Kalank

While 'Kalank' scales up the production in every aspect, at times, the world that it recreates looks a little too plush and away from reality. The film features arresting frames full of grand visuals captured by cinematographer Binod Pradhan, and the music by Pritam has stand out songs like 'Ghar More Pardesiya' and the 'Kalank' title track. At 2 hours and 48 minutes, with a tighter edit the story could have wrapped up much sooner though. 'Kalank' is a true labour of love that tells you a story laced with beautiful moments that will tug at your heartstrings.

Kalank can be watched for its overall decent attempt at creating a visual experience, at taking the story beyond its usual one-line plot level, at paying some attention to character-writing and dialogue.

If you are a hopeless romantic, you will devour 'Kalank', a gloriously messy romantic quadrangle filled with supremely gorgeous players. But if you are a cynic, you are likely to chew your own hands off from sheer boredom and collective stupidity on display by a bunch of hapless lovers who love to sermonise on complexities of love, forbidden bonds, respect and obligations.

By no means is Kalank an unbearable film, but there is a constant tryst to divert our attention from its storyline.

Kalank is a sensory delight. It's hard to not be awed by the grandeur of the film, the lavish couture on display and the easy-on-the-eyes star cast. However, it's also equally hard to ignore the fact that the filmmakers could have easily done so much more with the resources and premise they had at their disposal.

At the end of this rather long movie, Alia asks 'What do you see in this story? Kalank or love?' I saw beauty at its emptiest. You won't be able to look away. But you won't feel anything either.

Madhuri Dixit as Bahar Begum disappoints and seems out of place even in the dance performance which appears forced and uncalled for. Overall, love conquers all in this period drama.

KALANK is a visual spectacle that lacks soul and falters big time on account of its writing, length as well as music. At the box office, the film will suffer due to negative word of mouth and therefore the collections will drop after the initial euphoria subsides. DISAPPOINTING!

Kalank is the tale of forbidden love and star-crossed lovers. Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha star in a film that deserves a watch ONLY for its visual extravaganza.

Even though Kalank boasts of a formidable star cast, it fails to rise above its poor script. Alia Bhatt and Varun Bhatt, the lovable pair that gave us three hits in a row since their debut in Student of the Year (2012), try their best to extricate the film from the morass of mediocrity but, alas, their sparkling chemistry witnessed in their previous films is missing here. Similar is the case of Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit; the star pair of yesteryear barely have enough scenes together to set the screen on fire.

It is tempting to not think of the troubling, damaging politics of Kalank because it is fronted by such a likeable cast and comes in such pretty packaging. There is nothing pretty though about the lack of nuance in its portrayal of Hindu-Muslim equations and the lasting image from this film of the ferocious Muslim who destroys not just the other but also his own in pursuit of a cause.

The Film Is Consumed By Its Commitment To Beauty And Boredom...The film decorates, pauses, gasps, whispers, sighs, romanticizes and ultimately chokes on its own derived sense of (slam) poetry

Kalank is surely not from those "kuch daag" which are good. It's a skid mark on every actor's filmography associated with the movie. Stuns visually & that's about it! Me to Karan Johar after this: Peeche dekho, peeche toh dekho (Baahubali).

With a stellar cast and a magnum production budget, Kalank looked every bit promising on paper. But, it simply fails to translate on the big screen. To put in Begum Bahar's way, "Weak story and direction ka anjaam aksar tabaahi hi hota hai."