After turning a producer in 2022, actor Taapsee Pannu backed Tarun Dudeja’s Dhak Dhak. Now, during the second edition of Expresso, she revealed that releasing the film was not easy as the co-producers left her in lurch after getting their share of money. 

Taapsee turned producer for the first time for director Ajay Bahl’s horror thriller Blurr. When it comes to Dhak Dhak, the film was released in theatres in October, 2023, but failed to make an impact at the box office.

Left in lurch

In the conversation, she admitted the co-producer’s behaviour frustrated her. And praised actor Dia Mirza for helping the team.

She said, “If it’s not a big budget film, studios recover the money before the film hits theatres. Now that they have made their money, they just make a token release. They don’t even want to spend on Prints and Advertising (P&A). Exhibitors feel that since its no mass masala movie, why spend for electricity and popcorn at al. So they give us odd shows, theatres etc. Then it’s abruptly removed in the middle of the week. At that time I was so frustrated… We started showing the film 4-5 days after the film’s trailer came out. People started coming to us saying they’ll help promote it. But I still didn’t have people standing next to to me as producers and co-producers who said ‘we did as much as we could and leave the rest to the audience’. They instead said, ‘Why bother? It’s already made its money and now it will find it’s audience.'”

She mentioned that the whole incident was heartbreaking. But she was proud that the cast stood by the film.

“The four lead women, they stood by the film. Dia stepped in and provided us a space in her house for interviews with the ladies. She called over journalists to her place for the interviews. I have never seen many actors taking ownership of a film like that. I was so proud to be a part of that film,” she added.

About the film

Tarun Dudeja's road movie documented the motorbike journey of four women, from varying backgrounds and ages, to Ladkah. Since the trailer of the film was dropped by the studio only four days before the release, co-producer Taapsee had explained that it was only a formality on the studio's behalf to release it in theatres as part of its deal with Netflix India. Owing to lack of positioning, Dhak Dhak went unnoticed in theatres, but found an audience on OTT eventually.

Along with Dia, the film also features Sanjana Sanghi, Ratna Pathak Shah, and Fatima Sana Shaikh. Apart from Taapsee’s Outsiders Films, Dhak Dhak had BLM Pictures and Viacom18 Studios on board as co-producers.

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