DHANAK (U)
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Cast: Hetal Gada, Krrish Chhabria, Rajiv Lakshman, Vibha Chibber, Vipin Sharma
Running time: 116 minutes
Dhanak is like that first drop of rain on an earth parched for long. Like that happy gurgle from a giggling baby. Like that eye-pleasing rainbow after the heavy clouds clear up.
Dhanak, Hindi for rainbow, is a reminder that innocence and goodness still exist in this world. A world in which two siblings — bound by their unconditional and unflinching love for each other — set out on a mission that isn’t guided by selfish reasons, a quest in which they don’t know where they are heading, but their journey itself turns out far more important than the destination.
Similar in tone and treatment to a Majid Majidi film — that Dhanak leitmotif of the two kids trudging through a Rajasthani desert instantly evokes the poster of Children of Heaven — Dhanak’s premise is feel-good enough to bring on a smile immediately: 11-year-old Pari (Hetal Gada) dotes on younger brother Chhotu (Krrish Chhabria), the two almost bound at the hip ever since he went blind a couple of years ago. Growing up in a tiny village in Rajasthan, the orphaned siblings have to deal with ruthless relatives and taunting peers. But, one day, Pari -— a major Shah Rukh Khan fan even as Chhotu goes ‘hud hud dabangg dabangg’ over Salman Khan, right down to the faux lapis lazuli bracelet around his wrist — spots a ray of hope when she learns that Shah Rukh, the face of an eye donation drive, is shooting for a film in Jaisalmer, some
300km away.
Determined to fulfil her promise to Chhotu — that she will make him see a rainbow one day — Pari, clutching his little hand, sneaks out of home with the plan to walk the length and breadth of Rajasthan, with the unwavering hope that her screen idol will help her make good her promise to her brother. Along the way, the two meet a number of people — all essentially good and always ready to help the siblings move an inch closer to their destination — with director Nagesh Kukunoor using the expansive desert as a metaphor for the large-heartedness of its people.
Dhanak is the kind of film that makes you sit back in your plex seat, a smile on your face, as you watch Pari and Chhotu navigate their way through the desert. The film abounds in Rajasthan-related cliches — hitchhiker foreigners to wandering gypsies, colourful turbans to handlebar moustaches — but Kukunoor makes each of the characters the two meet, a god-woman who was once an actress to a man walking through the world on a mission to spread peace and love, distinctly memorable.
The lack of a central conflict may make you shift restlessly as soon as the film hits the 100-minute mark — at 116 minutes, Dhanak is 20 minutes too long and peopled with too many fringe characters — but the two kids ensure that you stick with the film right till the end, even though there isn’t a pop-up cameo from Shah Rukh — or Salman. While Hetal delivers the more assured performance, Krrish is a natural, delivering caustic lines — Chhotu actually reminded us of Al Pacino’s acerbic Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman — with remarkable ease.
Dhanak may not be your first pick this weekend, and understandably so. Do crowd the theatres for Udta Punjab, but also let this little big film soar.
