The original #Sairat as #Dhadak – the comeback review

The heart of the movie remains intact as the original with a focus on making the story a bit more cinematic the way #Dharmaproduction is known for. But in point of view, the essence of the original seems to be lost in the remake. The Twitterati’s too seem to be dissatisfactory with the whole charm and the newbies in #Bollywood.

The take on the story

The societal stigma on High caste and low caste has been prevailing in our country since decades and we have numerous love stories failing in this wrath of demons. From this classic backbone of beautiful yet painful love stories comes Sairat – the #Marathiblockbuster (2016) by the filmmaker Nagraj Manjule who took the tried-and-tested Romeo and Juliet love story which was placed in a setting where the conflict rose from caste and socio-economic and divide the deep-rooted cultures and regions.
The Marathi film’s Hindi adaptation – Dhadak too finds a rebellious zone of class division in our cultures. The story revolves between a heritage-haveli-residing girl and a boutique-cafe-running boy. You will find the mentions of ‘oonchi jaati’ (high caste) by the boy’s father and on the other hand the political campaigns and gamut of the girl’s father – Ashutosh Rana.

The story is mugged of surface and shade from Bittergaon village in central Maharashtra to a tourism-brochure version of Udaipur, where it is centred on the romance between Madhukar aka Madhu (Ishaan Khatter) and Parthavi (Janhvi Kapoor). The audience would relate to the dialogue – where the girl’s neta father declares, “Udaipur ki izzat uske sanskaaron mein hai (the honour of Udaipur lies in its values)”. – which directly gives a stink of caste division and societal taboos. Filmmaker Shashank Khaitan displays a full commitment to societal resistance but you will not find an interest in the social injustice on whose back this nonessential setup is built.

In the original film – Sairat the couple shifts to Hyderabad and (Parshya and Archie) were put through the wringer and hard times as they find a new life. In Dhadak, Madhu and Parthavi inland up in Kolkata, but we would see that their struggle is relatively sterile, or we can say not that raw as it can best be described as the Dharma Productions version of a hard life.

The cast and the music though bring out the justice and of course when it is Karan Johar’s version of films – the location, sets, colours are always vibrant. Nonetheless, overall a onetime watch that is will be lured to the youth and the teenage lovers.

Critical review

For me, it is well crafted and reaches out to the audience by touching the hearts in a soft manner. With all the strengths and weaknesses, Dhadak tries to highlight some of the shocking truths about our society and caste system and for which it is a worthy watch. Where the story nicely depicted the innocence and charm of the lovers – the first half seemed to be challenging in terms of pace, and the essence of the societal norms and battle against all odds for the sake of love. On the other hand, the second half failed to put it through the notion of going. Even the final jolt couldn’t shake the audience as compared with the masterpiece – Sairat सैराट.

I would rate it a 3.5 star and a one-time watch