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Star Cast: Deven Bhojani, Aarjav Trivedi, Tejal Panchasara, Kumud Mishra
Director: Abhishek (Shah)
What’s Good: The powerful message and Deven Bhojani’s award-worthy performance
What’s Bad: Some avoidable melodrama in the second half
Loo Break: Not really!
Watch or Not?: Definitely
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 126 Minutes
User Rating:
A man named Ashok Patel (Deven Bhojani) is waylaid, drugged, and left in the Gujarat countryside. A taxi driver, Kano Kathiawadi (Aarjav Trivedi), finds him, and since he has no money and not even proper clothes (they too have been stolen!), he offers to escort him to Saraspur, Ashok’s destination. Ashok tells him that his life has been absolutely unique, and Kano replies that he would be extremely interested in hearing his story.
On the way, Ashok reveals that he is a multi-billionaire, with assets worth a thousand crore in rupees, thanks to his business in the Gulf country of ‘Numai.’ He adds that his real name is Dahyabhai Patel and has no family. Kano is impressed, amused, intrigued, and also skeptical about various aspects of his story.
Dahyabhai says he has returned to Gujarat to make amends for being the complete scoundrel he has always been. He had cheated, ill-treated, and deceived a whole lot of family members, relatives, friends, and many others (like police officers); ill-treated his wife, sister, and more; betrayed his friend; and decamped to America, from where he sent a fake report of his own death.
He has moved to the Gulf and amassed untold wealth (Rs. 1000 crore, we are told!) by not necessarily honest means but has always treated employees, associates, and strangers inhumanely, cruelly, and with appalling arrogance. And then he had a heart attack and was told that he needed a heart transplant. Using his connections, he got a compatible heart ahead of his turn, and after he regained consciousness, he apologized for his earlier misbehavior to his cardiac surgeon, stating that he had never said ‘Sorry’ to anyone before in 65 years!
Dahyabhai now wants to repair all the damage he has done, and a curious Kano decides to stay on with him and even help him. Getting increasingly enamoured by the older man’s fascinating saga (How can a mere heart transplant change a man like him?), Kano even suggests that Dahyabhai’s story should be made into a film, which Dahyabhai negates, as it would be “very scary”!
On the repentant man’s agenda is first to find his wife, Urmila, and sister, Ganga, with both of whom he was brutally physical as well. The Saraspur denizens, who remember his vile deeds, forgive him only when he donates a crore for its development. An old temple priest, who had also been his teacher, directs him to the Catholic village postman, Agnelo, for some clue to Urmila’s present whereabouts. This ingeniously conceived sequence is a highlight.
There are further twists and turns in the storyline, more and more flashes of Dahyabhai’s savagery and bestiality, and then he gets the news that Urmila was last known to be in the holy town of Dwarka. This after he makes amends with his old friend, Gaffar (Kumud Mishra), whom he had callously betrayed, and also sets right his sister Ganga’s son’s wedding, to which the girl’s side is vehemently opposing on grounds of caste. And Dahyabhai had then opposed and beaten up Ganga as she had wanted to marry someone from a different caste!
The final double-twist comes when he locates Urmila. And revealing it would be a deed as criminal as Dahyabhai’s worst misdeeds! Enough to say that it is perhaps the perfect ending for a man who seeks redemption for his misdeeds in life.
Dhabkaaro Movie Review: Script Analysis
Director Abhishek has himself penned the story, screenplay, and dialogues, and has fully capitalized on his unique protagonist to deliver a whopper package of emotions, though laced with some avoidable melodrama in the second half. The first half is fantastic and absolutely endearing, as Kano reacts with, teases, and subjects a wry, unshakably remorseful Dahyabhai to pertinent, crisply sarcastic comments as his story unfolds. The humorous undercurrent stays with you even as you are watching how a vicious monster became so unwaveringly compassionate, penitent, and kind-hearted!
The second half also works, though at a couple of places we get a stretched feeling.
Dhabkaaro Movie Review: Star Performance
If Deven Bhojani, that legendary multi-talent, does not get an award for his work here, it will be much more than an injustice to him—it will diminish any award’s credibility! Deven is magnificent beyond measure, and he is superb not just as the churlish ‘Ashok,’ but also in his attempt to do repairs in fractured relationships and be the ‘best human’ rather than the ‘human beast’! Incidentally, the Gujarati word ‘Dhabkaaro’ means a heartbeat.
Aarjav Trivedi is the perfect foil as Kano, and in a cameo, Tejal Panchasara as Urmila leaves an indelible impact. The rest of the cast is effective. I particularly liked the actor playing the cardiac surgeon and Ami Trivedi in her brief appearance as Ganga, Dahyabhai’s sister.
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Dhabkaaro Movie Review: Direction, Music
Abhishek is the writer-director and producer of Hellaro (2019), the first Gujarati film to win the National Award for Best Feature Film, and he proves his expertise once again with another message-oriented saga. Multiple messages percolate from the film, not just about how a human being must not behave toward his nears, dears, and strangers, but also about friendship, gender equality, caste discrimination, and more.
Abhishek’s special triumph lies in conceiving and sketching a man who has no equal for his inhumanity and yet seeks redemption with passion. Yes, we will overlook the few flaws in the narrative, which can be discussed but not written here! —in the larger cause.
Mehul Surti’s background score and songs are impressive. The Sufi qawwali impresses, as does the song about the swan pecking at pearls. Surti’s compositional phrasing and musical grammar carry a definite impression of the sweetness and pathos of Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s musical style, or I am much mistaken!
Dhabkaaro Movie Review: The Last Word
I would recommend this theatrical release for a watch. This heartbeat is as interesting as it is instructing and illuminating!
Three and a half stars!
For more recommendations, read our Movie Review here.
Dhabkaaro Trailer
Dhabkaaro released on 01 May, 2026.
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