Dhadak

About the film

Dhadak (transl. Heartbeat) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romance film written and directed by Shashank Khaitan and jointly produced by Karan Johar, 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 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. It is Highest Grossing Indian Film in 2018. It is one of the highest-grossing Indian films in overseas market.

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 commenced in December 2017 and was completed in April 2018. The film's soundtrack was composed by Ajay–Atul with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya and background score composed by John Stewart Eduri. The film was distributed internationally by Zee Studios.

Plot

Madhukar "Madhu" Bhagla, a young college student from a middle class family in Udaipur, wins a competitive eating 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 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, where Madhu contacts his maternal uncle and the two travel to Nagpur.

Production

Producer Karan Johar acquired the Hindi remake rights of the 2016 Marathi language film Sairat in November that year, after the film's unexpected commercial success. On 15 November 2017, Johar announced through his Twitter 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; it would mark his first in a string of consecutive collaborations with Zee Studios, which had also produced 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), which was also produced by Zee Studios.

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 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, set Rajasthan and Kolkata as the premise for the film, and that required deviating from the original to stay "true to [himself] and the story [he is] telling. Another reason for choosing the two cities was "that they are visually and linguistically so different from each other". He called Dhadak a tribute to Sairat.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Dhadak is composed by Ajay–Atul, who also composed the music of Sairat, while the lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The background score is composed by Khaitan's norm collaborator John Stewart Eduri. The album was released by Zee Music Company on 2 July 2018, and was positively received.

Key details