Shiddat Movie Review: Sunny Kaushal-Radhika Madan's Star-Crossed Love Story Drowns In Superficial Writing

Story

Shiddat begins with a young diplomat Gautam (Mohit Raina) narrating how he met his fiancé Ira (Diana Penty) at their engagement party. 'Agar tum mujhe Paris mein nahin milti tum Amsterdam mein milti. Duniya ke kissi bhi galti, kuche, gaon, ucchake se tumhein mein dhund nikalka kyunki tum meri kismat hoon,' Gautam's cheesy filmy lines catches the attention of a free-spirited wedding crasher Jaggi (Sunny Kaushal) who makes it his mission to find his own 'shiddat'wala pyaar amid pursuing his hockey dreams.

A chance meeting with a swimmer Kartika (Radhika Madan) at a national sports camp makes him realize that she is the 'one' for him. Over some swimming lessons, shaking a leg and a little roll in the hay, Jaggi and Kartik part ways. On the other, the once madly in love couple Gautam and Ira now settled in Paris, are seen battling marital discord. The latter feels Gautam only sees shades of blue in his life while what she perceives is a riot of colours. Until Gautam and Jaggi's interwined fate sets a chain of events which makes Gautam realize that "Kuch log apne pyaar ko paane ke liye duniya ke sabse lambe rashte pe nikal padte hai jaise ki aur kuch logo ko chaar kadam ka raasta bhi bahut lamba lagta hai hai."

Direction

Kunal Deshmukh who earlier helmed films like Jannat and Tum Mile takes up two parallel narratives to explore the various shades of love. As one of the dialogues in the film goes as, "Pyaar kissi ke liye gehra bhawar hai le dobta hai aandhi hai toofan hai shola hai aur kisi ke liya pyaar naav jaisa hai paar laga deta hai. khamoshi hai, nazm, thandi hawa ka jhoka", the filmmaker uses two couples Jaggi-Kartika and Gautam-Ira to set the stage for his story-telling. While the first one is a typical filmwallah pyaar, the second leans more towards the realistic tone. Does he succeed in tugging at the heartstrings? Well, only partially.

The problematic story-telling in the initial portions of the film and the superficial writing sinks this ship before it reaches its shores. What could have been a modern, progressive love story is simply reduced to its clichéd version as it zig zags its way Punjab to Calais to London, leaving the outing engaging only in parts and pieces.

Performances

Sunny Kaushal lends an earthy vibe to his character of the lovestruck Jaggi which is endearing and annoying in equal parts. Playing the lover boy does seem to come easy to him. It would be interesting to watch how the young lad plans his way ahead from here. Radhika Madan brings in the right amount of spunk and sass as Kartika. Mohit Raina adds some gravitas to his character of Gautam though one wished Kunal had explored his character more. Diana Penty makes her presence felt even in her limited screen time.

Technical Aspects

Amalendu Chaudhary makes excellent use of the color palette to paint the contrast between love stories of Jaggi-Kartika and Gautam-Ira. A Sreekar Prasad's editing goes fine with the narrative.

Music

Manan Bhardwaj's soothing vocals make the title track a blissful listen. 'Barbaadiyan' is definitely going to be a hit with the party animals for its peppy beats and catchy lyrics. These two are our picks though the rest of the songs are also hummable but need repeated hearing for recall value.

Verdict

Kunal Deshmukh's Shiddat begins on a promising note but ends up as a pale cross between a sappy romance and a realistic love story. In one of the scenes in the film, a character equates life to a four-course meal and advises, "Don't stop at the salads. Savour the appetisers, the main course and the desserts, too or else you will deprive yourself from variety of life. Sadly, Shiddat fails to satiate your taste buds.