The Tale

I watched Katha (anyone?) on the VCD last night. I'd watched it when I was a kid. A Sai Paranjape movie is always a heart-warming experience. Her characters are so true-to -life that you relate to them quite easily. You identify with the joys and sorrows, and trials and tribulations of the characters' everyday lives. Katha is no different. For the uninitiated, Katha is a simple story of a do-gooder, played by Shah and how his life changes when his smooth-talking friend, played by Shaikh, enters his life and almost snatches his neighbor, Naval—he has a crush on her. The story is very simple. What sets this movie apart is the background and setting. Viewers of today will find it difficult to visualize a chawl—for them, I must add that chawls are unique to Mumbai. The inter-personal (almost symbiotic) relationships among the residents of the chawl is well-etched out in the movie. Even small details such as a household which has the distinction being the only one with a refrigerator, and folding furniture have been well thought out. There is a scene where buckets are lined at the crack of dawn to fill water—so very true. Coming to the performances, the trio of Shah, Shaikh, and Naval are outstanding in their roles. Everybody will vouch for Shaikh—but it is Shah who steals the show with his body language and understated emotions. Watch the movie if you want to know a day in the life of a typical middle-class Mumbaikar in the sixties and the seventies—the chawls began to disppear in the eighties.