Karan Johar’s Message of Love in the Time of War Is a Cinematic Treat…

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.”

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 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).

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.

An attempt to map a love triangle onto the tragedy of the Partition goes awry

Despite the preponderance of sets and costumes spectacular enough to make Baz Luhrmann weep with envy, and a handful of thrillingly choreographed production numbers that sporadically quicken the movie’s pulse and boost its eye-candy quotient, the attractive yet underwhelming lead players are too hampered by the lethargic narrative to sufficiently distract viewers from their awareness of time passing and interest diminishing.

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.

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.

Kalank has unmistakable contemporary resonance because it celebrates the transformative power of love and reconciliation in a time of rampant discord. It is worth a viewing not only for what it says, but also for how it says it.

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’s all-out commitment to a consistently feverish emotional pitch makes it an anomaly. No one, save Sanjay Leela Bhansali, does this sort of gale-force melodrama anymore. In a Bollywood that’s trying to look more self-aware, emotion can be a lead weight. I’d be curious to see what audiences make of the film over the next week or two; the one I saw it with seemed to tire by the end of all the eloquence.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Kalank is a visual treat. Three words to sum it up would be – it’s beautifully chaotic (incidentally, this is also Alia’s Twitter status). Anyway, some movies are best seen and less analysed. Go, watch it!

An Uninspiring Story With Too Much ‘Mohabbat’, Not Enough ‘Mehnat’…The Varun Dhawan-Alia Bhatt starrer is occasionally moving but mostly underwhelming.

Kalank’s visual grandeur burdens its romance and shoves Partition politics to the background. Kalank is a strange film that leaves one’s head in an odd whirl.

Kalank doesn’t really lift off the screen. The whole feels like a giant set, stately and ponderous and minus impact; the characters all costumed and perfumed and largely life-less, sparking only in bits and pieces.

Kalank often feels too much, and I only wish it made me do the same. It is a stunningly plated meal, but needed salt.

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

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.

Just shy of three hours Kalank is ultimately tiring and heartbreaking even. You can see the talent on screen. If only there was a sharper script to harness it.