Kathal movie review: Sanya Malhotra’s juicy satire tickles and pricks with equal ease

In its initial scenes, Kathal shows a fugitive dacoit giggling over the phone in the dead of the night. Next day, he goes to meet his mysterious lover, only to find that he has been honey-trapped by a female cop. A chase ensues and the bandit is caught hiding inside a water tanker, like a mouse. The late-night phone call, the saccharine talk, all this was recently seen, but in a darker world. In Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar’s crime procedural Dahaad, an underprivileged caste woman inspector is on a quest of finding over 20 missing girls. In Yashowardhan Mishra’s social satire Kathal, an underprivileged caste woman inspector is on a quest to find the eponymous jackfruit (the girl does come, but later). The film’s logline makes for a great elevator pitch but Kathal doesn’t content itself with the quirky novelty of its plot. In between its ticklish humour, the satire cuts deeper.

Director: Yashowardhan Mishra

Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav

Written by: Ashok Mishra and Yashowardhan Mishra

Streaming on: Netflix

After being overexposed to the arid fields of Rajasthan and Haryana, it’s good to return to the quieter, greener lands of Uttar Pradesh for a hinterland mystery. A pair of jackfruits of the Uncle Hong variety (They exist, I checked) has gone missing from an MLA’s garden. The fruits are essential for the minister, Munnalal Pateria (a hilarious Vijay Raaz), as he had promised kathal ka achaar to his superior in exchange for political benefits. Cops are called to the crime scene. A forensic expert even checks for footprints on the soil below the tree. The jackfruits need to be found before they ripen. The setting is what you get if Agatha Christie discussed a mystery over a cup of tea with Harishankar Parsai. Case in charge is dacoit-catcher Mahima Basor (an always impressive Sanya Malhotra). Mahima is the only one vocalising the absurdity of the case. When asked to file an FIR, she tells her superior, “This will serve as a wrong precedent. People will start filing reports of missing carrots, bottle gourds.” Her protests, of course, go in vain.

The investigation ensues and Kathal amuses itself as it satirises a whodunnit. The maid and the cook are interrogated but the needle of suspicion ultimately points towards the missing gardener, who was fired recently. When the gardener is questioned, he reveals that his daughter has been missing. Mahima’s bosses ask her to not lose focus on the Kathals. A minister’s fruits are more important than a Scheduled Caste gardener’s gutkha-chewing, torn jeans-wearing daughter.

Although the treatment is becoming repetitive, the discourse of caste discrimination being shown on celluloid has been much needed. There are still some unimaginative portrayals like Mahima not being allowed to step on the carpet inside the MLA’s house. The novelty comes in the love story between Mahima and her privileged caste constable beau Saurabh Dwivedi (Anantvijay Joshi). It’s refreshing to see the man in the relationship be coy as the woman pulls his cheek in adoration. Their dynamics also make for great drama. Mahima is his superior but of a lowered caste. In a scene, she stops Saurabh from blowing lathis at destitute scouting for pennies at a wedding procession. “Your khaki doesn’t give you the license to hit the poor,” she reprimands him. His expressions reveal a dented caste ego as two policemen jibe in the background. “This is the new world order. Now crows will teach swans.”

For a comedy, Kathal lacks enough laugh-out-loud moments. It is made up of zany situations which are funny till they are not. Rajpal Yadav’s take on an intrusive, mousy local TV reporter is amusing at instances but eventually becomes dreary. For a cynical viewer, the film’s take on casteism and crime might seem juvenile. But, still, Kathal provides ample meat to chew on.