The title Tiku Weds Sheru hints at the fact that this is, in fact, Tiku’s story. So it’s not extremely surprising when the second half focuses entirely on Tiku’s ambition and the exploitation of struggling actors.
When the film opens, the audience is introduced to Shiraz Khan Afgani (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) aka Sheru who is a junior artist in Hindi films and is a pimp on the side for the bigwigs of the industry and influential politicians.
Sheru travels to Bhopal to meet a prospective bride, Tasneem (Avneet Kaur) aka Tiku who is much younger than him, though nobody seems to have any qualms about that. She sees this marriage as one of convenience that will take her away from her abusive family and to the ‘city of dreams’ Mumbai so she can become a star.
The wide age gap between the two leads seems like a plot device till this point – of course nobody in an abusive, patriarchal setting objects to a young girl being married off to an older man, of course she has secrets of her own and must deal with the societal consequences of the expectations society places upon her.
The issue arises when the screenplay twists this incredibly astute premise into a romance; which isn’t surprising considering Bollywood’s notorious history with the age gap.
Both Tiku and Sheru have secrets of their own and naturally, it affects their relationship. Sheru turns to a world of crime to keep up the farce he has built for Tiku who, in her own words, dislikes poverty. They dance in kitschy nightclubs, visit expensive resorts, and breeze through the city in a gaudy car, all to culminate in an awkward scene on the beach that is positioned to be romantic.
Siddiqui held incredible promise as one of the actors who attempted to break the Bollywood mould of featuring hypermasculine heroes across genres. As Sheru, the actor proves yet again that he has acting chops but the issue arises from the fact that we have seen him do this before. It would be tough to differentiate between Sheru and his character Jogi from his recent outing Jogira Sara Ra Ra (which I enjoyed much more).
The 21-year-old Avneet Kaur is the real show stealer Tiku Weds Sheru. Despite having to perform within the confines of a trite screenplay, Kaur’s act is convincing and spirited. Her act might be the only reason you manage to resonate emotionally at all with the film when everyone around her is stuck in caricatured writing.
The film’s plus point would be its musical score. It is very difficult to not be swayed by Shreya Ghosal and Mohit Chauhan’s vocals and Aman Pant does an effective job at the background score. One thing that does stand out about Tiku Weds Sheru is the production design and attention to detail. Tiku and Sheru look right in place in the story and even the surroundings match the circumstances of the film perfectly.
The little details like Tiku posing like a young starlet in her wedding photos and Sheru having a director’s chair at his computer table add to the characters’ otherwise one-dimensional personalities.
A story about a wide-eyed ingénue entering the dark underbelly of a film industry, rife with sexploitation and lies, is one that has been told before but can’t be told enough. In that sense, Tiku Weds Sheru is well-intentioned but it never quite sticks to its guns and towards the end, we’re still left watching a man swoop down to save a damsel in distress.
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