Kalank (indeed!)

I am making these notes because I want to pen down my thoughts fresh after the viewing experience. In spite of having heard extremely negative reviews about the film, the songs and the royal ambience set by the songs made me wonder what the film was really about. And hence notwithstanding the umpteen red flags (viz. the glam of K-Jo movies that have disenchanted me from watching his movies now and the multi-starrer biz which often alludes to a poor plot line and heavy dependence on the cast to carry the film through- K3G being an exception) I embarked on watching this film.

The song direction was genuinely excellent and reeked of regality, especially Begum Bahaar’s (played by Madhuri Dixit) swan song. The film sets made it a conspicuous Dharma Production, often going overboard with its allusions to a period drama. The beauty of cinema lies in its subtlety which I feel this film lacked with the exception of the very last scene at the station. Although the character arches were not well etched the viewer does sympathize with a few characters especially if there is an aspect of relatability with the partition of India. And that is where my compliment for this movie ends. There were quite a few technical decisions that I disagreed with. For instance, in the last scene set in the station, the impact could have been manifolds if instead of the closeups, wide angle camera shots had been taken. But of course, these are the perceptions of a simple fledgling cinephile. Good scenes were few and far between. In fact, one scene where Begum Bahaar gives music lessons to Roop (played by Alia Bhatt) was downright plagiarized from the 2014 coming-of-age Marathi film Timepass. And yes, this movie is also a huge fail on the Bechdel test meter. Even when Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt and Madhuri Dixit share screen space, the common string that attaches them is a man.

Alia Bhatt’s headstrong Roop is a confused portrayal and only has an iota of semblance to her Sehmat from Raazi. Aditya Roy Kapoor had porcelain doll expressions throughout and this is an absolute euphemism. In spite of the star-studded cast, the only character that I feel did justice was that of Zafar played by Varun Dhawan. He exuded confidence and vulnerability at the same time. Even stalwarts like Madhuri Dixit couldn’t save this sad excuse of a film with a wafer-thin plot.

The strength of a period drama is its ability to captivate the audience with the sets and the socio-political backdrop that eloquently etch the important watershed moments of the film. Sadly, this movie while playing the cards of the emotionally strung Partition of India could not succeed in this. Abdul’s (played by Kunal Khemmu) incessant rants about how their community is mistreated and Dev’s (played by Aditya Roy Kapoor) persistent faith in industrial development seem hollow to say the least because there is not enough effective foreshadowing done at all. In short, this film was difficult to sit through, and very hard to believe.

I was surprised to learn that this was Karan Johar’s dream project which he had been attempting to make since 2003. I wish that his attempts had not been brought to fruition. We would have one substandard movie less to watch. The glitz of a film is only one aspect which cannot drive the film through. Sans effective (and not melodramatic and meaningless) dialogues, impactful acting and exceptional screenplay which can reflect in effective character development, a film even of Kalank’s stature is bound to fail. I wish I had paid heed to those who had warned me against watching this melodramatic sob story. Do not waste your time watching this movie.