‘Dhadak 2' director Shazia Iqbal: ‘Caste is everywhere, not just in rural India'

Scroll.in

a day ago

Shazia Iqbal started her journey in films as a production designer before moving into direction with the short film Bebaak (2019). Iqbal makes her feature debut with Dhadak 2, starring Triptii Dimri and Siddhant Chaturvedi.
Dhadak 2 is the Hindi adaptation of Mari Selvaraj's acclaimed Tamil movie Pariyerum Perumal (2018), which explored caste oppression through a law student's love story. After a bruising run-in with the censor board, Dhadak 2 will be released with cuts on August 1 in cinemas.
The reported changes include a line that replaces '3,000 years of backlog will not be cleared in just 70 years' to 'The backlog of age-old discrimination will not be cleared in just 70 years.' Discriminatory words such as 'chamar' and 'bhangi' have been muted and replaced with 'junglee'. Dalit writer Om Prakash Valmiki's poem Thakur Ka Kuan (The Thakur's Well) was reportedly dropped, as also was a couplet by Tulsidas.
Iqbal spoke to Scroll about adapting Pariyerum Perumal for a Hindi audience and the persistence of caste. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.
Pariyerum Perumal is rooted in a specific milieu. How have you adapted the film for Dhadak 2?
I co-wrote the adaptation with Rahul Badwelkar. We've set our version in a typical Hindi heartland, tier-two city. The original film was more rural, but as we researched, one thing that struck us was the portrayal of caste as a rural issue.
That didn't sit right with me. I come from a Muslim background and even within my extended family, I've seen caste slurs being casually used. I grew up in a city and I've witnessed caste discrimination there too. Caste is everywhere, not just in rural India.
So we decided to set the film in an urban landscape, where caste is camouflaged. We were very conscious of maintaining the rootedness and authenticity of the environment. I worked very hard to achieve that through world building.
What does Hindi cinema get right and wrong about caste? Does your film hope to correct this portrayal?
We are just beginning to re-engage with caste in our films. If you look back, Hindi cinema in the 1950s and 1960s was unafraid to talk about caste and class. Films like Naya Daur and many post-Independence stories were openly political. Most of our references came from that era but by the 1980s, this started fading. The 1990s were dominated by love stories that rarely reflected India's layered social realities.
Yet, love stories in a country like ours – diverse in caste, religion, language – can't be separated from identity. For instance, Mani Ratnam never made caste films, but identity was always embedded in his love stories. That kind of storytelling has largely disappeared.
Now, the narrative seems to be, let's make Gen Z content, as if younger audiences can't handle or aren't interested in these issues. But Gen Z lives in this society too. They navigate the same caste, class, gender intersections. So why can't cinema reflect that?
Caste and class are deeply intertwined. When you only show stories from a particular class or community, you end up erasing a vast section of India. Perhaps that's why many people don't relate to mainstream cinema anymore – it doesn't represent them.
I'm not claiming to change the industry, but I do feel strongly about representing these realities in my work. When I create characters, I don't start with how tall they are. I start with their milieu. And milieu is a product of caste, class, religion, gender, sexuality – all of it.
Our film talks about gender too, which wasn't explored as deeply in the original. That's one of the things we consciously brought into the adaptation.
How significant is the gender element in Dhadak 2?
That was one of the early conversations with the producers – that we were going to see our female character through a certain lens, we will give Vidhi a voice and agency. I think when they assigned the film to me, they expected me to do it because they had also seen Bebaak.
We didn't want a token strong woman trope, the kind who does one action scene and is labelled empowered. Real women are complex, as are men, and we aim to show that nuance. Through Vidhi, we talk about how society sidelines women's choices, especially regarding caste and love.
The Central Board of Film Certification demanded 16 cuts. Has that compromised the film?
Not really. The caste and identity elements are so embedded in the story that they can't be erased. Some words were replaced but the emotion, message and soul remain intact. It was my job – and the producers' – to protect that.
Why did you cast Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri?
I was involved in casting from the very beginning. It was never a situation where the production house dictated the leads. Dharma – and especially Karan Johar – were very collaborative.
We considered a few actors. Someone from the development team suggested I watch Inside Edge because Siddhant had played a character from a backward caste. I found him to be a natural performer. He immediately connected with the story. He fit the role of Neelesh perfectly.
Triptii was also a suggestion. I watched Bulbbul and saw something in her – a quiet depth. She felt right for Vidhi.
At the time of shooting, Animal hadn't been released. After that, she became a star overnight. But for me, she was always the girl next door – relatable, middle class, very real. When I met Triptii in person, her sincerity made it clear that she could embody Vidhi.
How does Dhadak 2 fit into your filmmaking journey?
I'm still at the beginning of my journey, although I've been part of the industry for a while. Production design gave me a deep understanding of visual storytelling. The transition into writing and then directing came quite organically.
During the process of making Bebaak, I discovered how filmmaking is as much a journey of self-discovery as it is about storytelling. You often begin with a clear idea but through the development, writing, production and even post-production, you evolve – and so does the film. That experience helped shape my voice, though I'm still discovering it.
I gravitate toward themes that question the status quo, stories that highlight societal issues without necessarily being overtly serious. Even if I were to make an action-comedy, it would still carry an undercurrent of questioning injustice or inequality.
It's important that films with strong messages reach the masses. It's not about choosing between festivals and reach – both matter. I want to tell stories that are accessible and meaningful. Films like Sairat show that you can be commercial and hard-hitting. We've seen that with Shyam Benegal too. We need to reclaim that kind of cinema.
Play