I was neither planning to watch Satyaprem ki Katha, nor planning to write a review for it, as I was sure I would change the movie in the first ten fifteen minutes. But thanks to super boredom and nothing interesting to watch on the internet, I thought of giving this Kartik Aaryan-Kiara Advani movie a shot. Till a mysterious twist was introduced, trust me, you won’t want to watch it till the end.
Why is Kartik Aaryan-Kiara Advani’s Satyaprem ki Katha a must-watch?
After a long time, a commercial movie told us a story. They didn’t preach though. It was, as promised, a love story but a hard-hitting story. Since the movie was released in theatres and now is also available on OTT, let’s talk about Satyaprem ki Katha’s story.
Satyaprem Ki Katha Story
Like every other commercial or star-studded film, we see the movie wasting much of its beginning in introducing the hero of the film and setting up the character for the audience. From what we see on the screen and the way his mother and sister treats him, we know this guy is useless and worthless. As he has failed his LLB exam and spends much of his time doing household chores just like his father, he dreams of marrying and settling down in life. But his mother isn’t convinced as she thinks that a useless guy like him doesn’t deserve a girl in life.
A small flashback tells us that Satyaprem (Kartik Aryan) has had a brief encounter with Katha (Kiara Advani) at a garba fest a year ago. He develops a strong attraction towards her and couldn’t forget her but isn’t chasing the girl because she already has a boyfriend.
A year later, right before the garba event, Satyaprem gets to know from his father that Katha has broken up with the guy she was dating. He patiently waits for Katha but gets to know from his family that she is unwell and wouldn’t be attending or performing at the event this year. His father suggests that he go and meet Katha, take her to the Doctor, if needed so that she starts noticing him and his affection for her. When Satyaprem visits Katha, he finds Katha in an almost unconscious state. She faints as she was trying to commit suicide. Satyaprem rushes her to the hospital and Katha is saved. From here, the story gets interesting.
Whenever you see Katha, you realise it’s not just the break-up that’s killing her but the movie moves ahead without giving us any details about her mental condition. All we see is that her father is furious as she has had an affair and now nobody is ready to marry her as the entire community knows she was dating someone. As Satyaprem gets vocal about his affection for Katha, her father sees him as an opportunity to get his daughter wed.
This disturbs Katha further. She clearly tells Satyaprem that she is not happy with this union but as she has made a lot of wrong choices in life, this time, she will go with her father’s choice. Unwillingly, she marries Satyaprem. And then the couple’s real struggle begins. We see Katha get uncomfortable whenever she shares the bed with her husband. This doesn’t have to do anything with getting intimate. Katha then makes an excuse that she cannot sleep as Satyaprem snores. To make things comfortable for his wife, he starts sleeping in a different room. As this continues for months and the family starts getting concerned about the couple not sleeping together, Satyaprem asks Katha the real reason behind her excuse. She clearly tells him that she is asexual and hence wants him to stay away from her. Frustrated, Satyaprem asks Katha’s father why he got them married. To this, he convinces Satyaprem to win his daughter’s affection first.
Satyaprem, without even trying to get intimate, respecting Katha’s choices, starts making her comfortable in her new home. He becomes her friend. Whenever she gets uncomfortable, he notices that and gets her out of the situation. All he knows now is something is troubling Katha so his entire focus shifts on comforting his wife by just being there for her. Slowly, we see Katha getting close to Satyaprem. She tries hard to get intimate but then backs out again.
One night, when the couple willingly get intimate and start warming up to each other, we see Katha breakdown, freeze in the bed, and scream out of fear. This is when both, the audience and Satyaprem gets to know that Tapan, Katha’s ex-boyfriend had raped her. When Katha comes back to her senses, she rushes to the bathroom and locks herself inside. Unable to see his wife in such a condition, Satyaprem waits for her to come out but when she doesn’t, he tells her that he is moving out of the room and it is safe for her to come out.
Satyaprem and Katha’s journey of healing the trauma begins. We see the guy get deeply disturbed by the fact that his wife was not just raped but she has been fighting it all alone till now, yet when he is with her, he behaves normally and casually. That helps Katha stop blaming herself for whatever happened.
She even proposes to leave her husband and return home as she might never be able to have sex again in life. Satyaprem tells her that he would be ok not having sex and that an affectionate relationship would just work fine.
There are small moments between the couple that break and win your heart at the same. One, when Satyaprem kisses Katha’s forehead to comfort her and then immediately asks her if that makes her uncomfortable. Or a scene where Katha hugs him but he is still hesitating as he doesn’t know if hugging her back would be alright. The boundary that he maintains and the respect he shows for the woman he loves is so satisfying to watch. Then there is a scene between Satyaprem and his mother where she tells him that a relationship without sex for life might get difficult for you after a point but never let Katha feel ashamed or bothered for it as her scars are too deep. She might take a lifetime to heal. But the way the mother finally accepts him as a worthy man asking him to just be the way he is, is heartwarming.
The real stars of Satyaprem ki Katha are its story and Kiara’s performance. Other than the trauma that she is going through, the entire movie was light-hearted. But the intensity that she carried throughout was unnerving. The first time she smiles after her wedding with Kartik Aryan, you feel relieved. Till then, you are constantly worried for her.
I strongly recommend you to put Satyaprem Ki Katha on your watchlist now.
And yes, before I end this review, here are a few terms used in the film that I am sure people will want to know about. What is first base, second base, third base, and fourth base when it comes to sex?
First base sexually means getting cosy, warming up to each other, and starting to get intimate. Second base sexually means getting physical above the waist. Third base means stimulating below the waist and fourth base means intercourse. The funny part is there is no hardcore rule here. While some people may combine third and fourth base and call it the fourth while others break it down further to fifth base. So, just use this as a reference to understand the context in the movie, Satyaprem ki katha.
P.S: A big round of applause to Karan Shrikant Sharma, the writer of Satyaprem ki katha, for putting light on date rape and telling the world that romantic love shouldn’t boil down to just sex.