Dhak Dhak Review – A Beat of its own
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“Dhak Dhak” begins on a fun comical note – four women bikers of varied ages make a stop along a dusty road for a pee break. One of them, evidently the leader of the group, patronises the youngest for not relieving herself on a previous rest-stop and then asks her do quickly finish her business in the bushes. Their destination? Khardungla – one of world’s highest motorable roads, which is still 917 kms away.
Directed by Tarun Dudeja, who co-wrote the script with Parijat Joshi, the 2023 Bollywood film “Dhak Dhak” follows the story of Sky (Fatima Sana Shaikh), a popular travel blogger, as she embarks on a seven-day bike trip with the 60-year-old biker granny Mahi (Ratna Pathak Shah) through treacherous mountain roads. The duo is joined by on-road mechanic Uzma (Dia Mirza) and the devout Manjari (Sanjana Sanghi), who has lied at home about flying to Leh to go on the road adventure before she gets married to a stranger picked by her helicopter mom.
Fatima Sana Shaikh sets the tone for this girls’ trip story as Sky, who in a flashback scene skates around like a pro to capture a biker gang doing dangerous street stunts until cops come to the scene and break them up. “I don’t want aesthetics, I need a story,” her boss tells her on watching the footage. A chance encounter leads Sky to that story – Mahi an aging widow loves her bike and dreams of riding it to Khardungla. Last seen in “Charlie Chopra & the Mystery of Solang Valley” as the wily wheelchair bound Mrs Bharucha, Ratna Pathak Shah as Mahi in “Dhak Dhak” is the beating heart of the tale and a treat to watch. Indisputably the most likable character, Ratna’s portrayal of the biker granny who love rum is a joyous mix of vitality, bravery, innocence, and benevolence. Mahi lives by herself, often ignored by her children who are too busy in their own worlds. Riding a bike gives her a new lease on life, and her jest to conquer one of the toughest road-trail in the world positively inspirational and heart-warming.
The cinematography of “Dhak Dhak” is its strongest ingredient, with gorgeous mountain shots and scenes that breezily unfold like a travel blog. From loud roadside dhabas, to bohemian hilly retreats, the women make a lot of pit-stops through their trip that take viewers on an enjoyable vicarious ride through the mountains. Dia Mirza is gracefully sweet as the “jugaadu” Uzma, who lies to her husband about going on a religious visit and becomes the group’s mechanic to pay for her daughter’s rising school expenses. Sanjana Sanghi’s character, Manjari, is the most random addition to the tale, but she earnestly plays her part and serves as comic relief as an overtly sheltered girl who scares easily. Fatima Sana Shaikh stands out as the sassy talented Sky, but her character is slightly inconsistent (fault of the writers). She is introduced as this carefree, career-oriented woman rollerblading on the streets, having fun while doing her job. Yet, she is inexplicably rude and mean to the older Mahi for the first half of the film, even though she seemed pretty friendly in her opening scenes.
One couldn’t help but wish there was a fifth woman in the group, someone who, unlike the other four, wasn’t being weighed down by other people in their life. Despite being an all-women led film in terms of the main protagonists, the male shadow looms strongly upon them – Sky has an ex-boyfriend who she feels betrayed by; Uzma has a sexist, domineering husband who would rather save money for his school-going daughter’s dowry than spend it on her education; Mahi, at some point, wants to give up on her dreams just because she cares too much about what her grandson might think, and Manjari fears marrying a man who hasn’t even taken the initiative to get to know her before they get married (although her overprotective mother is the bigger problem in her life).
The makers jam in too many conflicts throughout the tale to give it emotional heft, and while some do mesh well, others only slow down the pace and are unnecessary (especially because there’s no cohesive resolution to them either). For example, mid-movie, when the women spend the night at a property managed by a foreigner, a post-dinner “girl-talk” video of them that goes viral and causes a lot of drama between them. If the writers would’ve just let the scenes in the video play out without the “clip gone viral” twist, that section of the story would have been a great girl-bonding moment in the trip.
Regardless of the story flaws, “Dhak Dhak” has a lot of high points, it’s background music score pulsating with complementary energy, and the four leading ladies are fantastic, each brining a different flavour of womanhood to the tale.
Rating: 7 on 10. Stream Dhak Dhak on Netflix.
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