What Is the Story About?
Netflix original film ‘Kathal’ is a satirical comedy, set in the backdrop of small-town Madhya Pradesh. The story is centred on a pair of precious jackfruits (kathal in Hindi), which go missing from local politician Pateria’s (Vijay Raaz) garden. The police machinery is set into motion to hunt down the culprit, but there’s a graver matter at hand for cop Mahima Basor (Sanya Malhotra), her juniors Saurabh (Anantvijay Joshi), Kunti (Neha Saraf) and team.
Kathal is written by Ashok Mishra and Yashowardhan Mishra, directed by Yashowardhan Mishra, and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and Sikhya Entertainment.
Performances?
Sanya Malhotra is efficient as ever as the soft-spoken yet firebrand police officer, Mahima Bansor. She effectively brings credence and conviction to her character. Vijay Raaz is as laconic and acerbic with his words as always. His trademark deadpan delivery of dialogue is out in full glory in Kathal, though his role is curiously short.
Rajpal Yadav brings the perfect over-the-top element to his role of a TV journalist. He’s suitably loud and obnoxious, precisely recreating the TV news anchors of today. Anantvijay Joshi and Neha Saraf are good in their roles. The rest of the cast is adequate.
Analysis
Kathal is a classic case of a promising premise that sacrifices its potential at the altar of silly comedy and done-to-death tropes. The story begins with a nonsensical political-driven issue, but then enters graver territory of missing girls, much like the recent Prime Video series Dahaad.
However, unlike Dahaad, Kathal chooses to merely skim the surface of the critical issue of 43 girls going missing in the small Madhya Pradesh town of Moba. On the contrary, rather than being the centre-piece of the story, the ‘missing girls’ subplot seems to have been added as a last-minute after-thought, perhaps to lend gravitas to an otherwise flippantly-treated storyline.
The haphazard writing also does nothing to elevate the narrative into something more worthwhile than what it is currently. That said, writers Ashok Mishra and Yashowardhan Mishra do one thing right in Kathal – they address the crippling caste bias prevalent in most of small-town India, in a manner that is not preachy or in-your-face. Instead, they resort to humour and a matter-of-fact way of putting the issue before viewers, compelling us to silently ruminate over it, without throwing it in our face, time and again.
Gander bias, patriarchy, slut-shaming girls for their spunk and spirit, and finally, police apathy towards matters concerning the poor – all find their way into the narrative, albeit in bits and pieces that struggle to come together as a cohesive while.
The humour in the film does evoke an infrequent smile. For the rest of the time, one merely looks on in ennui-infused boredom at the juvenile humour. Thankfully, there’s no song and dance in the film, to stretch an already draggy story.
To sum it up, Kathal has a novel plot at its core, but the poor execution and flippant storytelling let it down badly. It is the kind of film that has much to say, but the writers and director fail to find the right words to say it. It is also a film that is bound to recede into the annals of oblivion – we give it a week at most, after which it will be gone from fickle public memory, much like the jackfruit from Pateria’s tree.
Music and Other Departments?
The music for Kathal is by Ram Sampath, who’s given us gems such as Delhi Belly and Talaash. Sadly, the music of Kathal is nowhere close to the quality of his past music. It is average at best. The background music is downright mediocre. Harshvir Oberai’s cinematography is good. He captures the sights and sounds of the small-town landscape well. Prerna Saigal’s editing just about passes muster.
Highlights?
Nothing
Drawbacks?
Crass jokes
Too flippant
Poor writing
Did I Enjoy It?
Not much
Will You Recommend It?
Not particularly
Kathal Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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