Sanya Malhotra Investigates a Bizarre Disappearance in the ‘Kathal’ Trailer

In the same week that Prime Video debuted the trailer for its upcoming Indian crime drama series Dahaad, Netflix has unveiled the trailer for an entirely different kind of cop story — Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery, a new Hindi-language comedy starring Sanya Malhotra as a cop tasked with locating two missing jackfruits. “Kathal,” in Hindi, means “jackfruit,” which makes this a “chai tea” situation.

When two prized jackfruits are stolen from a local politician’s garden, “a young, earnest and ambitious police officer” must get to the bottom of the mystery. As absurd as that premise might sound, the movie doesn’t simply roll with the satirical tone. It has the protagonist acknowledge the absurdity, when she remarks, “This case is barely valid. Soon, people will flock to report missing carrots and turnips.”

The local news media subsequently gets involved, and soon, the politician, played by Vijay Raaz, sits down for an interview. “If a politician’s house can get robbed, how safe is the common public?” he asks. With pressure to solve the case mounting, the police chief tells Malhotra’s character that she will have every resource at her disposal. “If you need more man-power, arms and ammunition, just ask for it,” he says, while she has the brilliant idea of simply buying two jackfruits from the grocer’s and handing them over with fingers crossed. But the politician’s family can’t be fooled. They recognize immediately that the lineup of jackfruits presented by the cops doesn’t include the ones that were stolen from them.

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A satire about the news media, political corruption, and maybe even blind faith (going by the lyrics of the song that plays in the background), Kathal has the potential to be a rather welcome diversion from the usual kind of Bollywood potboilers that are released in theaters and on streaming every week.

Malhotra is a Promising Young Star

It marks Malhotra’s third Netflix film as lead. She previously starred in the dark comedy Pagglait, and then in the romantic drama Meenakshi Sundereshwar. She broke out with the massively successful sports drama Dangal in 2016, and delivered acclaimed performances in director Vishal Bhardwaj’s political satire Pataakha, and in director Ritesh Batra’s Photograph. What’s worth pointing out is that Malhotra is quickly making a name for herself by starring in the kind unconventional genre films that not too many Bollywood actors of her age usually associate themselves with. Raaz, on the other hand, remains one of Hindi cinema’s most respected character actors; Western audiences would recognize him from Mira Nair’s modern classic Monsoon Wedding.

Kathal is co-produced by recent Oscar-winner Guneet Monga, who is best known for producing the acclaimed Hindi-language hits Gangs of Wasseypur, Masaan, and The Lunchbox. She won her Academy Award for the documentary short The Elephant Whisperers earlier this year. Also starring Rajpal Yadav, Neha Saraf, Brijendra Kala and Anantvijay Joshi, Kathal will be released on Netflix on May 19. You can watch the trailer here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.