Set in 1950s Kutch, Dhaad follows Pranjivan, a government official who quits his job and visits the village of Ghelo, a friendly stranger he met at Mandvi beach. There he discovers that Ghelo is in truth a childless bandit who rules over three captive wives and a drought-stricken stretch of land. Adapted from Dr. Jayant Khatri's short story, the film watches its trapped characters endure a world that offers oppression but no easy way out.
Dhaad is one of the rare Gujarati films that reaches you in a dialect most of India never hears, the Kutchi-Gujarati of the arid Kachchh borderland. Adapted from Dr. Jayant Khatri's 1950s short story by the novelist Vinesh Antani, it sat unreleased for close to seventeen years because the funding kept drying up, and it finally arrived in cinemas in 2018 with a cast that has no business sounding this native. Kay Kay Menon, Nandita Das, Sandeep Kulkarni and Raghubir Yadav are all outsiders to the region, yet each one carries the dialect and the dust of the place with real conviction.
The story follows Pranjivan, a government clerk who walks away from his post and takes up an open invitation from a warm stranger named Ghelo, only to learn his host is a childless bandit lording over three captive wives and a parched patch of earth. Menon plays Ghelo as jovial in one breath and menacing the next, and critics singled out the way he never resolves into a simple villain. Writing for Beyond Bollywood, Mayur Lookhar handed it four out of five and read the women's resignation as a metaphor for Kutch itself, drought-struck yet stubbornly alive. Das and Yadav supply the human texture around him, and Vanraj Bhatia's spare score, built on the region's twin-flute folk sound, was among the veteran composer's final works.
This is slow, dry, deliberately unglamorous cinema, and it will test anyone who wants incident over mood. But its patience is the point. Kutch does not flow through every frame so much as seep into it, and the film earns its ache honestly.
Verdict
A patient, earthy Kutchi-Gujarati drama where a superb Kay Kay Menon and an authentic sense of place reward viewers willing to sit with its slow, dry ache.
What works
- Kay Kay Menon's unnerving, unresolved Ghelo
- Outsider cast nails the Kutchi-Gujarati dialect
- Vanraj Bhatia's folk-rooted final score
- A rooted, authentic sense of Kutch and its people
What holds it back
- Slow, dry storytelling that tests patience
- A few strong actors feel underused
- Bleak, deliberately unresolved emotional world
- Modest production and visual polish
Cast & crew
Writers: Vinesh Antani (screenplay), Jayant Khatri (original story)
Music: Vanraj Bhatia
Cast: Kay Kay Menon (Ghelo), Nandita Das (Monghi), Sandeep Kulkarni (Pranjivan), Raghubir Yadav (Jooslo), Sujata Mehta (Dhanbai), Sameera Awasthi (Ratni)
Producers: Kirti Khatri
Watch the trailer
Play the official trailer on YouTubeMore Drama Gujarati films
Frequently asked
Is Dhaad worth watching?
A patient, earthy Kutchi-Gujarati drama where a superb Kay Kay Menon and an authentic sense of place reward viewers willing to sit with its slow, dry ache. Kevu Che rates it 4 out of 5.
What is Dhaad about?
Set in 1950s Kutch, Dhaad follows Pranjivan, a government official who quits his job and visits the village of Ghelo, a friendly stranger he met at Mandvi beach. There he discovers that Ghelo is in truth a childless bandit who rules over three captive wives and a drought-stricken stretch of land. Adapted from Dr. Jayant Khatri's short story, the film watches its trapped characters endure a world that offers oppression but no easy way out.
What is the IMDb rating of Dhaad?
Dhaad (2018) holds an IMDb rating of 7.8 out of 10.