Katha remake to go on floors in December

Zeeshan Ayyub

By Priyanka Bhadani

Plans to remake the 1983 comedy, Katha, directed by Sai Paranjape are afoot. The film will be directed by Khalid Mohammad and will be produced by Anjum Rizvi, informs actor Sohum Shah, who will be reprising the character portrayed by Farooque Shaikh.
“It’s one of my favourite movies from the ’80s. These days, we rarely see a film that has the depth which Katha, or similar movies of that time had,” says Shah, who is excited to portray Bashudev’s role. The actor is aware that stepping into Shaikh’s character will not be easy. “I truly admire him as an actor. It’s going to be difficult to capture all the elements that he so effortlessly did,” remarks Shah, adding that he will bring his own interpretation to the character.
While the movie is slated to be a remake of the original one, the story will be set in contemporary times. “The recce for the shoot has already been done and we will go on floors in December,” says Shah. The team is in the meantime, zeroing in on the same locales of Mumbai where the original movie was shot.
The rest of the film’s cast is still being finalised with Zeeshan Ayyub being considered to play Rajaram P. Joshi’s role that was originally played by Naseeruddin Shah. “The actress to play Deepti Naval is still being thought about,” says Shah.
Katha is a slice-of- life comedy about the timid Rajaram (Naseeruddin Shah), who is secretly in love with Sandhya Sabnis (Deepti Naval), his neighbour. However, his friend Bashudev woos Sandhya with his flirtatious ways, and the two get engaged, much to Rajaram’s dismay.