Kalank

Can Bollywood please leave the job of creating epic period dramas to the experts at the job? 

Guess not. Abhishek Varman is that friend in the exam we all meet, who even after given the entire cheat sheet to a problem, messes up the answer by wasting time in the beautification and elaboration and thus ultimately misses the point. From the first song sequence of “Odhni”, Kalank explicitly starts giving you déjà vu of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s creations, but only a bad one at it.

What Abhishek or Dharma productions is yet to understand is that Bhansali’s epics are the result of complete passion, intense storytelling, heightened emotions  and  most importantly surrendered madness with flamboyant backdrops. There are no stained realities in Bhansali’s world neither are there any safe surface level attempts; so if you are so obviously deciding to recreate that magic, then at least be fair to it.

For me, Kalank was a visual treat, just like any Bhansali productions. And how can it not be? Kalank’s cinematography is done by Binod Pradhan who worked with Bhansali to create Devdas. Along with it, the production design by Amrita Mahal Nakai just made it a splendid visual treat.  

The passage to Bahaar Begum’s Kota is mesmerizing just like the castles and costumes by Manish Malhotra, Maxima Basu, and Ajay Kmr. The problem with Kalank is the same; they have taken painstakingly intense efforts in setting up the story milieu and did a lazy job creating characters with layers and a plot worth rooting for.

The major reason why Bhansali’s grandeur way of storytelling works is because of the insanely intense performance by his actors.  It’s also evident that along with the actors’ talent its Sanjay’s passion that creates the magic onscreen.  What Abhishek lacks in Kalank is also the same, that fire or passion that automatically will transform the characters out of the actors. All the characters created and the plot did have a lot of scope to have been developed into an epic drama about the complicated human lives. But sadly story writer Shibani Bhathija, screenplay writer Abhishek or dialogue writer Hussain Dalal was hardly interested in it.

I was so relieved that Alia Bhatt was finally given characters with so much caliber that she can handle a whole movie on her shoulders if need be. Unfortunately, Alia as Roop in Kalank hardly is able to give her best due to the underwritten surface level role given to her. 

Same is the case with otherwise bankable actors Madhuri Dixit as ‘Bahaar Begum’ or Sanjay Dutt as ‘Balraj Chaudhry’. They all seemed uncomfortable and painfully one toned. Maybe it's just me but it was disturbing to see Madhuri’s expressions fall flat in many instances in the song sequences or in an intense moment of outburst in the movie. 

After Badlapur and October, Varun Dhawan luckily is given a complex character as Zafar, probably the only character in the movie who was given justifiable effort crafting. Zafar is not the easily likable character but Varun successfully threads on the blurred lines of right and wrong as Zafar and gives an earnest performance.

Aditya Roy Kapur’s sober existence as Dev Choudhry throughout the first half was a relief but sadly once again his was also reduced to a one-note role, probably due to which the second half shows him drinking out his sorrows (which has almost become a sure thing in Aditya’s movies). Sonakshi Sinha as ‘Satya’ manages to convince as too much of a sanskaari wife. Although I don’t understand how forcefully getting your husband to marry someone against both their wills is actually love.

Somebody, please give Kunal Khemu more meaty roles. He enacted Abdul’s short yet pivotal role with so much passion that ‘bande ne aag laga di’ almost literally. He is hugely promising and it’s criminal to let him be trapped in the horrific ‘Rohit Shetty world’.  

Apart from the title track, beautifully choreographed ‘Ghar More Pardesiya’ and ‘Tabaah Ho Gayi’, none of the other tracks by Pritam felt like worth it, though background score by Sanchit and Ankit Balhara was just what the movie needed.

The movie drags on with unnecessary male lead bonding with “Chikni Chameli” type item numbers, in-authentically recreated political turmoil from the 1940s India, shirtless ab displays, random bullfights with pathetic CGIs and after all this for almost three hours later, you will hardly be able to root for the climax moment, which was intense but consumed by its own exhaustion.

Picture Courtesy: IMDb, boldoutline, Bookmyshow