Dhak Dhak director Tarun Dudeja: Was told to make one a biker chick with shorter outfit

Dhak Dhak director Tarun Dudeja reveals how producers offered sexist script suggestions, as he shopped around his all-woman film for four years before Taapsee Pannu backed it

Why should men make the rules? This question forms the core of Dhak Dhak. But much like the women in the film, first-time director Tarun Dudeja had a long road to this realisation. Along with writer Parijat Joshi, he had initially begun with the idea of making a movie about a woman, who takes a trip to Khardung La to realise her late father’s unfulfilled wish. “Over time, we realised this premise was wrong. Why should a man have to do anything with a woman’s decision to do something? The agency should come from within,” emphasises Dudeja. And from there was born the Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi-starrer that tells the story of four women, whose road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery.

It took Dudeja and Joshi a year to develop the screenplay. What came next was harder—a four-year ordeal to find a producer who could back his vision. “It took us four years to find producers. The constant rejections broke [us] from within. Then, there were suggestions given about the script that left me [boggled]. One was, ‘Make one of them a biker chick, shorten her outfits and show her legs.’ Another suggestion was, ‘Make it Ratna Pathak Shah’s on-screen husband’s last wish to go to Khardung La [rather than her own], and add his voice-over throughout the film.’”

Finally, Taapsee Pannu and Pranjal Khandhdiya entered the picture, producing it with Aayush Maheshwari, and Ajit Andhare of Viacom Studios. Dudeja says he lucked out with Pannu, Khandhdiya and Maheshwari, who became his pillars of support. “Taapsee really liked the script. Her question was, ‘Who is directing it?’ She was told it was a first-time director, and then was shown my short film, Khayali Pulao [2020]. She felt that I knew how to capture emotions, and said, ‘I am here for you.’”

While filming Dhak Dhak was a dream run, Dudeja was disappointed to see how his passion project was barely promoted ahead of its release. “It broke my heart. It did the same for Taapsee, Aayush, Pranjal and all our actors. With OTT and satellite rights, studios secure a profit, and then they don’t feel like taking a risk [by way of its theatrical run]. That’s a corporate-driven decision. Even if you want, you can’t do much.” But Dudeja also believes that his pain has been balanced with the enormous love that he has received from all those who have watched the movie. 

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