Hurdang is the story of an aspiring IAS who starts his fight against caste based reservation. The story is powerful but it needed to be done right. Loosely based on the Mandal Commission of the 1990s, the film falls prey to some shoddy writing. I think this is something which Bollywood needs to learn and take note of. If you are making a film on such a powerful subject then you need not always introduce a love story. Just focus on the narrative which will propel the film(Article 15 and The Kashmir Files are two great examples of focussed narratives). Secondly, we live in times where with the exposure to different OTT platforms, the intellect of the audience is changing. So if a film is being made on caste reservations(or against it), a thorough research needs to be done in trying to get to the depth of it. A simple surface level treatment will not suffice the cause. Here, a balanced narrative was required in further understanding as to why the reservation was introduced in the first place with data points. Instead, you are served an opiniated surface level argument which just doesn’t seem impactful enough.

There are still a few engaging moments where every character has an agenda in the film and is trying to manipulate the protagonist which was pretty good. But the constant switch to the love story not only lessens its impact but also conflicts the audience of what message itvis trying to convey. The middling writing has a few loose ends as well although it ends in a decent final act. This screenplay may have worked in the early 2000s. But in 2022, this surface level treatment to an otherwise powerful subject will never work.