Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar

Gr 9 Up–Miscommunications galore fuel the humor and heart in this debut cinematic romantic comedy. Krishna Kumar, 18, is on one last trip to visit family in Mumbai before starting her freshman year at Johns Hopkins University. She also has a mission: to get her first kiss with Bollywood-star handsome Amrit Acharya before she leaves. After missing her opportunity at an end-of-summer party, Krishna gets a second chance after her flight home is delayed. Amrit has already left for a wedding in Goa, so she needs to recruit her favorite-cousin-turned-nemesis Priti and Priti’s quiet best friend Rudra to get her there. As the trio road trips through India, Krishna and Priti are forced to confront the events that strained their relationship, while Krishna begins to develop feelings for Rudra. Discussions of identity influence the plot in several places. Krishna’s self-consciousness around feeling too American for her Indian family members affects her strained relationship with Priti. Krishna and Rudra’s bisexual identity brings them closer together, and Priti’s love for her ex-girlfriend is her motivation for helping Krishna. Krishna, Priti, and Rudra are Indian. Some dialogue is written in Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati characters, with English translations as footnotes.