Sameer Vidwans has several popular Marathi films and shows to his credit as a director. ‘Anandi Gopal’, a film directed by him in 2019, was written by Karan Shrikant Sharma. The writer and director collaborate now collaborate for ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’, a film which marks their debut in Hindi cinema. The film features Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani in principal roles and has released in theatres this week.
Satyaprem (Kartik Aaryan) is a jobless young man who wears his heart on his sleeve and believes in being completely honest all the time. He lives in Prahlad Nagad, a middle class locality in Ahmedabad. His family comprises of father Narayan (Gajraj Rao), mother Diwali (Supriya Pathak Kapur) and sister Sejal (Shikha Talsania). Satyaprem has been a law student in the past but failed to clear his final examinations and get a law degree. Satyaprem has the urge to get married as soon as possible. While no girl seems to be interested in getting married to him because of his professional status, Satyaprem has his eyes set on Katha (Kiara Advani), a young woman he had met during a garba event organized the previous year.
The trailer and other promotional material of ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’ didn’t reveal much about the plot of the film and that works in its favour. Despite being a romantic drama with elements of comedy in it, the film tries to hold the audience’s attention through the suspense in the narrative. Karan Shrikant Sharma, who has written the story, screenplay and dialogues, might have realized that the twist in the tale would be quite commonplace and easy for the audience to guess. Therefore, he tries to mislead the audience into believing that the core conflict of the film lies elsewhere. Discussing this further would lead to spoilers, so I would not speak more about it. While the twists and turns in the narrative might not appeal to everybody, they help in adding to the dynamic energy of the plot which, to be honest, is thoroughly engaging. Apart from writing a very engaging, Karan Shrikant Sharma also deserves special mention for writing punchy dialogues that contribute greatly towards making the film engaging.
Director Sameer Vidwans mounts the film on a good scale and strike a fine balance making the world he has created look real and cinematic. The dynamics of the relationship between Satyaprem and Katha have been explored well and the kind of growth their relationship witnesses comes across as organic.
The production design (Rajat Poddar) is very good. The camerawork by Ayananka Bose is one of the driving factors behind the vibrant visual design of the film. The background score (Hitesh Sonik) has been used appropriately and helps in elevating the impact of some of the key dramatic scenes in the film. Out of the original tracks, only ‘Aaj Ke Baad’ leaves an impact to a certain extent. The costumes designed for Kartik Aaryan (Aki Narula) and Kiara Advani (Natasha Vohra) stand out. There is not much to complain with the editing (Charu Shree Roy).
Kartik Aaryan plays to the gallery and make his character come across as extremely likeable. Kiara Advani delivers one of the best performances of her career and leaves a solid impact. Gajraj Rao gets some wonderful scenes to shine and he makes the most of them. Supriya Pathak Kapur, as always, delivers a memorable performance. Shikha Talsani gets limited scope. The same goes for Anuradha Patel. Siddharth Randeria, however, leaves a huge impact as Harikishen. While Rajpal Yadav’s cameo is not impactful, Nirrmite Saawaant’s is.
Director Sameer Vidwans and writer Karan Shrikant Sharma do a fine job of conveying an important message to the audience through a film which has been nicely packaged as a commercial entertainer. One of the better Hindi films to have arrived this year, ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’ should appeal to a wide segment of the audience.