Hurdang, a film that has been released today in cinemas, is based on the students in Allahabad University and how their life changes after the government decided to implement the Mandal Commission report in 1990. The film had immense potential. The mix of college romance and politics could have taken the film anywhere. Sadly, the film falters due to weak writing and poor understanding of the issue of reservation. Certain developments are very convenient and difficult to digest. Moreover, the editing is amateur and the VFX is bad, even by low budget film standards. A few scenes, however, are quite good when seen individually. This shows that the makers had it in them and it’s sad some of the funny and action moments have gone waste; they could have been better used in some other film. Performances save the day to some extent. Sunny Kaushal gives yet another supreme performance after Shiddat. Nushrratt Bharuccha is quite good while Vijay Varma is dependable. Shubhashish Jha leaves a mark as Ranjan. The actor playing Nushrratt’s father is fine. All in all, Hurdang is a poor film. It has got a very limited release and will find some sort of viewership once it releases next month on Netflix.

My rating - ** out of 5!