Gatta Kusthi follows the story of a male chauvinist who does marry a girl as per his fixed marriage criteria. But nothing is what it seems like! The story here is surprisingly good and hilarious while addressing a very important issue. We have seen the concepts of male toxicity and patriarchy being tackled in films like The Great Indian Kitchen, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey or even Ammu. So the story itself may not be novel but it does very well in addressing it here in a light and frothy manner while being packaged as a mass masala entertainer. The screenplay of almost 150 minutes may seem to be slightly long but this one offered a smooth ride with almost no speed breakers.

Very early on in the film, it is established that the protagonist Keerthi is a wrestler with a good educational qualification who is being forced to marry as per the norms of an Indian family. At the same time, the protagonist Veera is shown to be diabolically opposite to her character filled with false bravado despite not even completing school. The writers do make an effort to show the protagonist ‘good at heart’ which doesn’t make the viewers hate him right away despite his drawbacks. The game is set when the two are married off despite Veera being unaware of his wife’s educational qualifications and her short hair(he preferred long hair which is a nice little stereotype on the choice of Indian males). And thus the drama does promise to be a joyride.

The proceedings are downright hilarious wherein I found myself surprisingly laughing at a few sequences. A little cat and mouse game of the wife hiding her truth from her husband did formulate for some hysterical moments. The grand reveal at what seemed like a halfway mark was excellent wherein there was a bit of a role reversal between characters. In a mass masala entertainer, we often are used to the alpha males flexing their muscles but here it was Keerthi beating up the bad guys in front of her husband in grand style. And this was a lot of fun to witness, needless to say refreshing as well.

Usually there is a scope of the momentum of the drama being stalled in the second hour but here the writers keep churning out several moments which are playful and entertaining right throughout. The integration of sports in the second half especially leading to the match up between the husband and his wife was a nice little idea floated around. It did seem like a metaphor for the verbal fights that usually unfold within families. The drama was a perfect opportunity to end on a high but sadly that is where the film falters. The late introduction of the antagonist who is a womanizer did not help either. The writing did get a little cliched towards the end wherein the final fight which should have been a heartwarming one was instead reeking of machismo and too simplistic in its execution. But nevertheless, the writing here is very good and most definitely springs a surprise with its themes and humour.