Tadap 2021

Ishana [Ahan Shetty] chases a goon from Damodar Nautiyal’s party through the hilly streets of Mussoorie. The man is beaten badly, but Damodar [Kumud Mishra] refuses to file a complaint, leaving Ishana briefly detained before his father, Daddy [Saurabh Shukla], arrives to collect him. On the ride home, Daddy advises Ishana to consider setting up a multiplex outside Mussoorie, a plan Ishana rejects. It’s clear he’s preoccupied by thoughts of a girl—Ramisa [Tara Sutaria]—and not so much by politics or business.

Three years earlier, Ramisa arrives in Mussoorie from London to live with her father, Damodar Nautiyal, and her grandmother. Damodar wins the election by a slender margin of about 1,000 votes, and the two men at the center of this story—Damodar and Daddy—are shown to be close friends celebrating outside Damodar’s house. Ishana [Ahan Shetty] is drawn to Ramisa the moment she appears, and their paths begin to cross with a mix of playful glances and growing curiosity.

That evening, during a shared dinner between Damodar, Daddy, and Ishana, the lights go out. Damodar tells Ishana to fetch Ramisa’s grandmother to keep her safe, but he ends up taking Ramisa himself. When the guests return, Ramisa and Ishana start a subtle, flirtatious dance that carries on into the following days. Lol [Sumit Gulati], Ishana’s friend, senses the connection and quietly pieces together that Ishana is seeing someone, urging him to be honest about his feelings. Ishana confesses that he is deeply in love with Ramisa and that she feels the same way, and he asks Daddy to speak with Damodar about a potential marriage. Daddy promises to go when the time is right.

One night, Ramisa texts Ishana to meet at midnight at a closed cafe. They slip away to share a moment of intimacy, and upon returning home, Ishana asks Ramisa about marriage. She says she’ll talk to her father and kisses him before leaving. Damodar, who sees them together, is quietly watching. The next day, Ramisa stops returning Ishana’s calls, and Lol urges Ishana to let Daddy intervene and talk to Ramisa’s family about the future.

A sudden accident changes everything: Daddy is hospitalized after a crash, and Ishana is swept away by concern and confusion. The next day, Daddy dispatches Ishana to fetch gravel for a temple he’s building. While Ishana is on this errand, Lol calls with shocking news—Ramisa is getting married. He hurries back to Mussoorie, racing through a landscape of signals and danger, only to find the place where he’d planned to meet Ramisa has become a scene of chaos and blasts. Ramisa’s grandmother asks about how the decorations look, and Ishana breaks down, overwhelmed by pain and betrayal. Damodar’s men beat him to keep him out of the wedding, and Damodar’s world tightens around Ramisa’s marriage to Anurag Mehta, after which she is sent to London. By the time Ishana arrives, Ramisa is already gone.

In the present, Ishana’s bitterness and pain push him toward aggression as he tries to disrupt Damodar’s ambitions. Lol, sensing his friend’s spiraling, throws a party for his own birthday and encourages Ishana to join. Ishana starts dancing with various girls, and Ramisa—now back from London—returns to visit her father, catching a glimpse of Ishana at the party.

The next day, the police arrive on Damodar’s orders to restrain Ishana, who is hauled away while he screams that he will meet Ramisa in the cafe where they once found solace. Daddy helps him away, but an argument erupts at Ramisa’s house where she insists that Ishana move on. Daddy admonishes Ishana with a blunt truth about love not being seized by force and reminds him of Ramisa’s fear. He locks Ishana in his room and forbids him from seeing Ramisa.

Meanwhile, Daddy reveals a troubling truth to Lol: on the night of his accident, he confronted Ramisa’s father and grandmother after discovering that Ramisa planned to marry Anurag, a life she had long pursued. He had even glimpsed Ramisa on her wedding day; she would later tell him that Ishana had been nothing more than amusement for her and that she would marry for love, not for a reckless romance.

As days pass, Daddy checks Ishana’s room only to find him missing—he has jumped from a window, choosing a reckless end rather than a life without Ramisa. Damodar resists the temptation to spare his own business interests and continues to push his plans, while Ramisa asks for time, insisting that Anurag will arrive in two days and that Ishana cannot be part of her life.

Damodar then hatches a plan with a rival and a police officer who had previously abused Ishana. Their aim is to neutralize him temporarily, and they go ahead with the plan. Ishana fights back, but Gutli [Saurav Chakrabarti], Damodar’s henchman, stabs him from behind. Gutli reveals that Ramisa was the one who sent him to kill Ishana, telling him that she never loved him and only loved her husband, using Ishana to satisfy her sexual desires.

Wounded and driven by the truth, Ishana hurries to Ramisa’s house and confronts her, managing to strangle her but not kill her. He tells her to love her husband without limits, and as the life drains from him, Damodar, Daddy, and Lol walk into the room, closing the chapter on a story of love warped by ambition, deceit, and tragedy.