'Dhak Dhak' movie review: No more pillion riding

Dhak Dhak

Movie: Dhak Dhak
U/A: Drama, adventure
Dir: Tarun Dudeja
Cast: Fatima Sana Shaikh, Dia Mirza, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sanjana Sanghi
Rating: 4/5

In last Friday's release, a girl found her happily-ever-after in the middle of a night spent at a Delhi hotel. In yesterday's offering, four women found their joy, and themselves, in the rough terrains of Leh-Ladakh. It is rather unbelievable that Bollywood has offered two back-to-back unabashedly feminist films that challenge the homogeneity that we often restrict womanhood to.

Debutant director Tanuj Dudeja's Dhak Dhak is your favourite comforter that feels only warmer as it ages. At its heart, it is a story that says there's no age to coming of age. You could be a young YouTube content creator Sky, fighting for her identity (Fatima Sana Shaikh), an even younger girl Manjari, who hardly knows a word beyond "mummy" (Sanjana Sanghi), a middle-aged homemaker Uzma, who exchanged independence for love (Dia Mirza), or a 60-year-old Manpreet aka Mahi wanting to be more than a mother (Ratna Pathak Shah). One thing binds them all - a motorcycle. A vehicle that has been historically employed as a cool extension of masculinity, and one that women are at the most only allowed to ride pillion on.

But in Dudeja and his co-writer Parijat Joshi's world, a bike is the key to women's agency, their dreams and sisterhood. Four strangers come together to take a seven-day long road trip to Khardung La, Leh. As it happens on every trip, there are physical challenges, internal conflicts, endless laughter, and some heavy nights. Each of these women face their own demons, biases and self-doubt, while uplifting one another. The beauty of Dhak Dhak lies in a simple yet profound life lesson; that every woman has a different struggle and they don't need solutions all the times. Sometimes they just want to be seen and share a drink on a cold, lonely night.

While the head-strong Sky, who prefers to keep her emotions to herself, realises vulnerability is perhaps her biggest strength to deal with her traumatic past, Manjari, with the help of her co-travellers, builds confidence to become more than a baby girl. Uzma, who begins her journey to fulfil her daughter's dreams, finds the courage to be the independent and intelligent woman she knew she always was. And Mahi finds out she doesn't need her children's validation. She is enough for herself, whether to ride a bike in the most challenging locations or give her heart once again to a good man.

The movie is a display of Dudeja's confidence and sensitivity as a storyteller. He celebrates his protagonists in all their glory and glitches. He, along with his cinematographers Sreechith Vijayan and Damodar, also paint the most raw, lived-in portrait of all the lanes that these four women travel to. It's not sanitised or gram-esque. The visuals seem to not focus on technical superiority but highlight spontaneity of the moment on the go.

The fact that the director focuses more on the four women than all the locales they stop at, tells you his priority is the distance that they have travelled is more metaphorical than literal. Dhak Dhak is gloriously uplifted by the performances from the ensemble cast. Shah is simply magical. One could watch her go by her day, doing her thing and you would still not get enough of her. Shaikh is brilliant, bringing in the required toughness and vulnerability while playing Sky. Sanghi has a terrific screen presence and seems to only get better with each outing. While Mirza's character arc seems the least satisfying in the film, her presence is like calm in the storm. She says more with her silence than words.

These four women from Delhi might never cross paths with Bhumi Pednekar's Kanika Kapoor from Thank You for Coming. Their lives are different, so are their problems. But bigger than their difference is the similarity that womanhood is equally beautiful and hard for all of them, and they all deserve to find their joy, their way.