Avneet Kaur’s Tiku has shades of Kangana Ranaut – Beyond Bollywood

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, too, finds resonance with his character Sheru. After a promising start, director Sai Kabir’s film gets a bit too deep into Bollywood’s underbelly.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️ ( 2 / 5)

By Mayur Lookhar

At a time when his personal life is in a bit of crisis, Nawazuddin Siddiqui gets to play the romantic hero. This was a distant dream when such artistes entered Bollywood. Having been rightly educated by Siddiqui on the true conventional hero, we are no longer drawn to the cliched, gorgeous, chocolate boy, sexy Bollywood romantic hero. A Nawazuddin Siddiqui imbibes the physicality of the conventional Indian male. His success inspires millions to dream. ‘And that is a fact’.

There was Jogira Sara Ra Ra [2023] earlier and now Siddiqui gets to play the conventional Indian romantic hero in the Kangana Ranaut-produced film Tiku Weds Sheru [2023]. 

Siddiqui has often spoken about his struggle period, which he claims lasted years, where he survived doing odd jobs [security, chemist shop worker and just about anything]. Who better than him to play the struggling Shiraz Khan Afghani aka Sheru? Unlike the bogus claim in Jogira Sara Ra Ra, Siddiqui’s Sheru truly pulls up many jugaads (tricks) to survive in the big bad world of Bollywood/Mumbai. His jugaads here are more to please his dreamy young wife Tasleem aka Tiku [Avneet Kaur]. The young lady from Bhopal chose to marry the elderly looking Sheru, all because she could meet her beau in the city of her dreams.

The celluloid dreams take a blow on the first night in Mumbai when Tiku discovers that she is possibly pregnant. The newly wed Tiku runs away next day only to endure more setbacks. She returns to her husband that marks the true beginning of this relationship.

Though a film, it’s the individual struggles, idiosyncrasies of the leading characters that gets us curious. There are shades of Siddiqui in Sheru. Then one can’t help but see shades of Kangana Ranaut in Avneet Kaur’s Tiku.  During the trailer launch, Ranaut didn’t hide that somewhere this story resonates with humble outsiders like her, who have big dreams in their eyes, but often get crushed. 

Tiku Weds Sheru. Here’s a title that’s very much in the Tanu Weds Manu mold. It lulls you into believing that the Manikarnika Films production is a rom-com. There is romance, some comedy but as a whole, Tiku Weds Sheru is a dark satire that exposes the shady side of show business. Time and again, Kangana has opened up about her early days of struggle, the alleged exploitation, particularly at the hands of a seasoned actor.  Let’s make it clear. Sheru is not any Aditya Pancholi.

Ranaut, writer-director Sai Kabir, co-writer Amit Tiwari draw you to Bollywood’s shady lanes under the guise of a love story. At 112 minutes, the Tiku Weds Sheru experience can be described into two parts. We were deeply engaged in the opening 50 minutes where it appeared to be following the rom-com trajectory. Other commitment forced us to shut the TV and resume the movie eight hours later. No twist per se, but the screenplay plunges deeper into the dark side of Bollywood. The conflicts, struggle would resonate with the countless Tikus and Sherus, but it could be off putting for the traditional Bollywood family audience.

Muslim protagonists are far and few in Bollywood and risky in the current social, political environment.  The early representation of the community is refreshing as Sai Kabir, Kangana stay clear of the stereotypes – terror, mafia. One cannot be blinded to any social ills, but cinema ought to make an outreach to the civil population of the particular community.  Note, it is no minority appeasement but a much-needed outreach. That it comes from a Kangana Ranaut is all the more welcome.

However, the bad eggs among the minority create havoc in Tiku and Sheru’s little paradise. Déjà vu? The smart viewer will smell the balancing act by mere virtue of having two Muslim protagonists. Add a gay local Maharashtrian politician to the mix of antagonists and no secular, Left-liberal can point fingers at Ranaut. Smart thought, but the wheels come off for Tiku Weds Sheru after 50 minutes. Pin that on the descending screenplay, its chaotic drama.

One moment Tiku and Sheru are inebriated, strolling on the beach at night, sharing their first kiss. The next scene sees Tiku playing around with her infant, who looks few months old. Didn’t the editor raise an alarm on how quickly this marriage has progressed? From that moment onwards, Tiku Weds Sheru takes a turn for the worse. It’s disappointing as there was potential for this story to develop into an engaging romantic satire. The two genres often don’t gel well.

The one factor that binds this film is the precocious talent of Avneet Kaur. Ranaut had disclosed how she was to do this story with the late Irrfan Khan. Six-seven years ago, it was announced as Divine Lovers.  The Manikarnika Films founder had felt that she was now too mature to play this young character. Tiku’s journey underlines the difficulty Ranaut, casting director Mukesh Chhabra had in finding the right talent. After nearly giving up hope, destiny has brought Avneet Kaur to Ranaut. 

Tiku’s story has some resonance with Ranaut’s early journey. Avneet Kaur is like this chubby miniature Alia Bhatt. She’s cute, a divine beauty but Kaur also has this endearing impetuosity of a Geet – Kareena Kapoor’s much loved character from Jab We Met [2007]. In once scene, Tiku’s sister Sana [Khushi Bharadwaj] remarks that her sister is looking like Kareena. [Jeez, both Bharadwaj and Kaur look like real siblings].

There are beauties who romance the lens. But there are rare souls like Kaur where the camera falls in love with them. Kaur seamlessly slips into the impetuosity, the vulnerability of her character. One moment, she would spit on your face, and then next moment, she’d plant a kiss. Tiku and Sheru’s first meeting is anything but smooth. The young girl gingerly walks out to the living room. Sheru is instantly smitten by her beauty. He takes his hand out to greet her, and the lady shoots back, “Kya? Yeh” with the most the disgusting look. She instantly turns down this marriage proposal. Now this ‘kya, yeh‘ (What? This) was quite the expression of many who initially mocked at this on-screen pair.

Few scenes, and a telephonic conversation [with her boyfriend] later, Tiku accepts the marriage proposal. In Islamic weddings, it is usually the groom who gives a ‘mahr’ to the bride’s family but here Tiku’s father pays Rs10 lakhs as the family wants to get rid of the problem child. Her brother and uncle are dominating not afraid to lay hands on her. Uncle Mumtaz [Maqsood Khan] partly resembles notorious UP gangster, politician Mukhtar Ansari.

Tiku is child-like in talking about films. The lady herself can’t predict what she could do next. All through the moments of despair, one is intrigued by the emotional reaction, rather the lack of it. Caught in a pickle, she does accept an indecent proposal. She is all stone-cold when her modesty is violated. She comes home, then bawls while taking shower. Next morning, the steely look is back on her face. Isn’t that a bit too quick? We assume that one is usually traumatized for days after giving in to indecent proposals. The messy screenplay in the latter half is also to be blamed. But it is the sheer intensity of Kaur that prevents this film from taking a hard nosedive.

Despite the age-gap, both in the real and the reel, we sensed a fine chemistry between Siddiqui and Kaur. The complex conflicts separate the duo, and that is where the viewer loses interest.  However, just like Kangana in Gangster [2006], Kaur leaves a lasting impression in her maiden film in a leading role.

The mixed bag screenplay though is consistently appealing in its production design, and limited but engaging background score.

Sai Kabir had conceived this story years ago. Sai’s last film Revolver Rani [2014], starring Ranaut, was a total disaster. He endured a tough phase then where his health suffered. It would be unimaginable to think that there weren’t some changes when Ranaut revived interest in the film around 2020-2021.  The messy writing, plot also reveal Kabir’s frailties as a director.

Sheru’s journey partly rekindled memories of Sanjay Mishra’s Sudheer in Kaamyaab [2018] – a glorious tribute to the henchman/jr. artistes.  On the sets, Sheru charms you with his style, feeble but endearing English. He’s pretty confident about his abilities, often ending his vanity sentences with a ‘and that is a fact’ line. Actors make for great liars and Sheru certainly doesn’t disappoint here. His failed dreams resonate with the Sudhirs of Bollywood, but the dark side also distances you from Tiku. Though usually dependable, Siddiqui goes a bit off the boil in the business end. 

The profanity is fairly acceptable in the film’s milieu. Jeez, even Kaur is cute in her cuss words.  However, producer Kangana Ranaut, Sai Kabir perhaps get a bit carried away in the tumultuous journey of their leading characters. The finale action completely throws off the film into some gang war. A Siddiqui in a drag is a dreaded sight. After the rollercoaster ride, the Tikus, the Sherus have our empathy, but not enough stars. And that is a fact.