Film Review: Netflix’s First Telugu Original Film ‘Pitta Kathalu’ Presents Bold Stories With Enticing Shades of Grey5 min read
Reading Time: 4 minutesFour different women, four journeys of love and betrayal. The common thread? They all want to dismantle the patriarchy.
Directors: Tharun Bhascker, B.V Nandini Reddy, Nag Ashwin, and Sankalp Reddy
Cast: Amala Paul, Ashwin Kakumanu, Eesha Rebba, Jagapathi Babu, Lakshmi Manchu, Saanve Megghana, Sanjith Hegde, Shruti Haasan, Naveen Kumar, Satya Dev, Srinivas Avasarala, and Ashima Narwal
Year: 2021
Country: India
Language: Telugu
Runtime: Around 30 minutes each
Series Trailer:
Netflix’s first Telugu-language original content Pitta Kathalu examines the lopsided power dynamics of relationships through the perspectives of four women. The anthology film abandons the defeating trope of women as pure souls for a mature depth in complexity. Patriarchal norms are highlighted together with the human and less-than-sinless responses of those oppressed.
It makes for an intriguing and engaging approach. Unfortunately, the four stories would wildly differ in terms of enjoyability, no thanks to contrived plot points and overambition. All four’s fascination with vindication and endings with twists and shocks also leads each episode to swing from grounded exploration to melodrama by their ends. Still, Pitta Kathalu will satisfy with its star-studded cast and provocative stories.
The anthology film is presented in four parts. In Ramula, a young woman (Saanve Megghana) navigates her ailing relationship with the son of former politician Ram (Naveen Kumar Bethiganti), who is unable to differentiate between love and lust. Meera sees a writer and mother of two (Amala Paul) survive the jealous rage of her husband Viswa (Jagapathi Babu), who suspects infidelity. xLife imagines a future where virtual reality has completely taken over, leading to a world without any meaningful connections. Pinky details a messy extramarital affair and its disastrous fallout.
In between these stories lies an examination of their cultural contexts but they would not be the defining tension. Rather, they tend to explore how these become the basis of the hows and whys of the central characters’ powerlessness. It’s often not a heavy-handed approach either, with these systemic challenges brought up only in passing or through implications. On top of these, ubiquitous issues and themes, such as infidelity and abuse, are also highlighted.
What makes Pitta Kathalu engaging is the shade of grey it employs with its female leads. Rage, revenge and retaliation are directed towards surrounding characters rather than the system itself. And these tend to bubble up into manipulative action and behaviour that are life-destructive. The anthology doesn’t look to celebrate or glorify these behaviours either. It all makes for terrific drama — although the execution of this overarching theme wildly varies between stories.
Ramula stands out as the best of the bunch. Interweaving politics and culture, the dark comedy set in the Telangana countryside is equally entertaining as it is heartbreaking. Megghana brings to her lead character a profound nuance. She balances her dignity as a woman with her love for a cowardly ex-politician’s son who wouldn’t even admit that they are dating. Meanwhile, politician Swaroopakka, delightfully portrayed by Lakshmi Manchu, swoops in to capitalise on their breakup, which leads to a showstopping finale.
Meera comes in as a close second. Infidelity, jealousy and sexuality take centre stage. Despite having two children, Meera is in an unhappy marriage with Vikram, a successful businessman and abusive husband decades older than her. However, much like the perpetually stormy weather that gathers above the family, intentions between the pair remain constantly murky. Thanks to intense performances by the two leads, it’s the story that would undoubtedly leave the most impact.
The last two segments, xLife and Pinky, are comparatively less entertaining. Despite its ambitious premise of a futuristic dystopia, xLife falls short due to an uninteresting pair of leads and an unfocused plot. Big ideas of love, technology and attraction are evoked but are left wavering on by the end. Pinky, on the other hand, suffers from a shortage of ambition. Themes of arranged marriages and marital power relations are brought up but the story concludes in such a melodramatic way that they lose any punch.
Together with Paava Kadhaigal and Putham Pudhu Kaalai, there has been a growing trend of Indian films on streaming platforms using the anthology format. With the exception of Putham Pudhu Kaalai, these have been presented in bite-sized chunks. In Pitta Kathalu, the lean runtimes become a double-edged sword of sorts.
Stories either feel like they are padded out to reach the uniform average 30-minute mark, or they feel limited by what they could present. Their tendency to wrap up with shocking conclusions also feel like a hurried way to make a lasting impression; some do, but more so thanks to the splendid performances.
Either way, it’s hard to deny the intriguing mature approach Pitta Kathalu utilises in viewing the complexities of relationships against the backdrop of oppressive conditions. In the film, challenges against patriarchy are hardly black and white, especially when even broader questions of morality and ethics would be inevitably tangled up.
The film brings up broad, fascinating topics that are thought-provoking but, as a whole, falls short at delivering on oomph. Still, Pitta Kathalu is definitely worth checking out, especially with its episodic format and short runtimes making them easily digestible.
Pitta Kathalu is now streaming on Netflix
