Story: It’s love at first sight for Satyaprem aka Sattu (Kartik Aaryan) the minute he sees Katha (Kiara Advani), a beautiful and aspiring singer from an affluent Gujarati family in Ahmedabad. But their love story isn’t as simple as Sattu would have imagined.
Review: A failed law exam, no job or friends and constant jibes from his maa -behen (as he likes to address them) at home - Satyaprem’s life is far from ideal but that doesn’t ever dim his toothy smile that he wears so confidently, no matter what. His father (Gajraj Rao) is his only friend, who understands him. He eggs him on when his son falls head over heels for the first girl he sets his eyes on – a strikingly beautiful Katha, who besides being way out of his league, also has a boyfriend, who is equally rich. But Sattu finds a ray of hope when his gossipy father known as Panchayati Kaka brings him the good news that Katha’s prem kahani with her boyfriend has ended for good. Armed with his smile and unconditional love for Katha, Sattu marches on to confess his love to her, without bothering to find out the reasons for her breakup. And that’s when a new chapter opens up in his doomed one-sided love story for the girl, who is harbouring a big secret.
Revealing anything more than this about the plot would be a sureshot spoiler. But let’s just say that Satyaprem ki Katha isn’t the kind of film that you would’ve expected it to be from what you saw in the trailer. Far from a rib-tickling comedy featuring some of the finest talents from the world of Gujarati and Hindi cinema, this film is hard-hitting, poignant and delivers a strong message. The film falters at the screenplay level, which is laborious and gets stuck in a loop of repetitive conflicts. Writer Karan Shrikant Sharma throws in a few socio-cultural comedic punches, taking swipes at typical Gujarati families and their staple foods like dhokla, khakra and gota. But the overall theme of the film is committed to driving home a social message. While doing so, the narrative often drags with scenes that don’t make the best use of the talents at hand.
Kartik Aarayn once again wears his heart on his sleeve and flashes his pearly whites way more than required while playing the simpleton Sattu, who believes in calling spade a spade because ‘sach bolne se pehle sochna kya’. There is no denying that playing a relatable boy-next-door is Kartik’s core strength and he does it with immense ease once again. It’s so easy to root for him even when his Gujarati accent is all over the place. Somehow, it’s endearing, and sits well with his character of a dim-wit loser. Kiara Advani has a more difficult role to portray here. Katha’s story has an unspoken emotion that needs to be understood and the actress gets the accent and the feel of the character spot on. Kiara delivers a fine and restrained performance in a complex role, by far the best of her career. Director Sameer Vidwans and his writer give their women a voice, by showing us an unconventional Ahmedabadi middle-class family where the ladies not only run the house but also ensure that the men are well aware of the deeply non-patriarchal dynamic. But, there are also dialogues like ‘aap pe aise sau baidiyan qurbaan’ as Sattu tells his father, which goes squarely against the very core of the film’s message. But even with such uneven dialogues, the battery of talented character actors like Gajraj Rao, Supriya Pathak and Siddharth Randeria perform their parts with full conviction. Rajpal Yadav is utterly wasted in a cameo that had a huge potential to bring good comic relief. The film’s music (Manan Bhardwaj and Payal Dev) blends well with the narrative and is quite melodious. The recreated version of Shae Gill and Ali Sethi’s OG Pakistani chartbuster ‘Pasoori’, sung by Arijit Singh and Tulsi Kumar that has sparked a controversy, doesn’t leave any lasting impact. Cinematographer Ayananka Bose captures the essence of Ahmedabad’s cosmopolitan, yet conventional vibe quite beautifully.
Satyprem Ki Katha is driven by its need to preach and give a message. The subject does move you and leaves you with much to think about, however, it tends to take the more emotional route than an entertaining one.
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