Dhadak 2 brings caste discrimination to the centre of a romance, but its impact is more assured in its subject and performances than in the way its story develops. Shazia Iqbal’s 2025 Hindi film follows law students Nilesh and Vidhi as their relationship meets hostility shaped by caste and family pressure. The result is serious and often affecting, though critics disagree about whether the romance and crowded conflicts give the film the force its subject demands.
What is Dhadak 2 about?
Nilesh, a law student from an oppressed caste, falls in love with Vidhi, an upper-caste classmate. Their relationship draws hostility and humiliation from Vidhi’s family, while the film follows the pressures caste hierarchy places on their lives. Its concerns include campus experience, violence and family honour; the story stays focused on the couple rather than serving as a survey of inter-caste relationships or Indian campuses generally.
The British Board of Film Classification identifies the film as a Hindi-language crime, drama and romance title, directed by Shazia Iqbal. Its UK cinema listing gives a release date of 1 August 2025 and an approximate runtime of 142 minutes. Reviewers have described it as a remake or adaptation of the Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal, rather than a continuation of the first Dhadak (BBFC; The Times of India; Hindustan Times).
Where the film finds its strength
The strongest case for Dhadak 2 is its willingness to centre caste oppression in a mainstream romance. The film’s most effective moments, according to Dhaval Roy’s review for The Times of India, make the injustice concrete rather than leaving it as background context. Roy also praises Siddhant Chaturvedi’s performance, while India Today’s Prachi Arya calls the performances compelling and the subject brave.
#1 Best Overall
That performance-led strength matters because the film asks viewers to follow both personal attachment and the social forces bearing down on it. The couple’s emotional legibility is essential: without it, the political conflict risks becoming an argument the characters merely illustrate. The reviews suggest the film is most persuasive when those elements meet in specific moments of humiliation or pressure.
Why critics disagree about its impact
The central divide is not whether the subject matters, but whether the filmmaking turns it into a fully developed drama. Roy rated the film 3.5/5, praising its performances and effective depictions of injustice while finding the romance underdeveloped, some material repetitive and the resolution abrupt (The Times of India, 31 July 2025).
Rank #2
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Shubhra Gupta rated it 2.5/5 in The Indian Express. She recognizes the film’s engagement with casteism, classism, feminism and gender identities, but finds the lead romance somewhat performative and the film less searing than it might have been (The Indian Express, 1 August 2025). Arya’s India Today review similarly praises the subject and performances but argues the film stops short of the bold statement it could make. Her judgment is explicit: “The film tries hard to mirror the brutal truths of caste oppression, but ultimately stops short of saying anything truly bold” (India Today, 1 August 2025).
Hindustan Times critic Rishabh Suri identifies a structural reason for that unevenness: the film takes time to establish what it wants to be, and its field of conflicts can feel crowded. He finds it clearer in the second half, when caste discrimination comes forward (Hindustan Times, updated 31 July 2025). Taken together, the reviews point to a film whose political and emotional ambitions are apparent, but whose romantic line, pacing and resolution do not convince every critic equally.
Rank #3
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Is it worth watching?
Dhadak 2 is a reasonable choice for viewers interested in a romance that confronts caste hierarchy directly, especially if they value the performances and the film’s attempt to make social pressure part of a couple’s everyday story. It may be less satisfying for viewers expecting a tightly focused love story or an unrelenting drama: the romance and multiple conflict threads are precisely where several critics find the film less forceful than its subject promises.
Rotten Tomatoes displayed a 63% Tomatometer from 16 critic reviews and a 75% Popcornmeter from 50+ audience ratings when its page was accessed on 8 October 2026. These are changeable aggregator snapshots, not fixed measures of quality (Rotten Tomatoes).
Rank #4
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Content guidance and classification
The BBFC’s UK cinema advice flags strong violence. Its content notes also mention beatings, caste discrimination and bullying, threats, language, brief mild sexual references, implied suicide and references to suicide, injury detail, grief, and emotional scenes involving bullying and caste discrimination. The advice contains spoilers and may be useful to viewers who want to assess those themes before watching. This is UK classification guidance, not a universal age rating (BBFC).
Separately, India’s Central Board of Film Certification record lists the title as DHADAK 2: SONG BAS EK DHADAK, in Hindi, with category UA 7+ and a Mumbai certificate dated 11 July 2025. That Indian certificate category is distinct from the BBFC’s UK content advice (CBFC).
Where to watch
Rotten Tomatoes listed Netflix as a subscription viewing option when its page was accessed on 8 October 2026. Streaming catalogues vary by country and can change, so check Netflix in your region for current availability (Rotten Tomatoes).
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