Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | July 22, 2018

Rating: 3 / 5

The essence: Ishaan Khatter is earnest and ‘in with every scene’, making it his own without trying too hard. He makes an impact without going full-throttle. His understanding of every scene and situation is amazing as he brings in the right amount of emotions and body language into it to make it stand out. Janhvi Kapoor has an appealing and endearing screen presence and like Ishaan, her reading of every scene is commendable. She packs in the right dose of emotion in every scene.

A few reels into the movie and you are not looking at the plot: you are transfixed onto Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor, who make the mundane script look brilliant. Try as you may to look for flaws in the performances of the youngsters, but you come out applauding their effort in every scene, even the most banal one where boy sings for girl in broken English.

Such is the sincerity in their effort and excitement in their eyes that you forget that this is a poor remake of the Marathi blockbuster Sairat. You also forget that this is Janhvi’s first film and Ishaan’s second.

Dhadak, like Sairat, is all about caste and honour killing and when Madhukar Bagla (Ishaan Khatter) falls in love with Parthavi Singh (Janhvi Kapoor), you know that this relationship is headed for trouble.

The youngsters are aware that they are headed towards danger and Madhukar has already promised his dad that he will stay away from Parthavi but the heart thinks otherwise, and before you know it their life spirals out of control with her father and brother out to get Madhukar. Parthavi intervenes when the boy and his friends are being taken by the police after being beaten up and escapes with them in daring fashion.

They move from Udaipur to Nagpur before finally settling in Kolkatta, setting up home and starting a family of their own. The day they have their house pooja is when her brother arrives with his friends and lots of gifts for their son—Parthavi had been speaking to her mom, who knew about her whereabouts but during once such clandestine conversation, her father gets hold of the phone.

An excited Parthavi goes down to purchase some sweets leaving Madhukar and her son with the guests. As she walks home she is dealt a telling blow!

After his tryst with the Dulhaniya series (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya and Badrinath Ki Dulhniya both starring Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt), Shashank Khaitan makes an impact, thanks to the lead pair.

Ishaan is earnest and ‘in with every scene’, making it his own without trying too hard. He makes an impact without going full-throttle. His understanding of every scene and situation is amazing as he brings in the right amount of emotions and body language into it to make it stand out.

Janhvi has an appealing and endearing screen presence and like Ishaan, her reading of every scene is commendable. She packs in the right dose of emotion in every scene.

Godaan Kumar as Roop, Parthavi’s brother, and Bengali actor Kharaj Mukherjee are the other two who stand out with their performances.

The ending is abrupt and distressing.

Dhadak is not a Love Story (Kumar Gaurav-Vijeyta Pandit), neither is it Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (Aamir Khan-Juhi Chawla) or Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai (Hrithik Roshan-Ameesha Patel). But if you are game for a good performance and want to see some fresh new talent, then Dhadak is definitely for you.

CREDITS
Producer: Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Apoorva Mehta
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Star Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Godaan Kumar, Ashutosh Rana, Kharaj Mukherjee