“Kartavya” Movie Review – Netflix
“Kartavya” Movie – A Story Told Too Many Times Before: Should You Watch or Skip It?
“Kartavya“, the fake Haryanvi accent is terrible throughout the film. Also, Saurabh Dwivedi’s acting is quite a disaster. This is what we are going to talk about today.
The Story and Settings
The “Kartavya” film is set in a made-up place in Haryana called Jhamli. The makers tried to show Jhamli as a village or a town in Haryana. However, the word ‘Haryana’ is never actually spoken, and it is not written on any boards. I feel they did this because they did not want to link ‘honour killing’ directly with Haryana.
The main character in the “Kartavya” movie is a police officer named SHO Pawan, played by my favourite Saif Ali Khan. He speaks to his senior officer in a very rude and stubborn way. It feels like the SHO has some secret video of his SP! Saif Ali Khan plays a tough, local Haryanvi character who is extra stubborn. But this is the police department, and the other man is the SP. Yet, the SHO does not respect the senior at all. He threatens him whenever he wants and calls him by his name.
At first, I thought they might be old friends. Sometimes in movies, one friend becomes an SP, and the other stays an SHO, so they use names. But that is not the case here. So, why are the SHO and SP fighting like cats and dogs?
Let Us Understand The Story In a Few Lines:
- There is a ‘Godman’ (a fake holy man) in that area.
- He is quite a stylish Baba who wears tracksuits and trainers.
- On his orders, a journalist is murdered at the start of the film. She had come to Jhamli to reveal the Baba’s bad deeds.
This kind of story has been seen in thousands of movies before. To bring a change, the film adds a second layer about honour killing.
Bollywood’s Stereotypes
All the characters speak in a way that clearly tries to show they are from Haryana. Bollywood has a habit of fixing labels on different states:
- If they want to show Bihar, they must show gangs, crime, and vulgarity.
- If they want to show Punjab, they must show boys ruined by drugs and a beautiful sunset in mustard fields.
- If they want to show South India, they must show idlis, sambar, and lungis.
- In the same way, if they are showing Haryana, film-makers just have to show honour killing.
In this film, Saif Ali Khan’s brother runs away with a girl. Their father supports honour killing and wants to kill his own son. This is the second layer of the movie.
Another good part of the film is the duo of the SHO and the constable. Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Mishra work together like the famous Munna Bhai and Circuit. However, their chemistry becomes predictable, which was annoying.
The Problems With The Film
The main problem is that every single plot is predictable. The audience always knows what is going to happen next. There was a good chance to create mystery, but the film missed it.
The dialogues are also weak in some places.
The Actors’ Performances
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Saif Ali Khan: He is a very good actor and usually does well in these types of roles. His work here is decent. But as I said before, his fake Haryanvi accent is very annoying. However, viewers who do not speak Haryanvi will not mind it, because they will think this is how the language sounds.
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Sanjay Mishra: His work is good. His scenes where he flatters his boss are predictable, but he still does a wonderful job.
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Durgesh Kumar (Ban Rakas): This man showed great confidence in his acting and dialogue delivery. Even though his Haryanvi has a Bhojpuri touch, everyone except people from Haryana will love it. People from Haryana will just laugh out loud at how he speaks.
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Saurabh Dwivedi: He was a journalist who became an actor. His interview style in real life was good. He has ruined his hard-earned fame by doing this film. He has only three scenes, even though he was the main villain. Most of his shots are taken from behind his shoulder. This shows the director knew that this man had no expressions and cannot deliver the dialogue. The camera was kept away from his face as much as possible. In the one or two scenes where the camera focuses on his face, his acting completely falls apart. His character is the weakest in the film. His grand entry with a crowd was done using cheap special effects.
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Rasika Dugal, Zakir Khan, and Manish Choudhary: They all did a decent job. Rasika Dugal and Zakir Khan were actually much better with their accents.
The direction of the film is average. It fails to keep you hooked. You can guess the twists four scenes before they happen. The background music is nothing special, and the ending is very disappointing. It does not give you the satisfaction of a proper Bollywood film.
Overall, it is a weak movie. If you love thriller films a lot, you can watch it once. Otherwise, you can easily skip it.