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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD DESI KATTEY
EDITOR'S PICK
Two child actors, both performing very badly, grow up to be adult actors, one of whom turns out as a decent actor. As for the other, a crash course in basic emoting is recommended.
To find out which one of the two protagonists in this extended 'gaatha' (saga) of guns, guts and some glory redeems himself, you need to see "Desi Kattey", a surprisingly watchable, though at times stretched out beyond belief, yarn yoking crime and sports in a way that we haven't seen in any film.
To give you a plot heads-up, here's what this well-written script tells you. Two boys who grow up in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur, we are told) wielding guns as though there is no antidote to lawlessness anywhere nearby, soon decide to go their separate ways, like all filmy friends.
Interestingly, what separates them is not violence, but the way the gun is used. While Pali (Akhil Kapur) uses it for a life of extended crime the other gentler shooter Gyani(Jay Bhanushali) is weaned away from a life of bloodshed by an ex-armyman, played with a quiet strength by Suniel Shetty. He is simply known as 'Major' throughout the film.
Major has a minor problem, an annoying kid-sister played by Sasha Agha, who already proved in "Aurangzeb" that she can't act. She tries hard here, trying to make her presence felt in a script that has no room for female characters.
There are only two female characters in the entire film (not counting the item song by a foreigner, who sings with punning delight "Main patne wali hoon"). And that suits the movie's macho motivations just fine.
"Desi Kattey" is the sort of hurling, heaving, lurching and lumbering homage to rustic heroics that went out of fashion in the 1970s. And that's precisely why it holds your interest. It digs out the old convention of 'jigri' friends turned trigger-happy opponents and then takes the formula to another level altogether by keeping the emotional dynamics on an ambivalent level.
There is a lot that is seriously wrong with this film. But the narrative constantly redeems itself by playing against the rules of cliched cinema.
Director Anand Kumar builds the male bonding between the two buddies with tear-resistant material. Sure, Pali and Gyan, the two sharp-shooters who can aim at the hips and keep it a secret from their lips, hug and embrace and express more affection for one another than couples who have just discovered a shelf full of Archie comics.
But there is core of candour to the proceedings that makes the aberrations (hammy acting by many) bearable. While some of the actors behave as though their facial muscles do not listen to their mental faculties, Suniel and Ashutosh Rana skilfully play down their characters' pitch to an octave much lower than prescribed by the hyper-ventilating plot.
Jay as the shooter who goes from crime to national championship shows growth as an actor.
Kailash Kher's music is interesting at times.
Earthy, robust and virile, "Desi Kattey" is the macho
'gun gaan' that fans of Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Gupta's cinema would identify
with. If you like stories about boys on a rampage, this one will make your heart
swell with manly pride.
He has been in the Hindi film industry for a quarter of a century and has delivered some memorable films like "Mohra", "Hu Tu Tu", "Hera Pheri" and "Dhadkan". After such a long stint, actor Suniel Shetty now feels that it is the small screen that has given him a newer audience and a following.Read More
I began hating work while on sabbatical: Suniel ShettyActor Suniel Shetty, who has been away from the limelight for over three years now, says his preoccupation with attending to his ailing father Veerappa Shetty made him take a sabbatical from showbiz.Read More
From the maker of Delhi Heights, Jugaad & Zilla Ghaziabad, Anand Kumar is all set to launch his first movie through his production house Anand Kumar Productions.
Desi Kattey' is an action drama based in a small town near Kanpur. It is a story of two kids who become India's best sharp shooters thanks to the childhood they spend in the katta (handmade pistol) factory.
It is a movie about two friends, who've been making guns and accidentally learn shooting. The story is about their journey of how one of them represents India as a shooter in the Olympics and the other joins the under-world. A good versus evil story on how pistol manufacturers choose diametrically different fields.
