#TikuWedsSheru review: Inexplicably chaotic film doesn't know where to go
Sai Kabir's Tiku Weds Sheru was released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday. Great decision, considering how horrendous the final product is; if it were released theatrically, I am assuming some people would have chosen to simply walk out after 20 minutes. Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur, the film feels too dated and jaded and has almost nothing going on for it.
It focuses on a married couple's journey in Mumbai
As the title implies, the film follows the story of Tiku (Kaur), a girl from Bhopal who sees marriage with Sheru (Siddiqui) as a way out of her suffocating life where she's quite literally caged by her patriarchal, orthodox family. For Sheru, a junior artist in Mumbai, the marriage becomes an avenue for easy money, and he's drawn by Tiku's charm and beauty.
The film has no sense of direction
Tiku Weds Sheru is infiltrated by several problems, but the most striking of those is how unsure it is of the path it wishes to take. Does it wish to comment on how marriages can be both liberating and enslaving for Indian women? Does it seek to comment on the struggle of outsiders in the industry? It wishes to do everything, eventually doing nothing.
Sloppy screenplay, cardboard characters don't help it much either
TWS has a premise that never quite develops into a full-fledged story that you can root for. The characters are mostly, if not completely, cardboard characters and the supporting cast is indistinguishable from one another. The idea of people trying to make it big in the glittery world of Mumbai is not new, and TWS doesn't even attempt to try its hands at novelty.
Performances: Kaur is good, but what's happening to Siddiqui?
Kaur, who portrays an aspiring actor, quite fittingly comes alive in front of the camera and often tries to save the film, not letting herself be overpowered by her much more experienced co-star. Siddiqui, however, is far from being his best self here; looking at his last few releases, he seems to be in a rut, squandering his once unparalleled talent on mediocre projects.
Its usage of 'bold' words is absolutely unnecessary
TWS wants you to believe it's too modern, and to do so, it stuffs itself with absolutely needless expletives left, right, and center. Sure, unparliamentary words must be used if the film demands it, but here, it feels like they exist only for the sake of it, thus sticking out like a sore thumb in each dialogue. TWS, eventually, reduces itself to a spoof.
The humor doesn't land, and conflicts are resolved too quickly
TWS hangs by a thread throughout; its serious scenes are interspersed with (unsuccessful) humor, and conflicts, at times resolve way too quickly, implying the dispirited, unimaginative nature of the plot. With characters undergoing tonal shifts every few minutes, the screenplay isn't ripe enough to give the actors much to work with, and the film, in itself, seems 20 years too late.
Positive: 'TWS' briefly comments on patriarchy, toxic masculinity
There is one scene in this otherwise middling film that hits the nail on its head: the representation of Tiku's patriarchal household where she is abused, beaten up, and never given a voice. The aforementioned scene underlines effectively how masculinity plays out differently everywhere, with her brother thrashing her, but her father standing up for her. It's a brief scene, but it says much.
We would not recommend wasting your time on 'TWS'
It's almost as if nobody got a brief about the dialogues, the script, or anything else, and everyone kept improvising as they went along. TWS uses every age-old trick in the book to try to hit some cords and entertain, but it never reaches the right path, and actually loses it. With an archaic storyline and a weary screenplay, TWS doesn't deserve your time.
