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Shazia Iqbal on Dhadak 2: “Caste Is Everywhere, Not Just in Rural India”

In a July 2025 interview, Dhadak 2 director Shazia Iqbal discusses adapting Pariyerum Perumal, placing caste in an urban Hindi heartland setting, and giving Vidhi agency.
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For Dhadak 2, filmmaker Shazia Iqbal places a story about caste in an urban Hindi heartland city rather than treating caste as a rural-only subject. “Caste is everywhere, not just in rural India,” she told Udita Jhunjhunwala in a Scroll interview published July 13, 2025. Iqbal describes that setting as a way to question familiar Hindi-cinema framing, while also adapting a story about caste oppression and love for a different language and milieu.

Why does Dhadak 2 move the story to an urban Hindi heartland city?

Dhadak 2 is Iqbal’s feature debut and a Hindi adaptation of Mari Selvaraj’s 2018 Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal, which follows a law student’s love story amid caste oppression. Iqbal co-wrote the adaptation with Rahul Badwelkar and describes its setting as a typical tier-two city in the Hindi heartland.

In the Scroll interview, Iqbal says her research challenged the idea that caste belongs only to rural settings. She says she has witnessed caste discrimination in cities, and that the film’s urban location reflects this understanding. This is Iqbal’s stated perspective on the story and its setting, not a statistical measure of caste discrimination.

How does the Hindi adaptation change the source film’s milieu?

Iqbal’s account emphasizes localization rather than a claim that the two films are interchangeable. Pariyerum Perumal provided the source story; Dhadak 2 relocates its social world to a Hindi heartland city. Iqbal says milieu is foundational to characterization, and connects the film’s characters and setting to caste, class, religion, gender, and sexuality.

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The interview does not establish a full scene-by-scene comparison or a comprehensive critical assessment of either film. It does make clear that the urban setting is part of Iqbal’s argument about how caste is represented, not merely a change of backdrop.

How significant is gender in Dhadak 2?

Iqbal says the adaptation brings gender further forward and that she wanted Vidhi to have voice and agency. She describes avoiding a token “strong woman” approach: the aim, in her account, was to make the character’s agency meaningful within the film’s relationships and social milieu.

That intention sits alongside the film’s attention to caste and other aspects of identity. The interview records Iqbal’s approach, but does not provide enough detail to make a broader claim about how every element is realized on screen.

Can a film about caste also reach a broad audience?

Iqbal says she wanted Dhadak 2 to be accessible and meaningful to broad audiences. She points to films such as Sairat as examples of work that can combine commercial reach with hard-hitting subject matter. Her point is that accessibility and social seriousness need not be opposites; the interview does not make a box-office or audience-impact claim about Dhadak 2.

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What does the interview say about the CBFC cuts?

The Scroll interview reports that the Central Board of Film Certification demanded 16 cuts and describes wording changes and removed material. The count and edit details are reported by the interview; they are not independently confirmed here against a primary CBFC record. Iqbal’s comments therefore should not be treated as a regulator’s published account of the certification decision.

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How did Iqbal move into directing?

In the interview, Iqbal says she began in production design and moved into direction through her short film Bebaak (2019). She also describes being involved in casting from the beginning and collaborating with the producers. These are her accounts of her career path and the film’s development.

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