Netflix’s CAT series was released on December 9, 2022, and received rave reviews from critics and viewers. The crime show stars Randeep Hooda, Hasleen Kaur, Danish Sood, Suvinder Vicky, Gurinder Makna and others. Directed by Balwinder Singh Janjua, the director penned the story along with Rupinder Chahal, Anil Rodhan and Jimmy Singh.
It is a Punjabi-language crime thriller that highlights drug issues. The series also focuses on corrupt politics, youth’s addiction to illegal substances, and sexual violence. The eight episodes will keep the viewer engrossed as they try to understand the seriousness of the issue that the people in the state deal with.
Leisurebyte spoke to actors Hasleen Kaur and Danish Sood, who play Babita and Sunny, respectively. Babita is a cop, who is Gurnam Singh’s (played by Randeep Hooda) friend, and Sunny is his brother. The actors spoke about working on the show, the reception it received, working with Randeep and the portrayal of the Sikh community.
I asked Hasleen and Danish about the portrayal of Punjabis being usually portrayed funnily, and they are at the receiving end of jokes. However, CAT shows a different, serious, human side of the characters. They’re not caricatures or constantly joking. The actors agreed that the Netflix show doesn’t promote the stereotypical representation of the Sikh Community.
Hasleen Kaur answers, “Randeep had actually answered the very same question, very beautifully in some of his interviews which I had reposted on Instagram also yesterday. You know, I am a Sikhni myself. I belong to that community. And he put it so beautifully; from the moment he sat down with the makers of the show, he said I am not going to portray a Sardar who is a caricature, who is a funny character and all about machismo and being entertaining. He said it very nicely and the way he put it up, his words touched me.”
Kaur further shared how while growing up in Delhi, her brother used to get bullied with comments like ‘aey baara baj gaye’. It’s a very disrespectful comment to pass on the Sardars.
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She adds, “For me, this entire portrayal of Gurnam’s character (was good). For Danish to play Sunny, helps you know the young people and their aspirations. For me to play Babita, a strong character, was empowering. I had to do justice to it. It was a big responsibility that I had on my shoulders about how beautiful you can portray the people of Punjab and not make it funny.”
Actor Danish Sood comments, “I completely couldn’t agree more. I feel like all these characters were not caricatures about people. I think, people think the Punjabis are supposed to be funny. We’ve seen a couple of films which have depicted them in a very funny tone or an undertone. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have issues. They don’t have to be funny about all the things.”
“The show in general was not a comedy show or it was not a comedic place. It was created by the creators in a way taking into considerations that these characters were people who you would empathise with and feel for them, what issues they were going through and the social stigma that were related to them. They also wanted to kind of negate those stereotypes that have been fixated by the people around us,” adds Sood.
You can watch the full interview with Netflix India’s CAT actors here.
Have you watched the show? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Cat Review: Gritty Plot and Randeep Hooda’s Graceful Control Concoct an Ominous Reality