Katti Batti

This review is a SPOILER ALERT. If you plan on watching this movie, look away.

The movie had everything going for itself:

1. More than 5 million hits on the trailer
2. A very positive music review
3. Kangana Ranaut, hot off from Queen and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, is in it
4. Imran Khan, who people hadn’t seen in a while, was sure to get his female fans to the cinema
5. Director is Nikhil Advani, whose previous movies include Kal Ho Na Ho and Salaem-e-ishq (we shall ignore his other recently released movie Hero for now!)

So why did a movie like this has everyone asking them the same question: What did we just see? We thought this was going to be a rom-com movie according to the trailer.

Where did it go wrong? Before I do my psycho-analysis, let me give you a brief plot line.

We have Madhav, aka Maddy, an architect who sees Payal, a free-spirited girl on campus. He falls heads over heels for her—he is a hopeless romantic (why are all architects in Bollywood movies shown as sensitive characters?) However, Payal is too free-spirited to tie herself down to marriage. So the two make a pact to have a live-in relationship. So far so good.

Then five years later, the couple start to have issues, they fight and bicker, and eventually Payal leaves Maddy, causing him to attempt to commit suicide. Failing to understand why she left, Maddy, upon recovering, seeks out Payal to ask her why she left him.

After much seeking, we find out through Maddy’s sister that Payal is diagnosed with cancer and is dying. To protect Maddy from hurt and pain, she chose not to tell him and leave him so she can die alone. Maddy finally meets Payal and spends the last 3-4-5 months with her till she breathes her last.

The Good Parts:

1. I loved the beginning. We see Maddy and Payal have a light hearted moment, and they mock their live in relationship by having a pretend marriage. They capture this all on their camcorder. It’s a fun home video to watch and a clever way for the director to get the audience engaged.

2. I also loved the song Lip to Lip’s picturization. There is nothing naughty about the video and it’s rather fun, quirky and easy on the eyes.

3. The songs were good, though, didn’t really help the movie move along necessarily.

4. The supporting characters at time did better than the leads, especially Maddy’s sister.

5. The Devdas scene, which was a witty scenario.

6. The pet turtle is called Milkha, named after the famous Indian athlete.

The Bad Parts:

1. Humor was very off. We didn’t need that gay joke. We didn’t need that over the top general manager at work. The supposedly funny fights on campus. We didn’t need any of these jokes. They didn’t belong in this movie like this.

2. F.O.S.L.A. is a rock band who Maddy encounters while he is down and heartbroken. The rock band seeks to impart relationship advice and guide him. In case you are wondering, the name F.O.S.L.A stands for Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association, and this group actually exists in real life! It was a completely unnecessary part of the movie.

3. Credibility. Carrying a paper roll case doesn’t make you an architect. Students were mucking about everywhere but studying. Architectural offices just don’t work like they did in this movie. How do you set up such a great looking house when you are not seen working?
4. The movie is primarily told from Imran Khan’s side, so we a lot of him and not so much of Kangana Raunaut, which is not good. Imran Khan is merely repeating his characters from his previous movies, one that of a mooding and brooding heartbroken sensitive guy. Both these people did work very hard and put in a lot of effort, but were let down by the script.

The biggest gripe:

The biggest gripe that I had with this movie was Payal’s motive. So Payal finds out she has been diagnosed with cancer the same day her boyfriend’s mother dies. She chooses to protect him, to not hurt him, to not further cause him depression and so decides to fight with him deliberately so he can leave her and she can go die alone.

While I understand it’s a Bollywood movie, but here is someone who knows how much crazy her boyfriend is with her. He’s willing to be with her, in a live relationship, to be with her. He will cross all bridges to make sure she is happy. He will give the entire world to her to express his love. So when Payal knows this, why didn’t she have that trust and confidence, being the strong, free-spirited girl she is, to tell her boyfriend about her cancer? Was she so scared? Was she so confused? What led her to do such a thing, we shall never know. She had a great support system with all her friends, and she could have used all their help.

Due to this inanity, the rest of the movie, one wonders about this. The ending is no doubt an impactful one (think the ending of Kal Ho Na Ho) but once you leave the cinema, you leave very frustrated with Payal’s attitude and feel rather angry at her decision. She could have spent those so many more months with the guy who dotes over her, instead of living in misery and anger.

So while there does exist a rock band by the name of Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association, the director has unknowingly created another set of very frustrated audience members!

1.5 out of 5