I am thankful that I did not have the good fortune of watching the 2016 Marathi sleeper hit Sairat before seeing Dhadak.
From the venom spewing forth in the reviews of the latter, it appears that director Shashank Khaitan did the unspeakable in his temerity to remake a Hindi version.
To tone down public ire, Shashank who has delivered the "....Ki Dulhania" twin hits (Humpty Sharma and Badrinath) I believe was forced to concede that 'he would be more careful in future when approaching subjects dealing with caste sensitivity.'
Shashank's backtracking is sad. If the director has qualms about and becomes defensive about his offering, what faith will viewers have in his product?
Nevertheless, I found Dhadak laudable on many levels:
First, this rant on 'star kids' must cease. We know how inhibiting and heavy the mantle sits on debutants- many survive by luck or staying power, many just fade away. For the naysayers, perhaps they do not recall that Sridevi had a number of movies as a child artist before her first 'adult' role in "Moondru Mudichu" where she was supported by two stalwarts of Tamil cinema- Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth. Compare that to Dhadak where her daughter Jhanvi debuts with a newbie Ishant.
Second, kudos to Shashank's panache in capturing almost every shot in close up for Jhanvi and Ishant. Every nuance, twitch and emotion laid bare for the world to see. No hidden camera angles, no long shots.
Third, the controlled understatement of the warring families was brilliant. No ranting / raving by the villains, no excessive violence and gore and no over the top hamming. If class/caste internecine strife required all these 'in-your-face' drama and trappings, thank your lucky stars that Dhadak has none of these.
Fourth- breathtaking capture of the of the locales and the essence and flavour of Udaipur and Kolkata- well done!
Fifth- the ending. Will hit you like a sledgehammer.
Dhadak, perhaps a hackneyed plot, but done sensibly. Ishant as Madhukar will delight you and Jhanvi's nuanced character unfurls like the petals of a beautiful flower. Go watch it!
