Dhadak 2

Something that Quentin Tarantino said recently rings true for director Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2. In an interview, he explained why he admires the controversial blockbuster film Joker, despite the divisive reactions that it opened to. Tarantino said that the movie pulled off ‘subversion on a massive level’, when it got audiences across the globe to root for a madman to shoot a celebrity in the face on live TV. These were all civilised people, Tarantino said. And yet, for around 10 minutes, they were hungry for blood. It’s an unusual comparison to make, but Dhadak 2 has more in common with a billion-dollar-grossing Hollywood movie than you’d imagine. In an alternate universe, Siddhant Chaturvedi’s character in the film, a Dalit man named Neelesh, could have very easily turned into a vengeful anarchist.

This is how star-crossed romances usually go: boy meets girl, hearts collide, the world relents, and they ride into forever. But not in Dhadak 2, the Hindi remake of Mari Selvaraj’s searing Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal (2018). Here, love doesn’t float above the ground but sinks deep into the soil of caste identity. The film’s lovers, Neelesh (a standout Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Vidisha (Triptii Dimri), are young and idealistic. But society sees their surname before it sees their hearts. He is Neelesh Ahirwar, a first-generation Dalit student who lives in a slum. She is Vidisha Bharadwaj, an upper-caste classmate who falls for him. In debutante director Shazia Iqbal’s hands, Dhadak 2 proves that, in India, love isn’t blind — it sees caste in sharp, unforgiving focus.

If Pariyerum Perumal (2018) was a burning manifesto against caste oppression, Dhadak 2 is the government-issued pamphlet version—neatly formatted, slightly sanitized, and laminated for upper-caste convenience. A Hindi remake of Mari Selvaraj’s Tamil classic, Dhadak 2 attempts a daring high-wire act: to tackle India’s caste realities without disturbing the comfort zones of mainstream Bollywood viewers. It’s also branded as a spiritual sequel to 2018’s Dhadak, a film so committed to looking away from caste, it practically made erasure an aesthetic. In that sense, Dhadak 2 is a kind of karmic correction—only this time, the characters do mention caste out loud. Occasionally. Set in a vague “Hindi heartland” (geography was apparently too casteist to be named), Dhadak 2 follows Neelesh (Siddhant Chaturvedi), a Dalit law student with dreams of justice and—poor thing—romance. He secures a spot in the prestigious National University of Law through reservation, and while most Bollywood heroes fight corrupt politicians or dance on Swiss hills, Neelesh battles that deadliest of foes: everyday systemic discrimination.

It is heartening that, in the pan-Indian wave, once in a while, a socially conscious story from the south also lands on Bollywood’s shores. In Dhadak 2, a remake of the Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal, where caste becomes the villain in a young romance, debutant director Shazia Iqbal struggles to strike a balance between retaining the voice of the original and applying a Dharma polish to a social reality that has been mainly out of the syllabus for Bollywood biggies. The result is a mixed bag. While it is brave for Bollywood standards, the storytelling fails to provide a lived-in experience and becomes a kind of explainer on how Dalit lives matter for the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai audience.

Nothing underlines the wild, rebellious heart of Mari Selvaraj’s Pariyerum Perumal (2018) quite like Santosh Narayanan’s music. For example: during a stretch, when the hero (Kathir) and heroine (Anandhi) are spending time apart, after he’s warned by her father since they belong to different castes, the hip-hop song Naan Yaar starts playing to some dynamic visuals. As much as it’s about heartbreak, the sequence is also about the protagonist’s inner tussle with his own beliefs. Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2, a Hindi adaptation of the 2018 Tamil film, uses a more conventional ballad (sung by Vishal Mishra) during this stretch, muting the male protagonist’s reckoning with his identity, replacing it with a more palatable subplot of aching, star-crossed lovers. The choice dilutes the source material’s counter-cultural intent, making it a more yielding piece of work.

Uske paisa hain izzat hain, SUV hain aur apni hi caste ka hain to kyun na karu shaadi” (he has respect, wealth, an SUV and he is from our caste so why shouldn’t I marry him), remarks the sister of the protagonist. The theme of caste is prominently featured in Dhadak 2, a remake of the Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal (2018) directed by Mari Selvaraj. This film serves as a spiritual sequel to Dhadak (2018), which itself was a remake of Sairat (2016).

It is not often that you see the notion of caste and its atrocities being explored in mainstream Hindi cinema. The one name that comes to our mind is filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Article 15 (2019). Now, director Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2 enters the rare list. It is hugely different from the Khurrana starrer despite addressing the same subject. Dhadak 2 is the official Hindi remake of the 2018 Tamil hit Pariyerum Perumal. It takes place in a semi-urban city in India. The story revolves around Neelesh Ahirwar (Siddhant Chaturvedi). He hails from the lower caste and lives under challenging economic conditions with his parents. He is eager to rise above poverty by becoming a lawyer. He gets admission in a reputed law college in the city under reservation.

‘‘ऊंची जात की अमीर लड़की। नीची जात का गरीब लड़का। आकर्षित हुए, पहले दोस्ती, फिर प्यार कर बैठे। घर वाले आड़े आए तो दोनों भाग गए। जिंदगी की कड़वाहट को करीब से देखा, सहा और धीरे-धीरे सब पटरी पर आ गया। लेकिन…!’’ यह कहानी थी 2018 में आई ‘धड़क’ की जो मराठी की ‘सैराट’ का रीमेक थी। लेकिन वह रीमेक भी ईमानदार नहीं था क्योंकि ‘धड़क’ बड़ी ही आसानी से अमीर-गरीब या ऊंच-नीच वाले विषय पर ठोस बात कह सकती थी। लेकिन ऐसा हुआ नहीं था और वह फिल्म एक ऐसा आम, साधारण प्रॉडक्ट ही बन कर रह गई थी। ‘धड़क 2’ भी रीमेक है। इस बार 2018 में आई निर्माता पा. रंजीत की एक तमिल फिल्म को चुना गया है। पा. रंजीत अपनी फिल्मों में दलित विमर्श को उठाने के लिए जाने जाते हैं। यह फिल्म भी वही करने की ‘कोशिश’ करती है। लेकिन यह कोशिश सतही है और उथली भी क्योंकि इसमें ‘विमर्श’ की बजाय विचारों की जबरन थोपा-थोपी ज़्यादा दिखाई गई है।