Film: Katha
Rating: 4/10
Banner: Just Yellow Media pvt ltd
Cast: Arun Adit, Genelia, Prakashraj, Shafi, Raghubabu, Tulasi, Jayalalitha, Ravikiran Babu, Praneeth, Srilatha, C M Kalyan and others
Dialogues: Gunnam Gangaraju
Lyrics: Anantha Sriram
Music: S K Balachandran
Cinematography: I Andrew
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Story, Screenplay, Director: Srinivas Raaga
Producer: Gunnam Gangaraju
Release date: Dec 12 2009
Slated to be a romantic thriller and that too with the bubbly beauty Genelia in the lead, the film ‘Katha’ was meant to be an interesting treat. Whether it is really interesting or not, let us go into details.
Essense:
Chitra (Genelia) is a school teacher who comes to Araku to teach school students. Krishna (arun) is an aspiring director who comes along with his team to make a movie at the same place. Soon, their paths meet and Krishna falls for her. However, there is a flashback for Chitra that is revealed later and to add to it, Chitra says she has witnessed a murder as well. Was it really true or a hallucination? What is the real ‘Katha’? All this forms the essence.
Artistes:
The bubbly beauty Genelia has given her best efforts to do justice to the film but then her role was not given that depth and portrayed correctly. However, her chirpy looks and cute smiles make up for the score.
Arun Adit has shown confidence in front of the screen but then he is raw. There are a few things he has to work on like his expressions, posture, body language etc if he is looking at making a career in film industry.
Prakashraj has given another decent performance, though he plays a crucial role and a brief one, he made his presence felt whenever required. No complaints on that one.
The entire film revolves pretty much around Genelia so it must be said that the stand out act has been that of Raghu Babu who spreads good laughter with his witty dialogues and expressions. Shafi was not used to the fullest, Tulasi was standard and so was Jayalalitha, Ravikiran Babu was alright, C M Kalyan was usual, they were regular and contributed as required.
Sign-Out Lines:
The film came out with an interesting concept but then it was caught between two genres – romance and thriller. That led to a lot of confusion and it must be said that there is a major flaw in the direction. The storyline was appealing but the narrative was very weak, presentation was good in many places. Dialogues were mild, the script lacked the spine, screenplay was erratic. Another flaw in the film is the background score which was overenthusiastic in every scene. To create an impact in a thriller, silence at the right time works best and the music director is busy giving a sentimental tune which is a major turn off. Editing was not crisp. Songs were not good either barring one which was a bit melodious. Cinematography was professional and the locations were good in few scenes.
The film runs on a very slow pace and given the lack of depth in the plot, it is quite boring. While the first half revolves around the lighter elements, the second half tries to get serious and there are one or two scenes where the audience interest is engaged. But soon, it loses its grip and gets back to a monotonous tune. The lack of comedy is another drawback and despite the presence of highly talented stars like Prakashraj, Genelia, Shafi, the director could not pull a good one. There is nothing for the mass audience, family audience might come for Genelia but lose interest in no time, and youth don’t have much to talk about it either. The film is mostly ending up as a dud at the box office.
