Sumo Didi Review: Hetal Dave’s Story Inspires, Film Doesn’t Land

Hetal Dave’s life sounds built for a rousing sports film: a middle-class woman from a conservative household discovers sumo wrestling almost by chance, pushes through body shaming and family pressure, and becomes India’s only professional female sumo wrestler to date. ZEE5’s Sumo Didi, directed by Jayant Rohatgi, sets out to bottle that inspiration. The bigger issue, going by the early reviews, is not the story itself but the shape around it.

A pioneer framed as an everywoman

Shriyam Bhagnani plays Hetal, a once-in-shape young woman who puts on weight because of PCOD. Her mother is consumed by log kya kahenge and pushes her toward weight loss and marriage; her father Rajendra (Nitesh Pandey), brother Vikku (Raghav Dhir) and best friend Akshat (Chaitnya Sharma) give her room to dream. The writing team of Anish Diddee, Ajay Gahlaut and Nikhil Sachan keeps the storytelling simple, and that simplicity is the film’s strongest asset.

What works and what stalls

The performances are the reason to stay. Bhagnani is earnest in the lead, and her equation with Sharma feels lived-in rather than scripted. But the film wants to cover everything at once: family drama, body image, weight shaming, a conservative household. Hetal’s professional rise keeps getting crowded out. The pacing is slow enough to make the 118-minute runtime feel longer than it is.

• Works: natural performances, believable friendship, simple storytelling.
• Stalls: too many social threads, flat direction, unmemorable music.
• Verdict: a one-time watch for a feel-good OTT mood.

Watch it for the pioneer, not the plot

Sumo Didi is not a tight sports biopic. It is a warm, slightly overstuffed drama that works best when it simply lets Hetal’s unlikely journey breathe. If you have time on a quiet evening and want a feel-good ZEE5 film, it is a fair choice. If you need the drive of a polished sports drama, this one can be skipped without much loss.

Source: Bollywood Bubble