Kathal's Ripe Premise Bears Little Fruit

Kathal: Netflix Film's Ripe Premise Bears Little Fruit

This is #CriticalMargin, where Ishita Sengupta gets contemplative over new Hindi films and shows. Today: Kathal.

Dir: Y Mishra

Cast: Sanya Malhotra

Stream on: Netflix

FOR the second time this month, young girls in Hindi films and shows are disappearing from India’s remote districts. For the second time — again — the police officer entrusted with the task of finding them is a lower-caste woman, who has to fight for justice as much as fight against the prejudices stacked against her. But the difference between both the outings is so vast, in treatment, style and writing, that the presence of one aids in examining what is lacking in the other.

As a premise, Yashowardhan Mishra’s woeful Kathal bears striking resemblance to Reema Kagti-Ruchika Oberoi’s terrific Dahaad. The crisis of lost girls subjected to social indifference forms the narrative epicenter in both, which is arrived at through designed smokescreens. But, if the Sonakshi Sinha-headlined series made a case for nuanced depiction of gender and caste discrimination, then the Sanya Malhotra film is so heavy-handed in approach that it just stops short of making a mockery of it.

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