Dhak Dhak Is The Feminist Road Trip Film Bollywood Desperately Needed |
That a film like Dhak Dhak even exists is a major win, writes Swetha Ramakrishnan. |
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| | Cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza |
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BOLLYWOOD is so starved of films around female friendships and/or films around women taking a road trip that the bar is quite low. This is not to say that Dhak Dhak is a bad film – far from it – but it’s important to acknowledge before we get into the nitty gritty of this particular title that there’s a severe shortage of mainstream Hindi movies written and performed with the intent of employing the female gaze. And so, that a film like Dhak Dhak even exists is a major win. Think about it: four women of different ages and backgrounds band together to embark on an ambitious road trip on motorbikes, against all odds. The journey is tough — from Delhi to Leh (Khardung La), and it’s being undertaken on a vehicle typically associated with men and masculinity (in Bollywood’s biggest films about motorbikes, the Dhoom series, the women played typically stereotypical roles). All four are equal protagonists, with their own subplots and character-enriching arcs; however, the emotionally tougher scenes are given to Ratna Pathak Shah (rightfully so) and Fatima Sana Sheikh. And the cherry on the cake is that the friendship between the women doesn’t come easily or immediately, and therefore the bond seems more authentic when it finally gets established. The story begins with Sky (Fatima Sana Sheikh), who is an auto influencer and makes viral videos on bikes and gadgets. After a personal mishap, she breaks up with her partner with whom she runs her YouTube channel and her views start to drop. In a bid to revive her online career, she plans to visit an auto festival in Barcelona but she needs financial backing for it. Her financiers ask her to prove herself by first delivering a viral story — and this is where she meets Manpreet aka Mahi (Ratna Pathak Shah). Mahi is a 60-year-old firecracker who is shackled by her retired life. She wants to rise above her role as homemaker and grandmother, and she finds a way when she wins a Bullet bike in a coupon lottery. She decides to learn how to ride a bike and travel to Khardung La to prove that she still can be “a heroine” at her age. |
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The Burial: A Riveting ‘David Vs Goliath’ Courtroom Drama |
IF one is familiar with John Grisham’s A Time to Kill and its film adaptation, starring Matthew McConaughey, then one would be well versed with how race, power, politics, and the law are intertwined in the state of Mississippi. The fictional story about the trial of Carl Lee Hailey, written by Grisham, is a riveting story about a murder trial. The Burial, however, might not be a legal battle that ensues in the aftermath of heinous crimes, but it is quite simply a case about contractual law in Mississippi. While it might not sound like the most glamorous premise for a courtroom drama, the film’s narrative unravels a web of racial and socio-political challenges that renders the case far more compelling than it appears on the surface. — RYAN GOMEZ |
| Sultan Of Delhi: Compelling Casting Saves Disjointed Show |
BASED on the book Sultan of Delhi: Ascension by Arnab Ray, this Disney+ Hotstar period crime drama begins by giving the backstory of our hero, Arjun Bhatia (Tahir Raj Bhasin). At a young age, he arrives in India from Pakistan during the chaos and carnage of Partition, 1947, with his father and they must build their lives in a new home from scratch. Arjun is depicted both as a rebel and as someone with the ability to influence the people around him. The show takes you on a journey that traces Arjun's association with an arms dealer, and the multiple milestones along the way that lead him to becoming the "Sultan" of Delhi, or certainly of its underworld. Bhasin does a fine job of internalising his character's motivations and drive. — SUNIDHI PRAJAPAT |
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#ICYMI | Fair Play Has A Promising Pitch, But Falls Short Of Closing The Deal |
THE most revealing scene in Chloe Domont’s bad romance Fair Play arrives right after financial analyst Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) gets a promotion that her fiancé and co-worker Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) expected would go to him. Rather than rejoice in the good news, Emily postscripts it with an apology. She is sorry she got the promotion. She is sorry he didn’t. Above all, she is sorry for being better at her job than he is. Luke congratulates her. “I’m so happy for you,” he says with a smile that can’t hide the discernible sadness leaking down his face. The next day, Emily reassures him, bandaging his wound with the insistence her promotion will be mutually beneficial, so his disappointment doesn’t curdle into resentment and sour their relationship. Not unexpectedly, as the false equilibrium of traditional gender roles gets disrupted, aggressions inflame from veiled to vicious to violent. The disruption exposes the fragile threads that weave a male ego. Which, when deflated, needs constant massaging and patching up. Which, at its toxic worst, can hold captive a woman’s sense of self-determination. — PRAHLAD SRIHARI |
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