- Dhadkan (2000) is a loose Bollywood adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
- The film features a love triangle where Anjali marries wealthy Ram despite loving Dev from a lower class
- Unlike the novel, Dhadkan emphasises emotional growth and reconciliation over revenge and destruction
Before Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi bring stormy romance back to the moors in Wuthering Heights, Bollywood had already offered its own answer to Emily Bronte's tragic love story, and it looked very different.
What's Happening
- Back in 2000, Dhadkan arrived with sweeping melodies, heightened emotions and a love triangle that became one of the most talked-about of its time.
- The film was described as a loose adaptation of Wuthering Heights, but while it borrowed the central conflict of class and lost love, it rewrote the emotional destination entirely.
- Emily Bronte's only novel, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, is known for its bleak intensity. Heathcliff and Catherine share a powerful but destructive bond.
- Social hierarchy separates them when Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, a man of wealth and stability. Heathcliff returns years later, hardened and wealthy, driven by vengeance.
- The story spirals into suffering, obsession and emotional ruin. Catherine dies. Heathcliff deteriorates. Revenge overshadows reconciliation. The novel closes on unresolved grief rather than closure.
- Bollywood's take, however, chose a different route.
How Dhadkan Reshaped The Narrative
Directed by Dharmesh Darshan and starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty, Dhadkan retains the core premise of class-divided lovers.
Anjali (Shilpa) and Dev (Suniel) are in love, but her wealthy father rejects Dev because of his modest background and compels her to marry Ram, a rich and composed businessman.
The parallels to Bronte's structure are evident. Yet from this shared starting point, the film pivots.
Unlike Catherine, who remains emotionally tethered to Heathcliff even after marriage, Anjali gradually falls in love with her husband. The transformation is not framed as submission but as emotional growth.
Ram does not demand affection; he earns it through patience, dignity and respect. Songs like Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se reinforce this slow emotional shift.
Dev returns later in the film, wealthy and embittered, echoing Heathcliff's dramatic reappearance. He attempts revenge by targeting Ram's business and disrupting Anjali's new life. For a time, the narrative leans toward tragedy.
But instead of spiralling into destruction, Dhadkan moves toward reconciliation. Anjali makes a clear choice in favour of her marriage. Ram maintains composure rather than hostility. Dev eventually recognises the futility of obsession. Rather than being consumed by revenge, he lets go and finds a new beginning with Sheetal.
In Bronte's novel, revenge defines Heathcliff's later years. In Dhadkan, redemption defines Dev's arc.
A Long History Of Adaptations
Bronte's novel has inspired numerous screen versions across countries and decades. The earliest film adaptation dates back to 1920.
The 1939 Hollywood version, directed by William Wyler and starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, remains one of the most recognised interpretations and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Indian cinema has revisited the story multiple times. Arzoo, starring Dilip Kumar, was loosely inspired by the novel. Hulchul followed with its own indigenised version. Dil Diya Dard Liya, again starring Dilip Kumar opposite Waheeda Rehman, directly adapted core elements of Heathcliff and Cathy's dynamic into an Indian setting.
Internationally, adaptations have included Luis Bunuel's Abismos de Pasion (1954), Andrea Arnold's 2011 film version, and now the upcoming 2026 interpretation by Emerald Fennell.
