Nawazuddin, Anurag save messy revenge saga

‘Haddi’ begins on a promising note, giving an unfiltered glimpse of the lives of transgender persons. But too many sub-plots and loud scenes weigh the film down along the way.

The story follows a young Hari as he transitions to become Harika (Nawazuddin) and is helped by Revathi Amma (Ila Arun) and her ‘gharana’ (community) in this journey of new identity and acceptance.

Land-grabbing goons enter the scene. Headed by Pramod Ahlawat (Anurag), a goon-turned-wannabe politician, the group hurts Harika’s new-found family. Harika is incensed. A tale of killings, revenge and retribution soon follows and the film starts going downhill.

The film’s pace is inconsistent — it is slow at some points and too rushed at other points. The back-and-forth between flashbacks and the present story also leaves the viewer confused. But the cast makes up for the film’s many flaws.

Anurag is convincing as a gleeful villain. He shines in a scene where his character is wearing noise-cancellation earphones to block the screams of people dying around him. In fact, he and Nawazuddin are the film’s saving grace. The latter juggles the role of a transgender person, ‘Haddi’, the killer, and an undercover sifting through cadavers with such ease that one wonders why he doesn’t get such meaty roles often. It’s also welcome to see the protagonist get grievously hurt rather than pack a punch anytime the baddies come after ‘Haddi’. It makes the character relatable.

Ila is also compelling as the loving matriarch of her community. Zeeshan’s Irfan is an activist and Harika’s love interest and he delivers his part well. Another actor who does well is Saurabh Sachdeva. He gets the body language of his transgender character as Pramod’s sidekick right.