Satyaprem Ki Katha Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
Listen, I am HERE for all the Bollywood naach-gaana, outlandish sets, chiseled-to-perfection movie stars, hamaari tarah aur koi industry yeh karti bhi nahi hai.
And underneath the merriment, and colors, if the movie is using a spoonful of sugar to help a much-needed medicine go down in a most delightful way, sone pe suhaaga.
Hey y’all, my name is Sucharita. Yeh channel hai jahaan reviews hain, interviews bhi badh rahe hain. Today we’re talking about Sameer Vidwans’ Satyaprem ki Katha, starring Kiara Advani, and Kartik Aaryan, now in movie theatres.
Gujarat mein a tale of two cities chal raha hai. Ameer and not-so-ameer side of the shehar milte hain Garba ke time harr saal, joh agar Hindi cinema ki zara bhi humein jaankaari hai, is the perfect breeding ground for, forbidden/unrequited love. Satyaprem becomes besotted with Katha, jisko he sees perform once and its love at first sight. Katha usko humor karti hain, while not interested in him romantically, lekin eventually, as the trailer tells you, ends up marrying him. How and why this comes to be, the screenplay lets you in gradually.
Sameer Vidwans aur writer Karan Srikant Sharma ney jeeta tha national award for his 2019 Marathi film Anandi Gopal, chronicling the life of the titular Anandi, as she became India’s first female doctor in the 1800s, with the support of her husband, which I assume in THAT time was an essential pre-requisite. Cut to 2023, back together again, is updated kahaani ki heroine ki life ka central road-block chaahey bada gaya ho, but with his new film the directing is saying until men become allies and take on other men, women cannot be fully empowered.
Iss sentiment ko paas se dekhte hain thoda aao. Technically ally ka matlab woh insaan joh apne resources istemal karke, apni khud ki agency se, doosre ki madad kare, for MUTUAL benefit. And deep-rooted institutions like patriarchy need allies, pitrasatta khatam hone par sab genders ka bhalaa hi hoga. Hamaare saath marches mein chalo, twitter par hashtag chalaao, manch par humein bithaao, par jab tak, iss institution ke thekedaaro ko confront nahi karoge, ally-ship adhoori hai.
In Satyaprem Ki Katha, everything Satyaprem urf Sattu knows, he has learned from his father, played by Gajraj Rao, and everything Gajraj Rao knows about relationships, he has learned either from the men around him or from the movies. Sanjay Leela Bhansali ki Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ko invoke karte hain pitaaji to tell his son ki heroine chaahe nass kaat bhi le, aayegi toh hero ke paas hi. Aur beti ko kehte hain Damini matt ban, when she wants to warn her friend about a man the friend is about to marry, both movies interestingly about men helping women fight the patriarchy. Joh filmein available thi unko, unhone dekhi, unmein se lekin kya chun-na hai, usko toh kisi ne challenge kiya hi nahi.
Sattu ko jab samajh aata hai why Katha is reluctant to be with him, before he understands how to deal with the situation, he must go back to the source where he learned it all, his father. Which, in a film written and made by a man about a core feminist issue, IS the best way to address said, to be an ally.
However, iss confrontation, iss face-off tak pohonchen ke liye, Satyaprem Ki Katha ke detours jab 2 ki jagah 4–6 ho jaate hain, then the people-pleasing aspect of the script, joh pehle frame se obvious toh tha hi, jarring hone lagta hai.
Gujju Pataakha by way of Pasoori reaches “no means no”, valiantly striving to not lose its essence in the middle, hoping to land with all wheels on the ground, even when winds of multiple dream sequences threaten to throw it off course. At 2 hours 24 minutes, Kartik and Kiara’s watchability immensely helps. Lovable, bumbling idiot act Kartik ne perfect kar li hai, and I was happy the movie at least showed control and intentionality when depicting Sattu’s very delayed transition to a functioning adult. Despite growing up in a household where his mother and sister are breadwinners, it’s when he finally gets married and has only the first few initial conversations about physical intimacy, does he understand that the world doesn’t revolve around men and their expectations. Kartik is the absolutely accurate casting choice for the part, impressive dance skills se lekar, ek naïve, brash, confused anger tak ki kaafi stretched out journey mein na woh khud khota hai, na audience ko khone dega. Yeh zaahir hai Kartik as a leading man koshish mein hai kuch substantial kehne ki through his work, WHILE staying within the confines and demands of “mainstream cinema”. It’s a lion-hearted effort, occasionally the strain visible. But hey, as long as an attempt is being made to push outdated envelopes, I am here for it.
Now, do I wish Kiara Advani’s character Katha actually got to tell her OWN Katha? Yes, 100 taka. But do I also see that at the very least, unlike the Ranveer Singh starrer Jayeshbhai Jordar, another film jiske deeply gendered issues ko uss gender ne highlight kiya hi nahi jisko asar pad raha tha, uss se ek step forward hi hai yeh, also yes. By casting an actor of Kiara’s stardom, you’re ensuring a huge part of the spotlight shines on what she has to say, provided to ALLOW her to express, unlike a certain Mr. Kabir Singh. As an actor Kiara pichle kuch hi saalon mein jitni aage aayi hain, it’s allowing her to explore parts like Jugg Jugg Jeeyo and Katha, in that at least once the Nach Punjaban is done for everyone’s entertainment, there is a clear DEMAND for agency. Dramatic scenes mein itni acchi performance hai, Alia Bhatt waale roles inhe milein agar, she will bloom even faster. Brahmastra notwithstanding.
Abhi bhi lekin, female lead ko “chataakedaar naashta”, aur Agra ke Taj Mahal se compare karke objectify kiya jaa raha hai Karan Shrikant Sharma ke dialogues mein. Sateek jaate jaate baar baar apne ki pairon par ladkhadaa jaati hai film, maano Sattu ki tarah khud seekh rahi hai viewers ke saath apne intimate relationship ko aur respectfully kaise handle karein. The first half of the movie is so cavalier about self-harm and attempt to end one’s life, is actively offensive. A crude, underwriter scene RIGHT after the interval where Sattu complains about Katha to his father in law, isn’t triggering because of what is being discussed, but the unsure manner in which the film chooses to just throw in a deeply complicated and complex situation, played here mostly for laughs. The attempt to establish Sattu as an incompetent buffoon stretches far too long. You can sense there IS a point the writing is ABOUT to make, bass abhi kuch kehna shuru KARNE waali hai film, and I KNOW it’s going to be good, but just as it seems to be moving toward actually developing a promised sub-plot, a song just appears and things falter again. Mercifully, the movie refrains from going to the most obvious, please all conclusion. But it’s not defeatist and doesn’t want you to leave the theatre with pain in your heart about human suffering. To counter every hint of empathetic sadness you might feel, there, of course, is another song, to wrap it all up nicely.
Satyaprem Ki Katha is in movie theatres, parivaar ke saath jaakar dekh aayein, bataana kya lagaa dekh kar.
