'Dhadak' a tragic romance that sidesteps caste, gender politics of 'Sairat'

Sairat, Marathi cinema's highest-ever grosser, was made on a shoestring budget by a Dalit director known for unflinching portrayals based on his lived experiences

Nagraj Manjule, a National Award-winning director who made the landmark Marathi film Sairat two years ago, is self-avowedly anti-Bollywood. It’s not difficult to understand why if you watch Dhadak, a predictably weak-kneed remake designed as the launch vehicle for screen legend Sridevi’s daughter, Janhvi Kapoor.

Dhadak is set in Udaipur, and the opening scene introducing the leads would interest the tourist in us. Madhukar Bagla, played by Ishaan Khatter (actor Shahid Kapoor’s half-brother who debuted in Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds), is dreaming of his muse Parthavi (Kapoor) in his lakeside home. He is woken up by his friend, Gokul