‘Dhaakad’ Review: Kangana Packs A Punch, But Predictable, Failed Plot Makes You Want To Sleep. ‘So Ja Re’
Our Dhaakad B-town controversy queen Kangana Ranaut took the country by storm when she announced a woman-centric spy action film. And ever since then, Dhaakad has been making headlines and we’ve all been holding our breaths and waiting to watch Kangana play the role of a badass spy who can fight like no other. I mean, after all, Bollywood really hasn’t given us many women in action roles. We’ve always seen men fighting the baddies while the woman just stands on the sidelines looking like a helpless damsel in distress. But Kangana Ranaut decided to change the game. Directed by Razneesh ‘Razy’ Ghai, Dhaakad is produced by Deepak Mukut and Sohel Maklai under the banners of Soham Rockstar Entertainment, Sohel Maklai Productions and Asylum films. The film starring Kangana Ranaut, Arjun Rampal, Diya Dutta, Saswata Chatterjee and Sharib Hashmi, is all set to hit the big screens near us on May 20. And I decided to take a peek at the film and share a review.
The Plot
Dhaakad follows the story of a highly trained, skilled and deadly field agent, Agent Agni, played by Kangana Ranaut who has been given a mission to gather intel and eliminate an international criminal, a human trafficker, Rudraveer (played by Arjun Rampal) and his partner in crime Rohini (played by Divya Dutta). Rudraveer has been living under the radar for nearly 10 years while his partner has been at the forefront handling his criminal deals and business. And in order to find out all about this international criminal, Agent Agni goes on a power-packed action-adventure. Trust me when I say this, this film is really power-packed with Kangana Ranaut cocking and loading her guns and pumping bullets into her enemies without blinking an eyelid. But that’s not all, the actress can also be seen slicing the baddies open with knives and swords as well as riding a bike. TBH, Kangana has done just about anything and everything that any Hollywood action hero has done in a typical spy action film, from using high-tech gadgets to going undercover to all the kickass action.
Also Read: ‘Dhaakad’ Kangana Ranaut Supports Mahesh Babu Over His ‘Bollywood Can’t Afford Me’ Comment
The Cast And Characters
Kangana Ranaut aka Agent Agni: We’ve known this actress for her stellar acting skills and she lives up to the expectations but I can’t help but say this – there is no character arc here. Agent Agni is nothing more than a killing machine who fails to grow or developed throughout the film. And TBH, her character’s backstory is extremely predictable and it brings nothing to the table. Apart from all the action and the blood, Agent Agni really doesn’t put any effort to appeal to the audience. In short, this character is kaafi pheeka apart from when she’s picking up weapons of all kinds to kill anybody and everybody. FYI, in case you end up forgetting Kangana’s backstory or miss out, don’t worry there will be multiple flashbacks of it to remind you.
Arjun Rampal aka Rudraveer: We haven’t seen Arjun Rampal in the role of a heartless antagonist but trust me, he manages to slip into his role with absolute ease. His performance and his hold on his character is impressive throughout the film. But not only does Rudraveer seem to have a half-baked, aadhi adhuri backstory but he also seems to be missing a character arc much like Kangana’s character. TBH, he hardly does anything substantial in the film apart from looking menacing. And it seems like an absolute waste of a good actor. All the mehenat and kickass acting skills that Arjun Rampal displayed were a total waste of talent in a hopeless story.
Divya Dutta aka Rohini: We’ve known Divya Dutta to be a natural actor and if her past work wasn’t proof enough, this one is. She managed to bring so much more to the table even with a role that is missing a backstory. She’s literally the only one who seems to be making an effort to elevate the hopeless story but totally fails, no thanks to the writing.
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Saswata Chatterjee aka Handler: The actor puts his acting skills on display but his grey character is missing all the grey, story, arc and meat. If I were to put it in simple words, it was a wasted effort.
Sharib Hashmi: The actor has proved that he’s a great actor with his work in the past but this one is not one that he’d want to put on display. He plays his role well but TBH, that failed Bhopali accent is just plain annoying.
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Also Read: Kangana Ranaut Reveals The Hilarious And Very ‘Dhaakad’ Reason Why She Can’t Get Married
Final Verdict
Writing And Direction: TBH, I cannot even begin to explain all the things that went wrong here. The writers were so busy writing the action sequences that they forgot to give substance to this story, oh wait, hold on. My bad, they completely forgot to write a story. The entire film was about Kangana Ranaut beating the baddies without any reason. Also, even after watching the film, I have no idea who Agent Agni works for because the writers seem to have forgotten that part of the story. And then again, what can one expect a director to direct when he has nothing but action sequences. This espionage thriller lacks an engrossing story and paired with a chaotic screenplay it will just make you wish you’d chosen to sleep at home instead of watching it. And if that isn’t enough, the best song of this film, the lullaby ‘so ja re’ (that will give me a few sleepless nights after the traumatic experience of watching Dhaakad) will remind you again and again and again and again (add a few hundred agains here) to just go to sleep, in different voices might I add. A minimum of 5 different actors and characters have taken a moment of their time to sing this lullaby for all of us to drop dead in the theatre and get our money’s worth instead of wasting time and effort watching Dhaakad. FYI, minutes into the film, you will know that Razy Ghai tried his very best to sew some random action sequences together to make sense of the film but he failed, in an epic manner, might I add. But we must give it to the makers for not trying to digress the film with an overpowering romantic sub-plot.
What I Feel: TBH, I need to take some time to express my pain after the community mourning session that watching this film turned out to be. The only interesting thing that happened in that theatre last night was all the people passing hilarious comments while we all sat through two hours of absolute torture. The film just played with the same old ghisi piti story of a spy on a mission to kill, only to find out that he (she, in this case) has a personal connection with the antagonist and then she goes on a mission to seek revenge while doing her job. Waahh, humne toh socha hi nahi tha aisa ho bhi sakta hai. Sure, Dhaakad is not a film for the faint-hearted but apart from all the killing and slicing and gunfights, it really doesn’t have much to offer.
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IMHO, this film was more disappointing than disappointment itself. TBH, I could’ve just finished the review of Dhaakad in about 2 sentences but after the traumatic 2 hours that I wasted watching this film, I had to do much more. But if I were to sum it all up, there’s a dialogue in the film where Kangana says, “Jism se ruh alag karna business hai mera.” And well, that’s pretty much all this movie is about. Kangana Ranaut’s Agent Agni basically kills EVERYONE, almost all characters are killed by our controversy queen in the film. But wait, there’s more. There’s this one song that will reappear in the film on several occasions that seems to have a deep connection with Kangana’s character’s past but it will make you wish you’d made better decisions in the past and not watched this film. The number of times I have heard the song ‘so ja re’ in the film will haunt me for the rest of my life and dare anyone tell me to sleep like this again, I might just go Dhaakad on them! If I could go back in time and just spend those two hours of my life sleeping, I’d be in a better place, really.
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I’m giving this film 1 star out of 5 for two reasons, the first one being the impressive acting skills showcased by all the actors and the second one is the song ‘She’s on fire’ which is currently playing on repeat on my playlist and also because it’s really the only less traumatic thing about this film. Given a choice, I’d wish for all memories of the film to be erased from my mind but alas! If you’re a fan of wrestling and dog fights and watching pointless violence with no backstory or reason, go ahead and watch this film, or don’t.
