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Four women getting together for the motorbike ride of a lifetime: ‘Dhak Dhak’ starts off with many of the expected tropes playing out in a movie of this kind. Very different women, from different walks of life. Troubled past. Conflicted present. All looking for a way out, a way forward. Bumps on the road. Breakdowns of men and machines. And finally, that most elusive, precious element, the connection which binds us despite our differences.
There’s some amount of intrinsic pleasure to be had just in the principal theme of women taking centre-stage, of breaking free. And the performances of the quartet– led by the redoubtable Ratna Pathak Shah as Mahi, the dahi-vada-making grandma, Dia Mirza as the put-upon ‘biwi’ Uzma, getting away from her autocratic ‘shauhar’ to forge a path for her teenage daughter, Sana Mirza Shaikh as Sky, the YouTuber in search of a million subscribers, and Sanjana Sanghi as the submissive Manjari, who is about to get yoked to a man she’s never met, getting away her protected-but-stifling existence– are notable, except perhaps for the last of them, who is not written with as much detail as the others.
A couple of the sequences, especially when the women imbibe substance-laden cookies and dark rum leading them to lose their inhibitions, which in turn loosen their tongues, are lovely. There are giggles as shared bedroom secrets tumble out, making allowance for the ignorance of the virginal Manjari ‘who has never yet been kissed’. Cracks about ‘faking it’ are followed by knowing chortles, and it’s all very warm and convivial. Pathak Shah is top-notch as always, followed by spirited Mirza, who is in danger of being typecast as ‘the troubled Muslim wife’ (last seen in ‘Made In Heaven season 2’), and Shaikh who gets with the cool biker chick vibe.
But the film makes you wait for these nice bits, slowing down into occasional banalities, and bumper-sticker aphoristic moments. The bumping-into-helpful-quirky-characters is also a trope that plays out– a helpful truck driver rescues Manjari from a fall, an attractive middle-aged stranger holds Mahi’s hand at a critical time, a Bollywood-loving female monk shows Sky the light–but not all these pieces work as well as the others.
For all its fabulous landscapes (the bikers ride through some of the most picturesque locations in the world, on their way to their fabled destination, Khardung La) and a bunch of interesting actors, the film comes off patchy, with its obvious, eye-glaze bits jostling along with the smiley feel-good ones.
Dhak Dhak movie cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanjana Sanghi
Dhak Dhak movie director: Tarun Dudeja
Dhak Dhak movie rating: Two and a half stars
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