Plot

Inspired by the real events that took place in the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve where people used to leave their elderly family members for tigers to prey on, and then claim compensation from the administration.

The film is inspired by true events. An insightful story about the adverse effects of urbanization, man-animal conflict and poverty leading to a bizarre practice in a village that resides on the edge of a forest. In the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in U.P. near the Indo-Nepal border, there reside some poor farmers on the edge of the forest. Their fortunes depend heavily on the monsoons failing which they are doomed to abject poverty. To counter that, they indulge in an inhuman and tragic practice of sending the elderly to the forest to be killed by tigers and then later collecting their bodies, planting them in the fields and then claiming lakhs of rupees as compensation from the Government. The film revolves around Gangaram, who is a patriarch of a poor farmer family which is going through great hardships and poverty because of three consecutive failed monsoons. He decides he will not waste his death; he will adopt the infamous Tiger practice and will give up his life so that his family can have two square meals. One fine day, he enters the forests and waits for his death. What follows next is a series of unprecedented and interesting events. It takes great courage to sacrifice one's life to save the family and the film revolves around this heroism with a focus on the man and nature conflict.

The film is about Gangaram (Pankaj Tripathi), a man who plans to get killed by a tiger so that his family and village can claim compensation for his death through a government scheme. "Sherdil" is actually based on real events. In 2017, police officials accused some villagers of setting up the elderly as bait for tigers so that they could take compensation for their deaths. The villagers then responded, saying that the elders had actually volunteered for it, so that their families could get out of poverty.

"Sherdil" starts with Gangaram making his way to a government office and asking the officials for the benefits of some scheme. A perfect satire on the way the government constantly rolls out schemes for the poor as straws for them to grasp, instead of providing them with a long-term solution. Gangaram is the 'Sarpanch,' aka the 'Head,' of the village Jhundao. The village is located on the outskirts of a forest, and it has been suffering for a while now due to wild animals straying into fields and destroying the crops. Gangaram goes to find out if there is any relief fund for the villagers. But the officer DFO (Akshay Kapoor) is less than helpful. He tells Gangaram to just apply for the "Prime Minister Relief Fund. When trying to understand what that is, Gangaram comes to realize that it is going to be a long bureaucratic process, and he doesn't have much faith in it. When he is leaving the place dejectedly, he sees a notice that says that if a person is killed by a tiger, his family would be granted an amount of a million rupees as a relief. This sets Gangaram thinking.

When Gangaram returns home, he tells his wife Lajwanti "Lajjo" (Sayani Gupta) that he is dying of cancer, and he is only left with three months to live. The next day, he tells his village that he has an idea that could solve all of their problems. He says that he would go into the forest and wait for the tiger to kill him. Then the villagers could retrieve the body and place it in the fields. This way, they could prove that a tiger attack had killed him and subsequently claim the million, which would solve all of their problems. Gangaram plans to die a martyr, for the well-being of his village. His wife is completely against it (she doesn't like the fact that nobody else in the village wants to sacrifice their life, but they are instead encouraging Gangaram to go through with his plan), but he convinces her by saying that it is better than him dying of cancer. Even though they are horrified by the idea, the villagers agree with Gangaram's plan because they know that this is probably their only way out of their situation. Plan is for villagers to come look for Gangaram in the jungle every 2 days. This way they would know of his position all the time and would be easier for them to bring back his body, once he is killed by the tiger.

He goes to the jungle but has little success in finding the tiger. He faces a fair share of troubles, like rationing out his food and the general peskiness of living in the wild. Meanwhile, Gangaram's friend Mahesh from the city, returns to the village and hears about the grand plan. He tells everyone that Gangaram never met a doctor and doesn't have cancer. He was lying for the sake of the village. One particular night, as he is sleeping on a tree, he spots a leopard making its way toward him. Gangaram can only die at the hands of a tiger, so he makes a run for it when he ends up getting caught in a trap laid out by a hunter. As the animal makes its way towards him, it is shot down by the said hunter. This is the introduction of the character of Jim Ahmed (Neeraj Kabi), a poacher who is working illegally in the forest. He wants to kill the tiger that Gangaram wants to be eaten by. Jim says that he is killing the tigers to provide a livelihood for himself (a Chinese client has promised him Lakhs of rupees for the dead tiger).

Meanwhile it's been 9 days since Gangaram entered the forest. The villagers file a missing person's report with the police and ask them to find Gangaram's body. The police know about Jim and suspect that Gangaram has gone to work for Jim.

Both of them strike up a friendship as they come to an agreement to help each other. What Jim is doing is against the law, but Gangaram is not exactly following the code either. Through their friendship, Gangaram comes to question some of his long-held beliefs about man, animals, and nature. The jungle is eons old, older than the first humans and animals. Also, a tiger moves 10-15 Kms a day. As they track down the tiger together, they come very close to its territory and decide to spend the night in that place. The next day, Gangaram wakes up and is looking for Jim when he comes face-to-face with the tiger. Gangaram tells Jim to shoot the tiger after he kills Gangaram and then shoot a rocket in the air, to the alert the villagers about the position of his dead body. Having found what he was looking for, Gangaram starts talking to the tiger, asking it to kill him. But Jim is positioned right behind Gangaram, in the bushes, aiming at the beast. Right then, a bullet is fired that lets the tiger escape. It was from a police officer's gun. They shoot Jim as he is escaping and arrest Gangaram on suspicion of him being in cahoots with the poacher. Right here, Gangaram has lost not just a friend, but also his only way of rescuing his village.

After Gangaram's arrest, when he is presented in court, he tells the judge the real reason he was in the forest. A reporter covers his story, which leads to a nationwide outrage over the circumstances of the village that pushed a man to take such extreme measures. It is covered by all the news outlets and social media platforms. There is a hilarious satire of what news debates look like these days, with the arguments getting as absurd as Gangaram's circumstances themselves. He was acquitted by the court, and we can assume that Jhundao is being covered by some relief schemes now that it is in the national spotlight.

Gangaram himself, becomes something of a celebrity, by getting brand endorsements and having his journey documented in a book. As he is being escorted to retrace his journey in the jungle, to make it something of a tourist attraction, he asks for the car to stop, so that he can relieve himself. A tiger attacks and kills Gangaram. Therefore, Gangaram is killed by the tiger, but not as he wanted.