Review of Tadap

Tadap (2021)
5/10
A life wasted chasing nothing
11 May 2022
Ramisa (Tara Sutaria) returns from the UK after completing her education to Musoorie, Uttarakhand, where her father Nautiyal (Kumud Mishra) is the local legislator. She is instantly attracted to Ishana (Ahan Shetty), a rugged young man who she soon discovers is the foster son of her father's close friend, Daddy (Saurabh Shukla). It doesn't take long for sparks to fly between Ramisa and Ishana and they fall in love. For Ishana, it feels too good to be true, and he gets far too deeply involved emotionally.

But fate has other plans for them. While on a trip to Dehradun to procure some raw materials for their business, Ishana suddenly learns about Ramisa's wedding to a London based guy, and in super quick time, the ceremony is to be executed. He rushes back home but can't stop the wedding from taking place and even fails to meet Ramisa one last time. He blames Nautiyal for their misfortune and vows to destroy his life and assets. After Ramisa has flown back to the UK, Ishana hits the bottle hard, turns into a melancholy alcoholic, who won't miss an opportunity to damage Nautiyal's business assets and beating up his people, something that Nautiyal quietly bears without retribution, claiming that Ishana is his friend's son. Three years pass by, with Ishana going from bad to worse, unable to forget Ramisa or move on, and then one day, Ramisa returns to Musoorie much to Ishana's joy of the hope of being reunited. It's showtime!!

Tadap is excruciatingly slow and feels like a polished version of 1960-70's love stories where protagonists just couldn't move on from heartbreaks. You really have no idea where it's all headed until about 30 minutes before the climax there's a twist in the love story that you possibly didn't see coming. In spite of that novel twist, the film's languid and repetitive storytelling fails to redeem the situation as it's too far gone. You don't know what you should regret about - a young life wasted chasing a wild goose, or your two and a half hours of sitting through a monotonous narrative that leavesd no impression. Ahan Shetty doesn't inspire in his first appearance and Tara Sutaria is lightweight anyway. The most impressive performances come from Saurabh Shukla and Kumud Mishra, which are perhaps the film's best assets apart from some peppy music composition by Pritam. Also worth a mention is Sumit Gulati in role of Ishana's friend LOL, who actually is quite a hoot.
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