Dhadak Movie review: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter forbidden love saga is refreshing but does not live upto Sairat.

Dhadak
Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana
Director: Shashank Khaitan

Sairat was a sleeper hit of Marathi cinema, which minted over Rs 100 crores at the box-office. Sairat had its remake in Kannada, Punjabi, Odia, Bengali and now Hindi. Sairat's Hindi remake, Dhadak is nowhere near to its original. Introducing late veteran actress Sridevi's daughter, Janhvi Kapoor along with one-film old Ishaan Khatter, this Dharma Productions' creation has does not touch the essence of Sairat. Though politics and power have been made evident in the film, social differences have been completely ignored.

Udaipur in Rajasthan functions as a battleground in Dhadak, the remake of Marathi hit Sairat (2016). Beneath its shining heritage hotels breathes a population that’s not free to fall in love, at least not outside the bounds set generations ago. The high domes of erstwhile palaces and the deep lakes are only a facade to conceal the real identity of its people that is defined by caste.
Shashank Khaitan has failed to exploit the caste and class differences, which should have been made more apparent to make a love story amidst socio-political disturbances. Bollywood mostly refrains from touching upon sensitive social and political issues and when it does it completely omits the crux of it (like Dhadak).

Talking about the performance of the casts, Janhvi looks plain with restrained expressions in the first half, however, her performance lifts surprisingly after intermission. Scenes in which her character is shown struggling with loneliness and homesickness have been well-performed. Ishaan is undoubtedly more emotive and expressive than Janhvi. However, he is not as good as Beyond The Clouds, maybe because this is not Majid Majidi's directorial. Ashutosh Rana does most of the talking with his eyes and sends chills down the spine, everytime he appears on the screen. Besides, these main faces, we had Ankit Bisht and Shridhar Watsar playing Ishaan's friends. Well, these two characters which were reduced to bring comic-relief amidst intense scene in the movie had special importance in Sairat.

Credit to Ishaan and Janhvi for their decent performances and their ability to sink into their characters' skins. But Dharma Productions should have just stuck to making a Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania type commercial entertainer for Janhvis's debut. In the end, if there is one person who saves Dhadak, it is Ishaan Khatter.

Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar