Dhak Dhak: The Feminist Road Trip Film We Needed

Dhak Dhak Is The Feminist Road Trip Film Bollywood Desperately Needed

That a film like Dhak Dhak even exists is a major win, writes Swetha Ramakrishnan.

Dir: Tarun Dudeja

Cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza

Playing in: Theatres

BOLLYWOOD is so starved of films around female friendships and/or films around women taking a road trip that the bar is quite low. This is not to say that Dhak Dhak is a bad film – far from it – but it’s important to acknowledge before we get into the nitty gritty of this particular title that there’s a severe shortage of mainstream Hindi movies written and performed with the intent of employing the female gaze. And so, that a film like Dhak Dhak even exists is a major win.

Think about it: four women of different ages and backgrounds band together to embark on an ambitious road trip on motorbikes, against all odds. The journey is tough — from Delhi to Leh (Khardung La), and it’s being undertaken on a vehicle typically associated with men and masculinity (in Bollywood’s biggest films about motorbikes, the Dhoom series, the women played typically stereotypical roles). All four are equal protagonists, with their own subplots and character-enriching arcs; however, the emotionally tougher scenes are given to Ratna Pathak Shah (rightfully so) and Fatima Sana Sheikh. And the cherry on the cake is that the friendship between the women doesn’t come easily or immediately, and therefore the bond seems more authentic when it finally gets established.

The story begins with Sky (Fatima Sana Sheikh), who is an auto influencer and makes viral videos on bikes and gadgets. After a personal mishap, she breaks up with her partner with whom she runs her YouTube channel and her views start to drop. In a bid to revive her online career, she plans to visit an auto festival in Barcelona but she needs financial backing for it. Her financiers ask her to prove herself by first delivering a viral story — and this is where she meets Manpreet aka Mahi (Ratna Pathak Shah). Mahi is a 60-year-old firecracker who is shackled by her retired life. She wants to rise above her role as homemaker and grandmother, and she finds a way when she wins a Bullet bike in a coupon lottery. She decides to learn how to ride a bike and travel to Khardung La to prove that she still can be “a heroine” at her age.

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