Spoiler(s) alert!
The story follows hockey player Jaggi (played by Sunny Kaushal) who falls in love with swimmer Kartika (played by Radhika Madan). Initially, Kartika is uninterested, but Jaggi is persistent and very likeable. So, they become friends and then they become more.
But, reality interferes with budding love when it is revealed that Kartika is set to get arranged married in London. She is too pragmatic to give “love” a real chance, but as mentioned above, Jaggi is persistent and very likeable.
If I am being completely honest, Shiddat resides on the very edge of being labelled problematic. Jaggi is mostly a nuisance, who does not understand the meaning of the word “no”.
The only reason why this is a romantic movie rather than a true-crime drama is that the writers (Shridhar Raghav and Dheeraj Rattan) absolutely refused to make Kartika a victim in any capacity. She consistently gives as good as she gets, and it’s fun to watch her do this!
Is It A Rom-Com Or Not?
Director Kunal Deshmukh clearly set out to make a movie that was an emotional roller coaster and by god, did he succeed! Because there are parts of this movie that feel like they belong to separate genres altogether… Wasn’t it supposed to be a rom-com?
Is it a sports film? Is it a drama? It’s all-in-one and it’s way too long! You will inevitably find yourself scrolling through your social media at some point, but just when you start to get bored with the movie, it pulls you back in.
If there is one highlight of the movie, that absolutely everyone must witness, it is how compelling Sunny Kaushal is as Jaggi—the man is devastatingly talented and dominates every frame that he occupies.
He aces choreography, comedic timing, romantic banter as well as intense drama, effortlessly. It is perhaps too early in his career for such praise, but in this particular movie, it is well deserved.
Radhika Madan, on the other hand, is remarkably unimpressive, apart from some sequences in the second half of the movie. She spends the majority of her time on screen being weirdly stilted and stuttering.
It might have been an acting choice, but only served to make her character seem… plastic? Those expecting a strong show, after her earlier work, will almost certainly find themselves disappointed.
Shiddat: A Social Commentary?
Mohit Raina and Diana Penty are well cast, but they provide a B plot that is more irritating than it is intriguing. They had their moments on screen, but they weren’t the most compelling couple in the movie.
It’s a little bit of a tragedy when in a cishet romance, featuring two straight couples, the two men have more chemistry with each other than they do with their lovers on screen.
The music by duo Sachin-Jigar and the cinematography of Amalendu Chaudhary have similar qualities as the rest of the film— pleasant but entirely forgettable.
Shiddat is an unapologetic romance in an increasingly unforgiving time. It is not always realistic nor pleasant. It endeavours to provide some very uninformed, though well-intended commentary on international emigration/asylum-seeking, however, it is entirely a one-time-watch.