Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hours 23 minutes
Director: Yashowardhan Mishra
Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Anant Joshi, Vijay Raaz
Kid rating: G
Movies like Jawan and Pathaan might become big hits but true salvation lies only with small budget, interesting cinema. And salvation is within easy reach – by watching this movie, Kathal.
In it Inspector Mahima Basur (Sanya Malhotra) is tasked with finding two missing kathal or jackfruit that have disappeared from a tree in the garden of the local MLA. Apparently they were much prized and will soon be overripe – and useless to the MLA. So, there is a deadline for finding the fruit.
It is a silly and inane case, but political power being what it is, the entire police thana is engaged in it. While on the case Inspector Basur comes across the case of a missing girl, the daughter of the MLA’s former gardener. But of course, no one pays that case much attention. All the attention is on the missing fruit.
Inspector Basur really wants to go find the missing girl. But she must tread carefully. She dare not annoy the political bigwigs or her kow-towing-to-thepolitical-bigwigs boss. Will she find a way to investigate both cases to satisfaction?
The story is situated in a small town of the Hindi belt, and it has the requisite quirks. The characters are mostly endearing. Even the silly plot points have a comedic twist. Take for example, the jackfruits the MLA was cultivating. These were prized and were being grown as a gift to the Chief Minister. The MLA is in a tizzy when he realizes his chance of ingratiating himself with the CM, by offering him the prized jackfruit, is in real danger.
Mahima for her part is a smart able officer. She is by turns bemused and outraged, when her senior puts her on jackfruit duty. She also must try to walk a fine line between seeming two bossy to her juniors (her boyfriend among them) and also being a good leader leading her team through a successful investigation.
All the acting is fantastic! The film stars Sanya Malhotra as Inspector Mahima Basur. Anand Joshi plays her beau and her junior at work. Then there is the absolutely marvelous Vijay Raaz As MLA Munanal Pateria who throws his political weight around and creates a hue and cry about the missing Jackfruit.
This is an interesting and fun film Well paced, eventful, with lots of sprinkled humor. Highly recommended.
Kidwise : Clean
