You may have watched movies that discuss women’s empowerment, mother-daughter relationships, mother-son relationships, and brother-sister relationships, but there is hardly any content available that delves into the pious father-child relationships. Apart from the portrayal of a toxic father-child relationship in films such as Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, and the 2010 release Udaan, I believe there are no films that exemplify the ideal bond between a father and his child.
The film Tikdam, a digital premiere from Jio Studios, explores the complexities of a mediocre single father who strives to provide the best for his children. It honors fathers from all over the world who sacrifice for their families. Therefore, without wasting any more time, let’s get into the plot of this exciting piece of cinematic art.
Some essential details with respect to the movie Tikdam are listed below:
| Details | Description |
| Title | Tikdam |
| Genre | Family Drama |
| Directed by | Vivek Anchalia |
| Starring | Amit Sial as Prakash, Sharat Sonu as Chandan, Jennifer Piccinato as Mrs Rose, Ajit Kelkar as Dadu, Nayan Bhatt as Dadi, Sonam Arora as Sarita, Aarohi Saud as Cheeni, Arisht Jain as Samay, Divyansh Dwivedi as Bhanu |
| Music by | Daniel B George |
| Executive Producer | Liyakat Ali |
| Cinematography | Parth Sayani |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Hindi |
| Running time | 118 minutes |
| IMDb Rating | 7.7/10 |
| Production Company | Jio Studios |
| OTT Platform | Jio Cinema |
| OTT release date | 23 August 2024 |
Tikdam Movie Synopsis
Our main character in the movie Tikdam lives in Sukhtal, a small hilly town. He is a service staffer at a local luxury hotel. The livelyhood of people residing in Sukhtal is dependent on tourism. However, with each passing year, the graph of tourists visiting Sukhtal is declining due to changes in climatic conditions. It used to snow during winter seasons, but now things are quite different.
One day at the office, Prakash receives a request to prepare for the arrival of the hotel’s owner. The hotel owner seems to be some foreign lady with Indian roots. She informs the hotel staff that the hotel is no longer profitable; therefore, she intends to close it as soon as possible. Upon hearing this, the staff members became agitated, worried about how they would make ends meet if they lost their jobs. But Prakash was unperturbed by this disclosure and appeared non-rebelious. Hence, in a fit of rage, they pushed him to serve Mrs. Rose till the time she’s in town.
On one occasion, Mrs. Rose expressed her satisfaction with Prakash’s work and invited him to join one of her other hotels in Mumbai. However, Prakash graciously turned down her offer, explaining that he had to take care of his two young children and his elderly parents. Understanding his situation as a mother herself, Rose replied respectfully, saying that if he ever reconsidered, he would always be welcome.
Meanwhile, Prakash’s daughter Cheeni and son Samay are close friends with Bhanu, and they all go to the same school. Cheeni is almost like Tushar Kapoor’s character in the movie Golmaal. Only his older brother Samay was able to understand and decipher her words. They believed that Bhanu could find solutions to any problem. Cheeni doesn’t have any major demands, but Samay was adamant about getting a pair of LED light shoes. Therefore, he was very unhappy with his father, Prakash, for not buying him the said shoes.
One fine day, it comes to light that children from school are going for a picnic, for which each child must pay a small fee. Consequently, Cheeni and Samay approached Dadi to request her permission, but she declined. On Prakash’s return from work, he tried to reason with his mother for not allowing the children to go to the picnic. She rebukes Prakash and responds firmly, promising to meet all of the children’s demands once Prakash starts earning close to thirty or thirty-five thousand rupees a month. That ends the conversation about sending the children to a picnic.
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The other day at school, the children appeared dejected, as if they had lost all hope of attending the school picnic. In addition to that, Samay’s cousin also made fun of them. However, when there is no hope, Bhanu steps in like a saviour to his friends. He opened his plan book and suggested that Samay and Cheeni perform ‘Bhookhartal’ at home, which would solve the problem. Meanwhile, this plan failed miserably and had no effect on Dadi.
Bhanu gave his second-best solution of spending the day on ‘Maunvrat’ at home, hoping that this time maybe they will be allowed to go on their school outing. But Dadi remained unperturbed, which made Bhanu give his final Brahmastra solution of running away from home. Therefore, Samay and Cheeni spent the next day hiding at Bhanu’s place till wee hours, but nobody came searching for them. This suggests that the final arrow missed its target.
The children, on arriving home, had a chitchat with their father, Prakash, and they complained that it’s such a shame that he doesn’t have enough money to send them to their school picnic. This time Prakash could feel their pain; therefore, the next day he arranged the required cash to enable his children to attend the school picnic. After witnessing this, Prakash’s mother became enraged. However, Prakash managed the situation by letting her know that he secured a job in Mumbai that would earn him thirty-five thousand rupees, thereby ensuring his children had the best opportunities.
Regrettably, Cheeni witnessed this conversation between Grandma and Father, which deeply affected her. While at the school picnic, she informed Bhanu and Samay about this. Bhanu felt sorry for Cheeni and Samay, but Samay asked them to chill. Samay expressed that his father’s decision to move away to earn money for their family was not a cause for concern. However, Bhanu and Cheeni rebuked Samay for being so selfish. Bhanu emphasised that Father’s departure was due to the declining number of tourists in Sukhtal, a situation that strains the entire ecosystem and results in joblessness.
He confirmed that he, too, has lost his father while he was away, busy earning money for his family in some big city. The thought of being alone without a father made Samay and Cheeni shiver. Meanwhile, Prakash visited Mumbai and met his younger brother, who was already working there. He informs him that in a month or two he will be joining him here. Hearing that Prakash had received a salary higher than his own, his brother became slightly jealous.
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When Cheeni returned from the picnic and did not find her father at home, she became anxious. Samay tried to compensate for his father’s absence, but nothing worked. The following day, Samay, Cheeni, and Bhanu found themselves searching for strategies to prevent Prakash and other fathers like him from relocating to larger cities in pursuit of employment. They understood that their misery stemmed from the changing climatic conditions. Therefore, these little kids decided to monitor their town’s daily temperature and work towards restoring it.
They thought sending a letter to God would solve the problem. But then they realised that the solution to the problem lies in science. Therefore, they went to their science teacher at school for help. They learned that their task would be to prevent people from illegally felling trees. The children partially achieved their goal. However, the temperature drop was not enough to expect a snowfall. Therefore, they visited the government office to seek help in stopping and regulating the use of plastic.
Despite their sincere attempts, they were unable to bring any major change. Lastly, they realized that restoring Sukhtal to its original condition would demand much more effort and many years of environmental cleanup.
For Cheeni and Samay, the time has come for them to bid adieu to their beloved Father. After a lot of hustle and a heavy heart, Prakash made his way to the railway station. Children followed him, but finally they had to give up. Looking at Samay and Cheeni crying profusely, Prakash’s mother and father realised that life without Prakash is not possible. Therefore, all four of them speeded towards the railway station to stop Prakash from boarding the train.
However, the train had already started moving when they reached the platform. That made them sad, until they found out that Prakash had decided not to go to Mumbai and disembarked the train for the love of his family. They all came home and had an instant realisation that it’s important for the family to stay together and lead a simple, joyful life rather than looking for riches.
Tikdam Movie Review
The Tikdam movie is exceedingly well written. The story seems to cater to the younger audience, but it dexterously gets into that family movie space, which each one of us yearns for. It’s a story that connects to almost all of us who, at any given point in time, had left their loved ones to find better prospects in metropolitan cities. It talks about the sacrifices that fathers everywhere make to earn money so that their families can have a comfortable life. They miss out on every single happy moment that a family experiences when they are together.
The story effectively documents the current trend that we see today, where people from villages and rural areas have to move out to look for opportunities and just to feed their family back home. It’s a dark, harsh reality that modern civilised society faces. The movie gives you the Anurag Basu-directed Barfi vibes; however, the pace is slightly on the shower side. Amit Sial has broken the myth that he is only confident with rough and shady characters. His role as a naive, idealistic father is worthy of mention.
Each character has been selected skillfully which contribute’s to the movie’s authenticity. The selection of the child characters is flawless and well-balanced. The comic timing of Bhanu and Cheeni’s cuteness will keep you hooked to the movie. The cinematography and background score meet the movie’s requirements, but they could have avoided overusing motivational songs.
Tikdam Movie Verdict
You should watch Amit Sial’s Tikdam movie with your children to instill respect for their parents who work tirelessly to provide them with a comfortable life. The movie also focusses on one major issue, which is global warming. It stealthily pushes the idea and importance of doing little things to preserve our planet from getting hotter. Your country’s contribution to global pollution doesn’t matter today; what matters is whether we’ve learned from our mistakes.
The movie successfully conveys the message to the younger generations to look for innovative ways to reduce pollution from the air, so that mother earth can be brought to its original state. It’s a noble movie which should be viewed with your whole family. Amit Sial as an actor has again proved his range from this movie. So do watch this masterpiece and share your valuable feedback down below in the comment section.
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Tikdam Movie Trailer