Katha (1983)

Rajaram P. Joshi (Naseeruddin Shah) is a middle-class Clerk living in a chawl in Bombay. He is secretly in love with his neighbor, Sandhya Karnik (Deepti Naval) but is unable to disclose ... See full summary »

Director:

Sai Paranjape

Stars:

Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Deepti Naval

Cast

Credited cast:
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Rajaram Purshotam Joshi
Farooq Shaikh	...	Bashudev (Bashu)
Deepti Naval	...	Sandhya Sabnis
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jalal Agha	...	Himself
Valerie Agha	...	Herself - Model
Tinnu Anand
Sudha Chopra	...	Club Singer
Suhasini Deshpande	...	Mrs. Sabnis
Arun Joglekar	...	Sabnis Bhau
Veeni Paranjape Joglekar	...	Jaijaiwanti 'Jojo' Dhindoria
Yatin Karyekar	...	Dancer
Rita Rani Kaul	...	Rajaram's colleague
Leela Mishra	...	Dadi Amma
Mallika Sarabhai	...	Anuradha Dhindoria
Sarika	...	Herself

Storyline

Rajaram P. Joshi (Naseeruddin Shah) is a middle-class Clerk living in a chawl in Bombay. He is secretly in love with his neighbor, Sandhya Karnik (Deepti Naval) but is unable to disclose his love for her. Rajaram's fast-tallking friend, Bashudev (Farooq Shaikh) comes for a visit and makes himself at home. Bashudev starts wooing Sandhya and soon both in love with each other. The Karniks decide to marry Sandhya and Bashudev, much to misery of Rajaram. But on the day of the engagement, Bashudev disappears, and the engagement is called-off. Rajaram offers to marry the devastated Sandhya, but she tells him that she has been very intimate with Bashudev, and is pregnant, and it remains to be seen if Rajaram will accept Sandhya or otherwise.

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Plot Keywords:

neighbor | middle class | friend | girl next door | blood donation | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Company Credits

Production Co:

Devki Chitra

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Remade as Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988)

User Reviews

Why no one makes movies like these anymore?

Why do all directors have to make an "epic" these days? What happened to the good old 'story telling' without making too much about it? Why no one makes movies like these anymore?

Simply told, it is a story of Rajaram, a modern day tortoise and his friend Basu, a modern day Hare and their race against each other. As the simile suggests, Rajaram is a simple and honest clerk who doesn't let go off any opportunity to help others, even absolute strangers whereas Basu is a smooth talker and a conman who doesn't have any qualms in stealing from his own friend. Even Sandhya, Rajaram's neighbor whom he fancies for a long time gets dazzled by Basu's glitter leaving Rajaram heartbroken. Just like the classic story, will Tortoise win against Hare in these modern times? This is a satire, a tragi-comedy and character analysis at its best.

The movie was actually shot in a chawl and the real residents played their parts as the neighbors of Rajaram and Sandhya. Naseer as Rajaram, Farooq Sheikh as Basu and Deepti Naval as Sandhya fit their parts like hand in a glove. Normally you would expect Naseer to play Basu's role and Farooq to play Rajaram's role but the accomplished actors that they are they disappeared into their characters.

No gimmicks, no technical wizardry, just plain old simple art of story telling.