A hollow rom-com that Kangana can't write her way out of.
Verdict tier Unfavorable, most critics didn't like it, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
Critic consensus
Katti Batti received a largely negative critical response, with most reviewers citing a weak, derivative script and an inability to deliver on either the romantic or comedic fronts of its rom-com premise. Director Nikhil Advani was frequently singled out for failing to craft a coherent or emotionally engaging narrative, with several critics drawing unfavorable comparisons to (500) Days of Summer. Kangana Ranaut's performance was the most consistently noted bright spot, though even her efforts were widely deemed insufficient to salvage the film's hollow writing. A promising opening and slick production values were acknowledged by a handful of reviewers, but the overall verdict was that the film fails to justify the time investment.
10 not-rated reviews aren't plotted
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 38 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyFrom the papers
Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
'Katti Batti' has some nice tracks (by Shankar Ehsaan Loy), slick production design, and stray moments of wit. But its merits are far outweighed by its numerous contrivances, and by its hollow writing that only appears modern on paper. The film's inventive 4-minute opening scene shot on a handicam offers promise, but little that follows lives up to it.
Top critic
Film review ·
Katti Batti is an imbecilic, cliche-ridden embarrassment that made me want to punch it in the mouth...
Top critic
Film review ·
Kangana and Imran spend the film engaged in the most inane of doings...Imran Khan is pleasant and earnest, Kangana Ranaut has knocked it out of the park a couple of times while playing feisty, and is capable of mining real emotions even in the fakest of films.
Film review ·
Katti Batti is not a great film. But it's done with a lot of heart. There are many limp episodes in the plot, and marginal actors who come and go preteding to be more important to the plot than they really are. But it all holds together at the end. Because love, you see, conquers all . Specially when it comes from a sincere place in the heart.
Film review ·
Katti Batti is not flawless. It takes too long to come to the point which eventually becomes its undoing. In dire need of good editing and funnier dialogues, the film nevertheless has its heart in the right place.
Film review ·
Somewhere between glossy ad, glassy music video, sitcom and masala movie, Katti Batti leaves you pouting. This could've had the lusty, gutsy power of a full-blown French kiss - it ends up a pleasant but passing peck on the cheek.
Film review ·
Watch it for you might want to see some 'Katti Batti' moments this weekend. Be prepared for the unexpected!
Film review ·
When I had seen the promos of the film, I had really great expectations from Katti Batti. But Nikhil Advani is in a cruel mood to disappoint us twice, after giving us a terrific D-Day. Watch this movie only if you are either a Imran Khan or Kangana Ranaut fan.
Film review ·
Nikhil Advani's Katti Batti is watch-able in parts thanks to some really good moments it produces. Imran and Kangana's unusual pairing works well for the hatke story. The film-maker has his heart at the right place, but his choppy direction fails to make the audiences empathise with the lead characters and the trauma they suffer. In the end one must add that watch this movie because it is not your regular rom com. The inherent message of the narrative is as sincere as Kangy and Imran's performances!
Film review ·
Imran Khan is sincere. Kangana has by now proved that she's a brilliant actress, but here she seems to be faltering a bit as if she is desperately looking for a firm footing in terms of a convincing character. And then she shines in the last ten minutes of the film, yet again leaving us in no doubt about what she is capable of. In fact, the last ten odd minutes of the film keeps you hooked to the screen. But obviously that is not enough at all.
Film review ·
An essential part of heartbreak films is the unsaid assurance that all will be well by the end. The only certainty here, is that this story of heartache will surely lead to a headache.
Film review ·
This is a film you wanted to like for various reasons, primarily that there hasn't been a good Hindi film on our screens since long. And secondly for Kangna Ranaut who steals your heart with her performance, in spite of the fact that you struggle to understand her character's behavior right till the end. Ah, it's going to be some more waiting at the theatres, I guess. Watch it if you must for Ranaut's crackerjack act.
Film review ·
'Katti Batti' is an immensely boring film. And what is infinitely more disappointing is that director Nikhil Advani has managed to rope in Bollywood's reigning queen for this job and yet fails to deliver on expectations.
Film review ·
...due to its weak script and non-engaging narrative, KATTI BATTI will face 'katti' from the audience at the box-office.
Film review ·
Katti Batti does have a few surprises and not all of them are pleasant. The production values are very high, the film is well stylised and a very good looking product on the whole. If you like a string of beautiful visuals with good looking people and don't care much for a story, then you could try Katti Batti. But don't say you weren't warned.
Film review ·
Katti Batti has a promising start, but a weak script and some run of the mill moments kills the chances of it turning into something worth your time and money.
Film review ·
Katti Batti will simply bore you! Either you'll spend your time crying over all the sad scenes or the fact that you bought the movie tickets. Katti Batti can be missed, watch at your own risk!
Film review ·
...all said and done, there is nothing very special to mention about the film's storyline as it is nothing new and films with such storyline have been made time and again in B-Town. 'Katti Batti' tends to get boring after a point of time and you might start getting weary and waiting for the film to end soon enough. The only saving grace for the film is it's climax which might take you by surprise and towards the end, there are a few scenes which are heart-touching and which might leave you teary eyed.
Film review ·
Katti Batti is a stale, boring and insensible film that seems like a mockery at love and relationships, thanks to its crassness.
Film review ·
The trailer says it's NOT a love story. The film is promoted with an interesting, twisted end. Err NOT! There is nothing new about the ending of the film. The only good thing about the ending was…that it ended.
Film review ·
Since the makers claimed that the film's climax has a heartwrenching twist, here's word of caution : the best thing about Katti Batti's 'gloomy' ending is that you can finally go have aspirin for that nagging, hammering headache the film gave you. We have solid reasons to be cross with Katti Batti, do you?
Film review ·
Katti Batti is infuriatingly indecisive... Even a radiant Kangana cannot rescue it.
Film review ·
Katti Batti is one of those aspiring rom- coms with a dash of sentimentality thrown in – effectively it is more of a slap than a dash, as the screenplay nosedives towards self destruction. What starts off breezily ends up huffing and puffing as it approaches the finishing line.
Film review ·
Boy meets girl and together they bore us...First Hero and now Katti Batti, director Nikhil Advani has delivered two back-to-back duds in consecutive weeks. In fact, Katti Batti makes Hero appear like a good film.
Film review ·
The comedy falls flat, the romance isn't intriguing enough to make us feel for the boy or the girl plus the backward forward narration muddles the process. Imran Kangana look fresh. Both the lead have fallen prey to weak writing which is further marred by cliché mentality. It's a rom com so college is a must. The lack of finesse in twining manipulative sugary emotions with reality as done by other makers is clearly missing.
Film review ·
Imran Khan and Kangana Ranaut's Katti Batti, directed by Nikhil Advani, gives a strong sense of been there, seen that....you might as well skip Katti Batti and do something more worthwhile this weekend. Those are 2 hours of your life spent wondering when you'll be able to walk out of the theatre. Unless you want to be subjected to the 'F' of 'FOSLA'.
Film review ·
...what the director does not realise is that too much masala could spoil his film, at least for the audience. Overall, the tragedy of Katti Batti lies in the fault of its director.
Film review ·
Nikhil Advani sticks to a tried and exhausted route, yet getting it completely wrong. Katti Batti is not a copy of Hollywood's 500 Days of Summer. Not even close. But it appears to be Nikkhil's tribute to the film. And not a very good tribute.
Film review ·
About 10 minutes into Katti Batti, I started having violent thoughts. These thoughts intensified when I recalled photos of Aamir Khan crying phoot-phoot ke after watching Katti Batti a few days ago. Aamir Khan, Imran Khan's mama or chacha or whatever, should have at least tweeted that those were tears of deep frustration. That he was howling because he had been impaled for over two hours by this nonsense. He didn't. And that's partly why my violent thoughts turned into an urge when the film shamelessly went weepy and sentimental.
Film review ·
No romance, zilch comedy in this rom-com. Should they stop trying so hard to remake movies and try their hand at some novel story-telling if not original stories?
Film review ·
It's difficult to believe that we are seeing such inane stuff on screen from a director who gave us D-DAY. If at all Nikhil wanted the script to tug at one's heart, he should have seen ANKHIYON KE JHAROKHON SE 10 times and then redone the movie. Indeed, this is FOSLA KA GHOSLA!
Film review ·
With stylishly shot and eminently hummable songs, and its fair share of funny moments, this film is a welcome break from the action thrillers that have released recently. It aims to entertain throughout and never gets too serious or too intense.
Film review ·
Kangana Ranaut and Imran Khan's 'Katti Batti' isn't fun...Nikhil Advani's rom-com is inspired by Hollywood tales...
Film review ·
Director Nikhil Advani's efforts in making Katti Batti are pretty evident. His film looks top notch with its visuals as well as detailing all on mark. The opening credits done with the stop motion video is a nice touch too. It's just the total turnaround from being a quirky romance to a weepy love saga seems a bit jarred. The humour doesn't work at all. The music is just about okay as well. It could all have been slightly better, but even so, what plays out on screen is largely good enough for fans of the romantic genre.
Film review ·
Everyone's a lunatic in this boring love story with Kangana and Imran...
Film review ·
For those ever hopeful ones who are star struck by Kangana Ranaut's brilliance in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, brace yourselves for the tragedy of the year. All you get to see in Katti Batti are Ranaut's dozen bangles, rings, anklets, a pretty tattoo, numerous wigs and her nice legs.
Film review ·
A Lukewarm Mess ...Katti Batti, feels like a manipulated product. There are two different stories at odds here: one that attempts to investigate why a relationship went sour and another about two people dealing with a crisis that affects their relationship. They may sound like similar things, but they aren't.
Film review ·
Katti Batti lacks the depth of an intense love story and also lacks entertaining moments. Its tension-ridden climax is another minus point, from the box-office point of view. It will end up as a losing proposal as it fails to not only entertain but also emotionally move the audience.
Film review ·
If Katti Batti didn't go spectacularly off the rails, the worst thing one could say about it was that it bears an unacknowledged debt to Marc Webb's (500) Days of Summer.
Film review ·
"Katti Batti" is a film that tries too hard to be "cool" and ends up falling on its face.
Film review ·
The humour misses its mark and the romantic entanglement rarely locks into place. This is a rom-com low on rom as well as com.
From our readers
8 ratings · user score 3.9
Love stories often don't work when the people involved in them are ignorant as heck. Katti Batti tries to literally adapt one such story and on the way goes on to define absurdity. Most words and phrases used in this review are selected from the film's idiotic dialogs so that you get a better idea as to what to expect. For most of the part, a peppy, hip girl named Payal (Ranaut) who is a wandering rebel born to Page 3 celebrities who decided to go all the way on the backseat of a car during a drunken brawl, and who has more than 2500 friends on Facebook is brutally skirt-chased by a baby-faced Maddy (Khan) who makes pursuing architecture look like a short week of R&R, who has just about 500 friends on Facebook including 350 fake profiles that he does't know about, and who has an annoying sister. There is no conviction in the story as it adopts a fair non-linear screenplay. An introduction to the so-called quirky characters using a hand-held shot sequence is all there is to relish in the first half. The screenplay looks like it has been stitched together using a defunct sewing machine by a one-legged tailor with retina inflammation. There is humor if you look for it, but the slapstick is so bad my senses now have finally learned to smile at Kapil Sharma's jokes. Love is fine, relationships are fine, even breakups are fine, but you don't want to shell out money to watch grown ups behave like kids, now do you? One should blame the dodgy story for its construction and unbelievability factor for all we see is a mopey boyfriend and a courageous girlfriend who does not like being called a girlfriend. So lets call her a girlfriend just to annoy her. Ranaut is an active participant in the drama while her co-actor is just a bystander. Since you all have given her the license, she overacts a bit too much in the sequences that required silence. All other characters are running behind our male protag so that he can forget about this "girlfriend" who dumped him without a reason. And the reason for the breakup is stupid, considering we are in 2015, when you know it. All said and done, the film is surely high on creativity, but is highly low on cake on which this creativity should have been the icing. BOTTOM LINE: With a turtle called Milkha (the irony!), Nikhil Advani's Katti Batti is what you get when you take relationships too seriously and literally and make a film about it. Wait for DVD; but buy only when its price goes down to INR 49 on Amazon. And why not use the Mobikwik cashback offer on it? Grade: D- Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
Katti Batti is a romantic comedy by Nikhil Advani. In the beginning, it appears that the film is an attempt to explore the sweet-sour, love-hate relationship of the lead protagonists, who are in a live-in set up. But, later on the film moves to different domain explaining the reasons behind the katti Batti of the lead protagonists. Katti Batti are the words used by kids. Katti is the word used when kids fight and they decide that they would never talk to each other. Batti is the word which is used when the fight is dissolved and the decision to not speak to each other is not valid anymore. Nikhil explores the katti Batti of the lead protagonists. The Katti predominates in their relationship or finally Batti happens, that is for you to explore and watch. The frames keep moving from present to flash back. If the first half projected the romance between Imran and Kangana followed by their frequent fights and their relationship falling apart, second half is about Imran's pursuit to fetch her back. The film begins with Payal (Kangana Ranaut) and Madhav aka Maddy's (Imran Khan) sharing some fun moments and capturing the same in camera viz. Quirky manner of getting married by taking the round of fire lit in the waste, using sauce instead of sindur etc. These scenes definitely set the tone of the movie to be a very lighter one, but they don't generate much laughter. Very soon, we see Maddy being rushed to the hospital, who has drunk phenol because Payal has left him. His sister Koyal comes to meet him in the hospital, and she along with his friend Vinay takes him to hometown to his father Suneel Sinha. Koyal, though younger to him is very protective of him and takes authoritative approach. Both Koyal and Vinay persuade Maddy to forget Payal and move on in life. On Maddy's return to office (he is an architect), he finds that the whole office is sympathetic towards him due to his suicide attempt, courtesy Vinay. The frames in between move to the flash back to explain how it was love at first sight for Maddy. He fell in love with spunky Payal, her independent nature, quirky ways. He persistently followed her and expressed to her that he loves her. Payal transparently conveyed that she is not keen for any committed relationship; it would be just a time pass for her. Maddy was so much in love with her that he even agreed to her this attitude. Five years of live-in relationship - all sorts of doing crazy stuff together, madness and togetherness. But then a series of fights begin. Although the fights are not shown very evidently, these run in the background. Certain events turn the course of the relationship and Payal just vanishes from Maddy's life, goes away. In spite of Koyal and Vinay constantly asking Maddy to move on in life, he is not able to get over Payal. Koyal keeps reminding Maddy that he is not the perfect guy for Payal, there is a huge class difference between the two, Payal belonging to upper class and he to the middle class. Maddy is not ready to forget Payal, since somewhere he believes that Payal still loves him. Without knowing the whereabouts of Payal, he frantically starts contacting their common friends to know where she could be. Is Maddy able to locate her? If yes, how? Is he able to win her back? Do they dissolve their fight and say Batti to each other? How does Ricky (Vivaan) play his role in the movie? Does Ricky's presence help Payal and Maddy to reunite? Imran gets majority of the screen time. Payal gets less screen time in comparison to Imran, and this definitely is not her 'queen' performance. Lot of characters are fillers. Boss of Maddy keeps calling him and his friend Vinay as his Rama and Lakshmana. But he is hardly able to generate laughter. Some other fillers are characters of Deepika (Maddy's colleague), friends Tina, Shweta etc. One more character that of a tortoise is there and how it becomes part of the film, watch it. I wish, Suneel as Maddy' s father, a great actor, had some substantial role to play. Shankar Ahsaan Loy' music is ok. The Sufi song sung by the FOSLA band (Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association) is good. Cinematography is good. I wish, the screenplay could have been a bit gripping with good sense of humour blended with emotions. All of you may not like the movie, since it is not very high on entertainment quotient. You may like the movie for its last 30 minutes, if you are an emotional person and enjoy watching display of emotions on screen. I also felt that Nikhil took a safe approach to end the movie to show what actually sells emotionally. Overall, the film is OK. Katti Batti, although with not so gripping screenplay, fares alright with the story blended with emotions especially towards the end of the film.
Just Avoid This Movie ...
Credits
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