''Dhadak'' () is a 2018 Indian
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language
romance film
Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...
written and directed by
Shashank Khaitan and jointly produced by
Karan Johar
Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...
, Hiroo Yash Johar and Apoorva Mehta under the
Dharma Productions banner with
Zee Studios as a sponsor producer. A remake of the 2016
Marathi language
Marathi (; , 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, , ) is a Classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Guj ...
film ''
Sairat'' by
Nagraj Manjule, also produced by Zee Studios, the film stars
Ishaan Khatter and debutant
Janhvi Kapoor, with
Ashutosh Rana, Ankit Bisht, Shridhar Watsar, Kshitij Kumar and
Aishwarya Narkar in supporting roles.
Johar had announced the production of ''Dhadak'' in November 2017 which marked the screen debut of Janhvi Kapoor, daughter of
Sridevi and
Boney Kapoor.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
commenced in December 2017 and was completed in April 2018. The film's soundtrack was composed by
Ajay–Atul
Ajay-Atul is an Indian music composer duo comprising brothers Ajay Ashok Gogavale and Atul Ashok Gogavale. Known for their works in Cinema of India, Indian cinema; predominantly in Marathi cinema, Marathi and Hindi cinema, Hindi films. They are ...
with lyrics by
Amitabh Bhattacharya and background score composed by John Stewart Eduri. The film was distributed internationally by Zee Studios.
''Dhadak'', which was originally scheduled to release on 6 July 2018, was postponed and had its worldwide theatrical release on 20 July 2018. It received negative reviews from film critics for glossing over the subject of
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
-based discrimination, which was present in ''Sairat'', and for being a poor remake of the original, although Khatter's performance was praised. However, ''Dhadak'' emerged as a commercial success, grossing over worldwide.
A sequel, which will be a remake of Tamil film ''
Pariyerum Perumal'' (2018), starring
Siddhant Chaturvedi and
Triptii Dimri titled ''
Dhadak 2'' is set to be released on 11 July 2025.
Plot
Madhukar "Madhu" Bhagla, a young college student from a
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
family in
Udaipur
Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...
, wins a
competitive eating
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can l ...
contest and receives his prize from Parthavi Singh Rathore, a rich girl from a political family who also happens to be studying in the same college as Madhu. His friend Purshottam later finds Parthavi bathing in a lake and informs Madhu. Madhu impresses Parthavi but incurs a minor injury meanwhile. The two begin to have feelings for each other.
Madhu goes back to his family
restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
where his father makes him promise to stay away from Parthavi since she hails from a powerful, affluent
upper-caste family. Madhu ignores Parthavi at college, but she later confronts him about him ignoring her. The two admit their love for each other and begin meeting secretly. Madhu asks Parthavi for a kiss, but she dares him to come to her brother Roop's birthday party. They share a kiss at the party, but are discovered by Parthavi's father, Ratan Singh Rathore. Roop and Ratan thrash Madhu and his friends but later are told by Inspector Shekhawat to calm down and wait for the election results before taking any severe action.
Once the elections are over, Madhu and his friends are arrested on false charges pressed by Ratan, who wins. Parthavi pleads with Ratan to release Madhu and his friends. In an ensuing scuffle, she manages to get hold of a gun and threatens to shoot herself if Madhu is not freed. Madhu runs up to her and together, they elope. With the police on their trail, Madhu and Parthavi board a train to
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
, where Madhu contacts his maternal uncle and the two travel to
Nagpur
Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...
.
Madhu's uncle advises them to go to
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
for the time being. While in Kolkata, they rent a small room for living; Madhu starts working in a roadside restaurant after learning
Bengali while Parthavi finds work at a call centre. One day, Madhu goes to her office to gift her a new phone bought from his hard-earned money. Madhu sees Parthavi with her manager and thinks that she is cheating on him. Heartbroken, he returns home. After Parthavi returns home, they argue severely; Madhu slaps Parthavi in the heat of the moment and Parthavi begins to doubt why she came with Madhu. Parthavi is briefly missing, but Madhu finds her in her office and realises how much he loves her. He proposes to her and they marry.
Soon, Parthavi becomes pregnant and they have a son, Aditya "Adi" Bhagla. During the
puja for their new house, Roop and his gang arrive with many gifts for her family, hinting at reconciliation. However, Madhu is not convinced and asks Parthavi to stay away but she brushes it off in excitement. Parthavi leaves her son at home with Madhu and steps out of the house. Madhu and Aditya are flung from the balcony and die in front of Parthavi, with Roop overlooking them.
Cast
Production
Development
Producer
Karan Johar
Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...
acquired the Hindi remake rights of the 2016
Marathi language
Marathi (; , 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, , ) is a Classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Guj ...
film ''
Sairat'' in November that year, after the film's unexpected commercial success. On 15 November 2017, Johar announced through his
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
handle that a film featuring
Ishaan Khatter and
Janhvi Kapoor in lead roles was under production, and released three first look posters to commemorate the event.
On the following day, he released another poster and revealed that the film was tentatively titled ''Dhadak'' and was an official remake of ''Sairat''.
The film marks the debut of
Janhvi Kapoor, daughter of
Sridevi and
Boney Kapoor. ''Dhadak'' was meant to be Khatter's debut film too, but he was then cast by
Majid Majidi in ''
Beyond the Clouds'' (2018).
Kapoor, who had watched ''Sairat'' for the first time with her mother
Sridevi, expressed that she wanted to debut with a similar film.
A few days later, Johar approached her on her mother's insistence with the role of the female lead in the Hindi remake of ''Sairat''.
Khatter watched ''Sairat'' after he was approached for the role, during which he learned that
Shashank Khaitan was adapting it into a Hindi film.
Kapoor elaborated and wrote the backstory of her character so that the role felt "more real" to her.
Since ''Dhadak'' was set in
Udaipur
Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...
unlike ''Sairat'', Khaitan took Kapoor and Khatter to Rajasthan and allowed them to spend time with the local people and eat the local food to make them understand the background, language and background of their characters.
Khaitan preferred to call ''Dhadak'' an adaptation rather than a remake of ''Sairat'' since he had made some changes to the storyline of the original film.
He cited "how
Nagraj Manjule chose to tell that story and the uniqueness he brought to the film" as his inspiration for the remake.
Khaitan, a Marwari Rajasthani himself who grew up in
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, set
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
and Kolkata as the premise for the film, and that required deviating from the original to stay "true to
imselfand the story
e istelling.
Another reason for choosing the two cities was "that they are visually and linguistically so different from each other".
Khaitan called ''Dhadak'' a tribute to ''Sairat''.
After he was sure that he wanted to make ''Dhadak'', Khaitan worked to distance himself from ''Sairat'', making ''
Badrinath Ki Dulhania'' (2017) in the meantime.
Later, he began writing ''Dhadak'' using those sequences which he instinctively recalled from ''Sairat'', and eliminated those that did not come to him immediately.
After writing the script, about four to five months before filming, he told Khatter and Kapoor their characters' behaviour, speech, and their inter-personal relationships.
However, he did not treat Khatter or Kapoor as "star kids" since he wanted to create a "good film" with newcomers. Johar told him that the film "could be the biggest decision in
islife, or the biggest mistake in
islife".
Khaitan preferred to make a high quality film over one that was commercially viable.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
commenced on 1 December 2017 in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Kapoor was joined by her mother on the first day of filming.
Shortly after filming began, the shoot was disrupted in
Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
, Rajasthan, after a part of the Ambikeshwar Mahadev Temple was damaged by the film's unit.
While scenes were being filmed at the Jagat Shiromani Temple and Panna Meena Ka Kund, the crew members had parked their vehicles near Ambikeshwar Temple.
One of their vans hit the
chhajja
A ''chhajja'' is an overhanging eave or roof covering found in Indian architecture. It is characterised with large support brackets with different artistic designs. Variation is also seen in its size depending on the importance of the building on ...
of the temple.
A police case was lodged against the film unit head by the temple authorities for damaging their historic property.
During the
Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
schedule of filming, two sequences were filmed by onlookers and circulated on
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
.
By contacting the
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
Help Centre, the makers managed to remove one of the videos, but the other kept circulating on social media.
This disrupted the filmmakers' plans to keep the character looks hidden.
After the incident, the a no-phone policy was practiced on the sets of ''Dhadak'', in which mobile phones and cameras were banned from being carried even by members of the cast and crew.
The team urged the public to not indulge in such activities and to cooperate with them.
In January 2018, the visuals for the song "Zingaat" was filmed.
It was choreographed by
Farah Khan
Farah Khan Kunder (; born 9 January 1965) is an Indian film director, writer, film producer, actress, dancer and choreographer who works predominantly in Hindi films. Khan has choreographed more than a hundred songs in over 80 films, winning th ...
.
In the same month, the
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
schedule of principal photography began. For a solo dance number picturised on Kapoor choreographed by
Tushar Kalia, Kapoor rehearsed continuously for two days, and then shot it over a 24 hour period in a studio in Mumbai. After Sridevi's
unexpected death, the film's team took a break to allow Kapoor to pay respects to her mother.
She returned to filming shortly after.
In March 2018, shooting shifted to Kolkata; some of the sequences were filmed at Victoria Memorial. Filming was completed by mid-April 2018.
Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by
Ajay–Atul
Ajay-Atul is an Indian music composer duo comprising brothers Ajay Ashok Gogavale and Atul Ashok Gogavale. Known for their works in Cinema of India, Indian cinema; predominantly in Marathi cinema, Marathi and Hindi cinema, Hindi films. They are ...
while the lyrics are written by
Amitabh Bhattacharya. The background score is composed by John Stewart Eduri. The music album of the film was released by
Zee Music Company
Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Music of Bollywood, Bollywood m ...
on 2 July 2018. The album was positively received.
The song, "Dhadak", was mixed by Vijay Dayal at YRF Studios in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. The music video of the track was released on 19 June 2018, and features Janhvi Kapoor and
Ishaan Khatter. Composer
Ajay said, “When we first heard the narration of ''Sairat'', we knew that it was going to be an epic love story. So, while composing the music of the film that thought remained at the core. "Dhadak Hai Na" is a completely new composition, but it was made with the same thought of creating something epic. Like ''Sairat'', the music of ''Dhadak'' has the quality of being cinematic and dramatic. It's made on an international soundscape and when listeners hear the theme song, I think they will feel the depth and the scale of composition". John Stewart Eduri composed the background score.
Song release
The song was released on 19 June 2018 on
Zee Music Company
Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Music of Bollywood, Bollywood m ...
's
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
page. On the same day of release, it was made available for online streaming at
Saavn and
Gaana.
It garnered about 9 Million views within 24 hours.
It trended at top position in India on
YouTube India,
Saavn and
Gaana for almost a day. It also trended at second and third positions on
YouTube India for several days and completed 50 million views on 7 July 2018 and 100 million views on 3 September 2018.
Song reception
Daily News and Analysis
The ''Daily News and Analysis'', abbreviated as ''DNA'', is a Hindi-language news program on Zee news that was earlier an English-language newspaper with multiple local city editions across India. ''DNA'' was first launched as a broadsheet newsp ...
wrote, "Shreya Ghoshal fans have fallen in love with her voice all over again". The article even praised the lyrics of the song and the chemistry of the actors, stating, "Everything from the lyrics, music to the chemistry of the lead actors has got a thumbs up from the audience." The track became an instant hit and many covers of the song were also made by various artists from all over India. Attaching some of these covers in her article, Rachna Srivastava wrote, "Tripping on Dhadak's title track? Let these covers help you trip a li'l more" Writing for
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy.
NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
, Puja Sahu mentioned that the track has been trending at peak position on YouTube India and has garnered in about 9 Million views within a day of its release. The reporter further praised the chemistry between Janhvi and Ishaan.
An article in
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
read, "Bollywood celebs go gaga over Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor's romantic number. The soothing song sung by Ajay Gogavale and Shreya Ghoshal will tug at your heartstrings instantly."
The song debuted on Mirchi Music Top 20 countdown on 30 June 2018 at 5th position and climbed up to the 1st position in the next week itself. On Aircheck Top 20, the song debuted on 2 July 2018 at the peak position. The track was marked at the highest position at
Saavn weekly Top 15. It was also marked at Rank 1 at the
Jio Music weekly Top 20.
Release
''Dhadak''s official trailer was released on 11 June 2018. Despite being initially scheduled to release on 6 July 2018, the film was postponed, and was instead released on 20 July 2018.
It was released in over 2235 screens in India and a total of 2791 screens worldwide.
Apart from India, the film was also released in the Middle East, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Fiji and Pakistan.
Reception
Critical response
''Dhadak'' received negative reviews from critics.
It was particularly criticized for being a poor remake of ''Sairat'',
glossing over the subject of caste-based discrimination present in the original.
Critics also felt that the film did not work as a standalone romance.
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, ''Dhadak'' has a rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .
Rajeev Masand of
News18
Network18 Media & Investments Limited, ( d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief ...
gave it two and a half stars out of five; while praising both Kapoor and Khatter for their acting prowess, he found the film to be "relatively sanitized", and questioned the logic behind remaking ''Sairat'', writing, "
e caste angle, evidently too hot to handle in a mainstream Bollywood film, is largely swept under the rug in ''Dhadak''." Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy.
NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
gave the film two stars out of five, expressing that "
hemuddled screenplay, bland storytelling and uneven lead performances leave this glossy Karan Johar production without a proper, palpable heartbeat", concluding, "The result is a grind that pretty frames and fresh faces cannot mitigate".
Writing for ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'', Rachit Gupta gave the film three and a half stars out of five and praised the direction, "
haitanpresents the naive romance with sensitivity, even while fusing the story with ample dramatic highs". While noting that the "glossed over aspect makes it unbelievable", Gupta was more positive, writing, "With all its strengths and weaknesses, ''Dhadak'' attempts to highlight some shocking truths about our society and for that it makes a worthy watch." Rohit Vats of ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' gave it two and a half stars out of five, writing, "Though Khaitan has tried to deliver subtle messages..., in the end, all this boils down to launching two potential future stars." Vats also noted that "
apoorand
hatterwere probably misfits for a rural setting". A reviewer for the
Indo-Asian News Service
Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. In December 2023, Adani group, known for its close ties with t ...
gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying, "The remake extracts all the juice from the original and then squanders it in irrelevant plot conversions" but deduces: "If ''Dhadak'' is still watchable in parts, it's because Ishaan Khattar is constantly injecting his exuberant conviction into every scene."
Shubhra Gupta of ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' gave ''Dhadak'' one and a half stars out of five and said, "Barring a few patches, ''Dhadak'' has neither requisite drama nor authenticity. It underlines all its scenes with blaring background music, to tell us how to feel. It doesn’t work, not as an official copy of ''Sairat'', nor as a standalone Bollywood romance." Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com gave it two stars out of five and writes, "The heartbreak of shabby treatment from one's own family, the struggle of employment sans proper qualification in an alien city, the resentment, doubts and insecurities spawned by unending challenges hardly registers in ''Dhadak''s superficial, clueless worldview." However, she praised Khatter, who "never seems out of his depth no matter how silly the setup" and Kapoor for her expressive "''
Chandni'' eyes".
Anna M. M. Vetticad of ''Firstpost'' gave the film one and a half stars out of five and criticized, "In ''Dhadak'',
ime and thought.. are sketchily written, as are the pair’s struggles in their new life away from their parents".
Box office
''Dhadak'' earned 8.71 crore nett on its opening day domestically, which was the highest ever for a film starring newcomers in India, breaking the previous record held by ''
Student of the Year'' (2012), also produced by Dharma Productions.
It earned 11.04 crore nett on its second day and 13.92 crore nett on its third day, taking the weekend collection to 33.67 crore nett. In its first week, the film had a total collection of 51.56 crore nett. The film emerged as a commercial success,
and has a worldwide gross of with in India.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
Dhadakat
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides n ...
{{Dharma Productions
2018 films
2010s Hindi-language films
2010s Indian films
Indian romantic drama films
Hindi remakes of Marathi films
Films set in Rajasthan
Films about the caste system in India
Films scored by Ajay–Atul
Films shot in Rajasthan
Films shot in Jaipur