Katha (1983)

The undoing of Katha is the way it lags in the middle, and makes you more impatient for the final resolution to already happen and for the movie to end. And it's this stretching that makes you hyper-aware of the movie's flaws, adding to the "meh" feeling that's been getting gradually intensified.

However, there is a lot to appreciate in this movie- the way it sets itself up as a modern (80s's modern, which is already an ancient for me) retelling of the hare-tortoise fable through a story that Dadi amma (Leela Mishra being super adorable as always) tells her precocious grandson; the restaurant sequence (G for Genius); Deepti Naval yearning; the representation of a typical chawl ad its inhabitants; and of course, impeccable performances by the three main leads. My favourite character though has to be Jojo, played by Winnie Paranjpye Joglekar, who I found very relatable in her chaotic-ness. 

As for the story itself, I found the ending very unsatisfyingly rushed- if only they had cut some of the middle portion out and spent more time on the ending. I also didn't like how Naseeruddin Shah's and Farooq Shaikh's characters were never properly fleshed out. They were too black and white for my liking. I know, it's based on the hare and tortoise story and it's "supposed" to be that way, but the opening animated sequence made it feel like there was going to be subversion, and for subversion to happen, you need nuance, which was lacking in these two characters' trajectories. Had the movie not hinted at subversion, I would probably have liked it more. 

Despite feeling a tad bit let down, I don't really regret watching this movie because watching young Farooq Shaikh and Deepti Naval together is always a joy. Plus, I really loved Deepti's family in the movie, so there's that. Would definitely recommend if you're a fan of 80s "arthouse" Hindi cinema.

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