Katti Batti Review

One line Review: A cliched love and breakup story presented as a new age romance drama.

Positive Points: The presentation and narration runs aptly. The transition between the sequences, the past and present moments are smoothly filmed making it effortlessly comprehensible. Both, Imran and Kangana look great in their cool, young and modern avatars. The film has a youthful appeal.

Negative Points: The most disappointing part for me was that the two lovers did not even have a single scene where they express feelings of true love. They are living-in together for five years, get intimate, fight, have fun, and do all sorts of stuff, but an emotional connect between the two is not evident and hence it lacked depth. The beginning of the second half is a bit too stretched and becomes monotonous; instead I would have loved to watch more of the two leads sharing a good time which could have added plus points to the film.

Plot: The movie narrates the story of Maddy (Imran Khan), a regular guy who falls for Payal (Kangana Ranaut), a rich, carefree girl with no ambition in life. Maddy is a nerdy boy next door while Payal is a notorious brat who casually changes boyfriends. It is a non-sequential presentation, where the first half is the depiction of how Maddy suffers from his breakup with Payal after a five year long live-in relationship. He experiences a bad phase in which there is nothing right happening for him and all he can do is, go into flashbacks and remember the time when he and Payal were together. His friends and family try their best to bring him out of the depression, but Maddy just doesn't want to get over Payal, as deep down he believes that the girl of his life still loves him. Maddy goes crazy when one day he learns about Payal, through a common friend that she is getting married to her ex-lover Rickky. The madly in love - Maddy obviously cannot let her go like this and hence decides to confront her. What made Payal disappear from Maddy's life suddenly? Why did they break up at the first place? Watch the film to find the answers to all these questions!

Direction and other Technical Aspects: The cinematography and the camera work are exceptional. The narrative is perfect and the cutaway sequences are good. The script is weak and only a few dialogues are good. The promotions, the trailer and the presence of Kangana and Imran had created hype and generated too much expectation regarding the film, which unfortunately, falls flat, leaving the audience disappointed. It was promoted as a romantic comedy, but to be very honest there were very few moments of laughter. Though, the makers have 'tried' to make many sequences funny, but it surely did not work for me. After a certain point it became plain and monotonous. The song 'lip to lip' is filmed beautifully.

Performances: The movie is more of Imran Khan than Kangana. He is present in almost every frame of the film. As a geeky boy-next-door, Imran essays his role fairly well. He manages to pull off the character of a heart broken guy in depression, decently.

Kangana looks beautiful in the cool contemporary avatar. She essays her role exceptionally well. Actually, both, Imran and Kangana make the movie watchable. Had the director featured some new faces, this movie would surely turn out be a letdown.

Music: Most of the songs are likeable. To name a few, 'Sarfira', 'Lip to Lip' and others are already a hit among the youngsters.

Final Verdict: 'Katti Batti' is a love story with a twist. Though, there is no freshness in the story but the presence of Kangana and Imran makes it likable. The presentation and the youthful appeal of the film make it a onetime watch. The movie presents the distressing story of Maddy and Payal which leaves us emotionally drained. Do not expect much from the movie in order to avoid disappointment. The 2.5 stars are for the star performances; delightful songs and the presentation.