2023 has been a path-breaking year for trans representation across mediums in India. We have seen important stories about trans characters occupying the center stage in very important television shows and films. Trans actors like Trinentra Halder Gummaraju and Ivanka Das left a strong impression amongst the viewers of Made in Heaven and Ghoomar, respectively. Even A-listers like the ex-Miss Universe Sushmita Sen stepped forward to portray the real-life transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant in the latest web series Taali. Haddi is a Zee5 original film. The protagonist of the film is also a transgender.
Haddi is also a revenge saga. The gore and bloodshed, along with the graphic images will remind you of a slasher. There is one particular mass murder scene in the film that will definitely remind you of a Quentin Tarantino film. By the time you are done with Haddi, there shall be multiple dead characters on screen. Anurag Kashyap plays the role of the villain in this revenge saga. Directed by Akshat Ajay Sharma, the film is largely influenced by Kashyap’s school of filmmaking. The background score of Haddi has the same vibe as delivered by Sneha Khanwalker in Gangs of Wasseypur.
But, Haddi is flawed. Even if we keep aside the debate regarding cis heterosexual males playing transgender characters on screen, the messy and sometimes disengaging screenplay destroys the film. The transgender community is fetishized and the stigma surrounding them is only intensified by this film. Therefore, it can easily be said that this revenge drama with a social context has failed to serve its purpose.
The Plot:
The film begins with a small-town rookie smuggler who deals in dead bodies (that he steals from morgues and burning ghats) and travels from Prayagraj to Delhi. This smuggler played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a trans woman dressed like a man called Haddi. Since she occupies the center stage, it is only justified that the film would be called Haddi.
Haddi gets roughed up by a gang of crooks (a band of transgenders and crossdressers) she wants to join. Haddi proves to be worthy of joining the gang and is welcomed by their leader Inder Bhai (played by Saurabh Sachdev). Inder works for a local goon-turned-politician named Pramod Ahlawat ( played by Anurag Kashyap). Besides being a Landshark and a promoter, Ahlawat and Inder secretly smuggle bones extracted from stolen dead bodies to the black market. Haddi becomes a key role player in their secretive business. Inder’s minions ( played by Rajesh Kumar, Shreedhar Dubey, and Saharsh Shukla) do not have any knowledge of this trade of bones or ‘Haddi’ (what bones are called in Hindi).
Haddi apparently joined the gang to further his income. But a few minutes into the film, the viewers become aware of the covert revenge motives of Haddi. When Haddi brutally murders an associate named Malkan the viewers begin guessing the real motivations behind Haddi’s actions. The sexual identity of the character is revealed when a group of transgenders appears to attack Pramod Ahlawat. Haddi disappears and quickly reappears dressed as a woman. She pushes the limit to save Ahlawat. Her actions immediately drew her closer to Ahlawat. Soon it is revealed that Haddi is actually Harika. At a young age, she was almost lynched by the people in her village. After this, she was somehow saved and sheltered by a Gharana (what trans communities are called) in Noida.
Revathi Amma ( Ila Arun ) played a pivotal role in shaping Harika’s identity. She fell in love and even married Irrfan (Mohammed Zeshaan Ayub). But her happiness was short-lived. Revathi Amma and all her sisters at the Gharana were gunned down by Pramod Ahlawat’s men. After this incident, Harika assumed the name Haddi and infiltrated his order to avenge the death of her beloved sisters and Revathi Amma. In order to achieve her target, she pits the bosses against the minions. What results out of this is a gory tale of murder, bloodshed, and body horror, which can be too much for some viewers to handle.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the Wronged Goddess:
The best part about Haddi is its acting performances. The background score keeps on reminding us that Nawazuddin Siddiqui is not just a rookie gangster but as it goes he is the “Gale mein atki haddi” (the bone stuck in the throat). Nawazuddin Siddiqui portrays the role with intensity and passion. His expressions can give you chills! As Harika, he is soft, tender, and full of love as well.
The problem arises when we see these transwomen raised to the position of goddesses. Their position is fortified through the use of mythological allegories and backstories. As seen in the snippet given in the trailer, Haddi justifies how strong the revenge and hatred of these transwomen are. They have been marginalized by the society and treated almost like untouchables. Nobody wants to mess with them, and they get cursed for it.
Haddi only further marginalizes the community. It shows transgenders to be violent, charged with masculine energies (when it comes to revenge), and does not do much to integrate them into the social fabric of our milieu.
Haddi will remind you of Nawazuddin’s Ganesh Gaitonde from Sacred Games. The obvious comparison to an immortal cockroach who can live through a nuclear apocalypse. Maybe that is why Haddi survives five gunshots on her back and still resurrects to take her final revenge.
Noida: The Stock House of Nuisance:
Noida is a part of the National Capital Region. Its foundation was laid in 1975, during the period of Emergency. Pramod Ahlawat played by Kashyap reminds us that Noida was created in order to clear out the nuisances of Delhi.
The shady alleys of Noida allowed the smuggling activities of people like Ahlawat to flourish. During his days as a promoter, Ahlawat brutally murdered a Gharana of these transgenders. This particular sequence is the most remarkable few minutes in the film. The ace director Anurag Kashyap seems to have a gala time playing the villain. He is that sort of villain who plugs in his headphones as his goons carry out a massacre. He is every bit as convincing as the bad guy. Much like Wasseypur in Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, Noida becomes a character in the story.
The Film Has No Lasting Impact:
Debutant director Akshat Ajay Sharma was an assistant director with Anurag Kashyap on his projects like Manmarziyan and Sacred Games. The clear influence of Kashyap’s cinema can be seen in the director’s choices of camera angles and shots. The lighting in the film will definitely refresh the scenes from Raman Raghav 2.0 in your memory. The background music starkly opposite to the content played on screen brings back scenes from Shriram Raghavan’s Agent Vinod (where a mass shootout was shot with Raabta playing in the background).
The exchanges between Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anurag Kashyap are a treat to the eyes. Nawazuddin beating the hell out of Kashyap somehow stands as a metaphor for art destroying the artist (since Anurag Kashyap was the director responsible for catapulting Nawazuddin Siddiqui into stardom). The casting of these roles is absolutely bang on.
But the screenplay co-written by Akshat along with Adamya Bhalla is far from being exceptional and perfect. It is messy. The subplot and the main plot overlap. A huge chunk of the film plays in the form of a narration with a graphic montage of flesh being separated from the bones playing on the screen. At one point, the film which is about 2 hours and 14 minutes long feels very disengaging. Nawazuddin Siddiqui remains in character throughout and delivers a solid banger. But his talent and efforts deserved better writing. Haddi is now streaming on Zee5.
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