Satya Prem Ki Katha is a love story, and a story of a man, who may be simple but is woke enough to understand women’s right to say no, writes Rajeshwari Kalyanam
Satya Prem Ki Katha, a Hindi film starring Kartik Aryan and Kiara Advani – is a love story, and a story of a man, who may be simple, not so educated or modern in the typical worldly way – but is woke enough to understand gender equality. He has the ability to introspect, even check himself when he gives into his conditioning, and does not heed to a woman’s wishes.
Kartik Aaryan, who plays Satyaprem lives with his mother, sister, father in his old family home with its broken chair kept in memory of his grandparent, cooks for the family, does chores, and has absolutely no qualms about it. Yet, he considers himself unfit for any job as he fails in his LLB exam.
In contrast, is Katha, daughter of the owner of the popular Farsan dukaan, extremely rich whose daughter Katha enjoys freedom and has a boyfriend, and is once spotted by Satyaprem, who falls in love with her. He dreams of marrying her, and eventually is in a situation where he actually gets to marry her.
On the other hand is Katha, who finds herself a victim of date rape and is broken in spirit when she is forced to marry Satyaprem by her family. Her father blames her for what happened to her, and so does she.
The film in addition to being about how the lead pair discover love, affection and respect for each other, also tries to make a commentary on the right of a woman to say no to any sexual advances within a marriage or outside during a romantic date. How any kind of force after she says No is legally accountable. The film effectively comments of the society’s misplaced perception on blaming the woman in case of sexual violence, when she is already dealing with being a victim. Along the way, there is also a reference in Asexuality and other not so often understood and often misunderstood gender related concepts that affect relationships as part of the narrative.
Satya Prem Ki Katha, directed by award winning director Sameer Sanjay Vidwans known for his socially relevant films navigates the thin line between what would seem like forced advocacy bordering on insensitivity in portraying serious issues and creating entertaining screenplay where social issues are seamlessly blended into the script. And, one should be fair enough to say, the director did manage to safely walk past the line, but not without faltering at places.
Other than that the film is watchable, and the the vibe of Gujarati lifestyle has been endearingly portrayed giving the film certain character. Satya Prem ki Katha is available to watch on Prime Video.
