‘Dhadak 2 is a punch in the gut': Anurag Kashyap hails Karan Johar's film, compares it to works of Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra

Indian Express

13 hours ago

After critics hailed Karan Johar's Dhadak 2, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap took to Instagram to praise the film and debutant director Shazia Iqbal for helming a bold narrative that addresses the prominence of caste and class discrimination in the country. He compared the film to classics by legendary directors like Raj Kapoor and Bimal Roy and applauded Shazia for making a film that reflects 'what mainstream cinema was meant to be.' The film stars Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri in lead roles.
In a long Instagram post, Anurag wrote, 'The film captures the conversation that we avoid on a day to day basis. This is what mainstream cinema was meant to be, and this is what great filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, K A Abbas, B R Chopra, Yash Chopra and so many used to do. We forgot to make mainstream films of social relevance. They got relegated to independent art house cinema.'
Anurag Kashyap also compared Dhadak 2 to the hard-hitting and compelling social cinema often produced in the South Indian film industry. Dhadak 2 is a remake of the critically acclaimed Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal, which follows the story of Nilesh, a Dalit law student, and his relationship with Vidhi, a classmate from an upper-caste family. The film portrays how Vidhi's family begins to harass Nilesh after discovering their affair.
A post shared by Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap10)
Lauding the makers for retaining the essence of the original film in the remake, Anurag Kashyap wrote, 'This is what Tamizh cinema and so much of cinema from South still does. A mainstream adaptation of Periyarum Perumal, without losing the essence of it, Dhadak 2 is a punch in the gut. My driver and old friend of 16 years Narayan ji who went with me wept at the end of it and hasn't stopped talking about it since. An extremely brave and powerful film from @dharmamovies. See it for yourself. I won't say much. Congratulations to the whole team. @prashant316 @animeshpanwar @sanyukta_mohta and others that I don't know. Well done team. @somenmishra @karanjohar.'
Dhadak 2 opened at the box office on Friday with Rs 3.5 crore. It earned Rs 3.75 crore on Saturday, bringing its total domestic collection to Rs 7.25 crore.