MELBOURNE, 7 September 2023: Watching ‘Haddi’ (means ‘bone’ in English) with its noir thriller ambience, is entering a dark and violent slice of life. Like the early American crime-dramas, Haddi is effusively violent and with a unique identity as the protagonist. The Delhi, Noida, Loni… playing field laced with the characters existentialism runs through the film.
Haddi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a transgender joins a criminal gang led by an aspiring gangster-cum-upcoming politician (Anurag Kashyap) in India’s National Capital Region (NCR), engaged in a bizarre trade. Murder, pillage, revenge, swearing , darkish special effects, uplifting background music and songs create a typical Anurag Kashyap type movie directed by Akshat Ajay Sharma.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as the transgender facing enormous identity challenges gives a stellar performance. His facial expressions are exceptionally powerful and amazing. His character reflects what he himself describes as – “…ek janwar hota hi – wahi rishata sabse mazboot hota hi” (There is an animal in every human which is the strongest in him). Anurag Kashyap as Pramod Alawat (criminal-politician) shows his acting talent, buttressed by his directorial experience. In the aggressively violent scenes he excels, looks so different from his smiling and witty style in real life, which I observed recently at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2023. Obviously, acting has to fulfil the need of the script, and he does it ably.
This is director Akshat Ajay Sharma’s debut movie. He has theatre background and has worked has way up up from being an Asst. Director in Mukkabaaz to being a Creative Assistant and Associate Editor in Manmarziyan (2018) & Lust Stories. He has been a long time associate of Anurag Kashyap.
Anurag Kashyap told the Hindustan Times, “I am proud of Akshat and the effort he put forth to make the film what it is. For many years, Akshat worked with me as an AD (assistant director), and I had the good fortune to be cast as an actor in his first film as a filmmaker. Haddi is dramatic, raunchy, passionate, filled with drama and retribution, and unlike anything you have ever seen. ”
The film will start streaming from 7 September 2023 on Zee5 Global
Directed by: Akshat Ajay Sharma; Produced by: ZEE Studios; Produced by: Sanjay Saha, Raadhika Nanda; Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Haddi Anurag Kashyap, Pramod Alhawat, Mohammad Zeeshan, Ayyub Irfan, Ila Arun, Revathy Amma, Saurabh Sachdeva, Inder Rajesh Kumar, Satto Shridhar Dubey, Chunna Saharsh Shukla, Jogi…
I give it 3 & half stars out of 5.
