Dil Dhadakne Do: Who's the vilest character of them all?

At first glance, Dil Dhadakne Do looks like another escapist travelogue from the master of the genre, Zoya Akther, but it quickly reveals itself to be a dark gritty character study.

Usually, when Bollywood tackles the dysfunctional family, we get generally likeable people with a few eccentricities — too loud, too uptight, etc. The Mehra family, in contrast, consists mainly of borderline sociopaths. Yet, the fact that these people are truly damaged makes them more relatable and endearing, not less. The movie is not blind to their flaws, it explores them. We do not need to pretend these people are perfect, we need to understand how they got to where they are. Without condemning or condoning any character's choice, Dil Dhadakne Do has compassion and insight rare in big budget, ensemble movies of this kind.

Kamal and Neelam Mehra embark on a cruise amidst an idyllic Mediterranean setting, surrounded by their friends and family on the occasion of their 30th anniversary.

Instead of a fantasy vacation, however, it underlines their bleak reality. They only arrange the trip to distract from the fact that Kamal Mehra's empire is on the verge of bankruptcy (probably due to extravagant expenses like this one). The invited guests are not people the Mehra's want to spend time with but people they need to impress. What would be aspirational in another movie comes off like a cautionary tale here. It's impossible to drool over the lavish interiors, gorgeous scenery and designer clothing without constantly being reminded that all this outward luxury simply masks the grating emptiness of our protagonists' lives. The opulence is for the benefit of on-lookers; no one is actually enjoying this journey. The cruise is so suffocating that by the end, our lead characters have to literally escape on a lifeboat.

Thankfully, the resolution while hopeful, is not saccharine. They don't suddenly become wonderful people, they simply gain some perspective and self-awareness. Having a primary focus on perception and presentation takes a toll on your soul and it makes sense for all these characters to exist at various levels of moral ambiguity.

With that in mind, this review ranks the characters from least awful to most.