Their hearts beat for Rajasthan

Set against the picturesque backdrop of the colourful locations of Rajasthan, Dhadak has a rustic and cultural feel, which has already created a buzz in the Pink City. Shot at locations like Udaipur and Jaipur, one of the most romantic songs of the year, the title track of the movie, was launched in Jaipur on Wednesday at World Trade Park. 

The perfect shooting locale 

When director Shashank Khaitan thought of making a film on this story, the first location he could think of was Rajasthan. “I am a Marwari Rajasthani and I’ve spent a lot of time in Udaipur and Jaipur. You’ll get to see a lot of locations that you haven’t seen in other movies. I wanted to base this movie in Rajasthan itself. Since I've been here, I understand the people. I wanted to shoot it here since there was that familiarity with the place,” he expressed. 

Feels like home 

Debutantes Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter are also mesmerised with the place. While Janhvi suggests that the laal maas here is the world’s best, she finds people of the desert state extremely sweet and cooperative. “This place is so rich in culture. While we were shooting here, I visited Johari bazaar and wanted to bargain as I shopped a lot of things. It was really hot and I went to the other side to have kulfi and pakoras and I also made friends with the kulfi vale uncle. It was like fully ghar basau,” Janhvi shared. “The culture of the place is a very important part of the movie and I now recall every moment of the shooting. Rajasthan has become like a home to me and I'm glad I'm here for the launch of this song,” she added. 

Ishaan Khatter also had the fondest memories exploring Rajasthan while shooting. “The people, the locations, everything is just amazing here. Amber Fort is so beautiful,” he said. The upcoming superstar shared that Dhadak was meant to happen before Beyond The Clouds, “There were lots of ideas, hopes and aspirations attached to it. I had an easy equation to gel with everyone. It's not only a different film, it was a different scale, a different culture that we were exploring.”

Friday Fever

Reminded of her mother Sridevi’s iconic acting skills, Janhvi sighed as she shared that she wished her mother liked the entire movie and not just parts or scenes of it. “During the shooting, I was just performing how the director wanted me to. I was in no competition with my mom,” she said. Friday fever grips every actor but Janhvi is more excited than nervous for the release of Dhadak on July 20. “Right now, I'm just excited because I can't control how the film does, I can just hope that it does great and is appreciated. There’s just a very positive feeling because we’ve made this film with so much love and hard work and it’s very personal for all of us. Other than that, the only thing that I’m nervous about is that these are characters that we’ve created — the characters of Madhukar and Parthavi. We have to to hand these characters over to the audience and I am very protective of them,” she said.

Portraying innocence 

“When you are picturising a film on two young lovers, it’s very important to showcase the purity, sincerity and innocence of the love and also strongly portray the emotion that they can't live without each other. These were the only things that I had in mind,” said the director. “My first thought was that Ishaan and Janhvi are not star kids. They’re just kids and they had dreams and aspirations, and I had to direct them. They were nervous and vulnerable, but it was great fun working with them. I've had the most loveable time with them. They’re actually like my kids,” he added.