Dhak Dhak produced by Taapsee Pannu was released today on October 13, 2023. The film starring Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi. The film has been produced by Taapsee Pannu along with Pranjal Khandhdiya under their banner Outsider Films. One of the producers, Pranjal opened up about the relative challenges faced by them and how Taapsee is upset over the lack of promotions. He also shared some revelations about the film.
Why didn’t Taapsee Pannu act in the film?
Pranjal in an interview as quoted by Pinkvilla said ” Dhak Dhak is a challenging subject on many levels. Creatively, logistically and most importantly financially. We loved the premise and we instantly connected. The belief with which we started Outsiders Films was to ensure that we lend our goodwill, expertise and might in making such films that wouldn’t be easy to make.”
He further adds “The story had come to Taapsee for her to act in it, but that’s when Taapsee and I discussed it and decided to rather take up production than just for Taapsee to act. By doing so we managed to promote new talent. The collaboration with various talents adds more value in what we do and hence we decided to cast the best talent suited for each of the characters.”
Why is Taapsee upset over the lack of promotions of this film?
Pranjal reveals that “We as independent producers are dependent on our relationship with studios. They fund us, provide us the extra bandwidth to make our films and ensure the right release of the film. Sometimes pressure mounts due to market conditions and trends which makes things difficult for non star led films. Taapsee had a certain expectation from this film in terms of its marketing & release plan, which didn’t go through. Hence I believe she has taken the call. It’s unfortunate.”
What are the challenges that the makers faced during the filming of Dhak Dhak?
Firstly began with the challenges of casting the actresses. He said , “We had multiple challenges. The challenge of casting four women, especially for a senior age character who would be willing to ride a bike.”
He further begins, “We had the logistics challenge of covering 6 states, 1200 kms on road, across changing weather and terrain. We started in Noida at 50 degrees and ended up in Khardungla at -2 degrees. We witnessed a sand storm, thunder shower, heavy wash out rainfall, hail storm etc. while on the journey.”
Then he spoke about the medical challenges the team faced because of shooting at such a high altitude. He revealed “The extreme weather and constant on the go shoot had several health challenges. Rising altitude, lack of oxygen, blood pressure fluctuations, fatigue, body aches etc caused almost 1/3rd of the crew to be sick at one point in time. The Khardung La shoot had Ratna ji suffering from high blood pressure and Fatima from an extremely low pressure.”
He didn’t stop at the medical challenges. The team unfortunately had to go through the financial challenges as well as it is not easy to keep up with them when you’re shooting a road trip film. He said “Financial challenges for a road journey film are always on a higher side. Unexpected hurdles, local administration issues, safety and health provisions for the entire unit, catering to a unit of 300 people 3 times a day in a remote mountainous region can all add up to a big production cost”.
