khatter) falls in love with a rich upper-caste girl Parthavi Singh (Janhvi Kapoor). Parthavi is the spoilt daughter of a Rajasthani political kingpin Ratan Singh (Ashutosh Rana). She is fearless and lives life on her own terms. Madhukar, a middle class boy whose father is a restaurateur, is madly in love with Parthavi and can go to any extent to catch a glimpse of her. Everything seems to go fine, until one night the two are discovered kissing by Parthavi’s family at her brother Roop’s birthday celebration. And, tragedy hits. Eventually realising that they are stuck badly, Janhvi and Madhukar make an attempt to elope.