Film

Haddi

Name: Haddi
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2023
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Anurag Kashyap, Shreedhar Dubey, Saharsh Kumar Shukla, Ila Arun

Social drama

Haddi is a fierce crime drama about a trans woman who enters Delhi's underworld, anchored by Nawazuddin Siddiqui's magnetic performance. It's propulsive and violent, shot with grimy intensity, asking uncomfortable questions about survival, belonging, and what revenge costs. For viewers hungry for unflinching Indian cinema that doesn't look away.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you are drawn to crime dramas where a single slippery character carries the tension, watching ambition and grievance blur rather than resolve cleanly.

Skip it if you need a brisk plot or a clear hero to root for; at over two hours it moves deliberately, lingering on mood more than momentum.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a patient two-plus hours; scenes breathe, the mood stays dark, and you have to track shifting loyalties without much hand-holding.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 12012

A sprawling, operatic crime saga across decades that shares Haddi's unflinching gaze at violence and loyalty in India's underworld. Anurag Kashyap's direction electrifies every frame with moral ambiguity and raw humanity.

But Nearly five hours across two films, densely plotted, and brutally graphic in ways that can feel punishing rather than cathartic.

Ugly2013

Kashyap again, this time dissecting how ordinary people become monstrous through circumstance and desperation. The parallels to Haddi's moral terrain are direct, and it's darkly, dangerously compelling.

But Bleak to the point of suffocation; no one here is sympathetic, and the film doesn't offer comfort or resolution.

Article 152019

Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a different register—a police officer investigating caste violence—but with the same intensity and moral clarity. Urgent, angry cinema that refuses easy answers about complicity and power.

But Didactic in places, and the subject matter (sexual violence, caste atrocities) is harrowing enough to derail some viewers.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Haddi

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

My Son2021

Both center a protagonist driven by love twisted into something darker and more dangerous; both refuse to sentimentalise that transformation or offer moral absolution.

A single mother in rural America discovers her son is missing, and the film becomes a study of maternal rage and vengeance rendered in near-silence. Like Haddi, it's about what desperation makes you willing to do, but it trades city underworld for isolated Americana and gang violence for quiet, methodical revenge.

But Sparse to the point of alienation. You will sit with grief and anger for 90 minutes with minimal dialogue or melodrama. Some find it glacial.

Gully Boy2019

A street-level story of ambition and identity in modern India with real style and energy. Zoya Akhtar's direction gives marginality its own grandeur, and the film pulses with music and life.

But Romanticises struggle in ways Haddi deliberately doesn't. Sunnier, more conventionally uplifting than what you're signing up for here.

Rang De Basanti2006

A younger generation's collision with violence and patriotism, shot with enormous vitality. If you want to see how Indian mainstream cinema handles anger and change, this is essential—and it's genuinely thrilling.

But More sentimental about its characters' journey than Haddi, with an idealism that now feels period-bound.

Jai Bhim2021

Suriya delivers a fearless performance as a lawyer fighting police brutality and caste oppression. Tamil cinema at its most socially conscious, with real rage powering every scene.

But Nearly three hours, and the pacing can feel digressive; some viewers find the tonal shifts between courtroom and street jarring.

Mardaani2014

Rani Mukerji as a cop pursuing human traffickers with relentless intensity. Visceral, angry, and uninterested in making its protagonist likeable—just committed to justice.

But Exploitation-film energy sometimes overshadows the larger systemic critique it's trying to make.

Natrang2010

A Marathi film about an aging theatre performer chasing stardom and reinvention. The desperation and performance of identity mirror Haddi's questions, filtered through a completely different cultural register.

But Deeply regional, and the theatrical tradition it celebrates may not speak to you; considerable tonal shifts can feel disorienting.

Tomboy2011

Both explore how gender non-conformity collides with social power structures, and both treat that exploration with seriousness rather than spectacle. The stakes feel real in both.

A French coming-of-age film about a ten-year-old who presents as a boy to the neighbourhood kids, and the social violence that erupts when her assigned sex is revealed. Radically unsentimental about gender and belonging, shot with naturalistic grace.

But Not a crime film at all, and the violence is social rather than literal; if you want plot momentum, this is deliberately languid.

The Power2023

Like Haddi, it refuses the comfort of moral clarity. It asks: when systems are designed to crush you, are the tools you use to fight back justified, or do they transform you into something equally monstrous? Both sit with that question instead of answering it.

A speculative drama about a world where women suddenly develop electrical power. It's genre science fiction, yes, but it's really about systemic violence, collective rage, and what happens when the powerless seize power. Morally messy and unafraid of its own anger.

But Six episodes of unrelenting bleakness. No heroes, no catharsis, and the brutality extends to scenarios that will make some viewers unable to continue.