The much anticipated film of the year Dharak 2, made its mark from the trailer launch itself, which brought Goosebumps to the watchers. It is a heart-wrenching saga of two lovers, Neelesh and Vidhi, played by Siddhant Chaudhary and Triptii Dimri, who become victims of casteism and fight the reality of Indian society. Present at the launch were Karan Johar, Tripti Dimri, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Director Shazia Iqbal. The film also features Ashish Chaudhary and Vipin Sharma in key roles.
Director Shazia Iqbal, talking about the inspiration behind taking this subject, said, “Dhadak 2 is a romantic drama which is a spiritual sequel to the film Dhadak(2018). The film is also an official remake of the 2018 release Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal, based on many societal incidents. Also, there are many forbidden ideas of having the freedom of falling in love, as you see in the trailer, that became the very inspiration.”
Siddhant Chaturvedi talks about playing a small town guy in the film, and what was the take away from the character he plays in Dhadak 2, says, ” Although I have played many Urban Characters, I come from a small town in UP and have been waiting for such a script, and am exploring this genre for the first time. My biggest takeaway from the character is his resilience, which is the willpower and the never-giving-up attitude. I could resonate with it, but when I played this character, I realised that I was five per cent of it, as this character is much stronger than I am, as it not only has the endurance to suffer, but to fight against injustice and to be vocal about it.”
Triptii sharing her takeaways from her character added”, I think it’s the courage that my character Vidhi has that I don’t think I had as Triptii. When Shazia narrated the film to me, I told her, that she is a very fearless character who speaks the truth even when she is scared, and I don’t think I have that courage, and I want to learn that. Eventually, I did learn it from her, because by the time I finished the film, I could see a change in me and even she could.”
Talking about the challenges in playing such a role and what kind of preparation went behind, Dimri said,” It’s a big responsibility to play such a role and to do it with all honesty. Our director, Shazia, helped us to achieve it through numerous workshops before we started shooting. All of us played games, learnt about each other, talked about our lives and did acting-based exercises, which helped us gain that confidence to essay our respective roles.”
Scheduled for release in August 2025, the movie was earlier supposed to release in November 2024, which was then pushed to March 2025, facing delays after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) told the makers to make 16 specific modifications.
Karan Johar threw light on taking up a sensitive socio-political subject and coping with the Censor Board, said,” Dharma Productions has quintessentially always been associated with a certain kind of cinema, which I think we’ve always tried to honour. We have taken scenes and presented them with utmost sincerity, which was also the need of the hour. I have never been worried about repercussions as it always restricts you as an artist.”
Lauding the censor board, he further added, “They were very understanding, compassionate, and understood, what the film wanted to convey. They were protecting sensitivity, and so were we. We worked very well together and understood their perspective. Yes, at times, these things take time, as it’s not something that can happen overnight.â€
Dharma has indeed come a long way to take up socio-political subjects like this which must indeed act as an eye opener for the society, to shed the malpractices like casteism and racial discrimination in the Indian society.
Dhadak 2 releases in theatres on 1st August, 2025.
