Fans were elated when they heard that award-winning Marathi film Sairat was being remade into Hindi as Dhadak. The cherry on the cake was that the film would feature star kids Ishaan Khattar (half-brother of Shahid Kapoor) and Jhanvi Kapoor (daughter of Sridevi and Boney Kapoor). All was well until the trailer was launched. It didn’t take online warriors much time to turn their guns on producer Karan Johar, who was accused of relocating the plot to an upmarket milieu and romanticising it by ‘trivialising’ the most important part of the movie – the caste atrocities and honour killing. Critics accuse the filmmaker of ‘killing’ Sairat in the adaptation. This issue once again gives rise to the allegation that regional movies, when remade or adapted to Bollywood, are diminished to poor parodies of the original film. We ask filmmakers, film critics and movie buffs their opinion on the matter.
Hoping for the best
The success of an original piece of work is entirely dependent on how native and proximate the script, cast and direction are. If the original elements are not taken into consideration, especially for a strong movie like Sairat, there is every chance for it to be called a ‘bad copy’. By elevating it to a richer setting, I am really not sure how the points of caste atrocities and honour killing can be brought in. I trust Karan Johar’s
honesty to the medium of cinema. In the same breath, I would also like to add that I loved Sairat; Dhadak should not disappoint the fans of Sairat.
P.D. Sathish Chandra, Actor
Give Karan Johar his due
It is good that Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has officially attained the rights of Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat before adapting it into Hindi. We should not criticise him for that. It is a new film now, with a totally new creative team working on it. This film should be judged on its own merit. Sairat will always remain marked in golden letters in the pages of Indian cinema history. No Dhadak can undo its cinematic audacity.
Yes, it is criminal to mess with a genius creative product like Sairat but it would be even more criminal if that had been done without officially buying the rights, as Bollywood has being doing for many years. So, let it be this way.
Mihir Pandya, Film Critic
Safe launch pad for star kids
The thing with film industries is that good storylines keep circulating. In the case of remakes with an upscale attitude, the first-generation stars usually cast their children and siblings in these films. It is like a dynasty wanting to launch the next generation with a tested storyline that is guaranteed to do well. They always worry about how their kids are launched and so extra care is taken. The treatment of the film is larger-than-life to compensate for their amateur acting skills.
Sathya Prakash, professor of Film Studies and Criticism, University of Hyderabad
Benefit of the doubt
The key of a remake is to retain the soul of the original work. Filmmakers tend to make changes to suit the core market. It’s easier to recreate a commercial film in a new language as proved by the huge success of films like Wanted (remake of Telugu film Pokiri) and Singham (remake of Tamil movie Singam). But when it comes to strong, sensitive issue-based films like Sairat, the task at hand is far more challenging. The trailer of Dhadak hints that the makers have increased the scale of the film to make it more Bollywood mass-friendly. I won’t dismiss it just yet. We have to see the film to know whether they’ve pulled off ‘Mission Sairat’ successfully
Kaushik L.M., entertainment journalist and social media influencer
Bollywood has better reach
Good stories should always reach a larger audience. As far as relocating the plot is concerned, it has to be changed according to the target audience. Karan Johar is not making an educational film. He is making commercial cinema and he is trying to convey the same message in the form of a sugar-coated tablet. If the film and the message have to reach a larger spectrum, it has to be made keeping the larger audience in mind.
Riju Bajaj - Actor and Film Producer
