KALANK MOVIE REVIEWS

*Review*

*KALANK* (Ratings: 1 / 5)

*Duration: * 168 mins.

*Budget: * ~ 200 Cr.

*Banner: * Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions & Nadiawala Grandson Entertainment

*Director: * Abhishek Varman (earlier film: 2 States [2014])

*Producer: * Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiawala, Hiroo Yash Johar & Apoorva Mehta

*Writer: * Hussain Dalal

*Star Cast: * Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt (few earlier films: Gully Boy [2019], Raazi [2018], Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya [2017], Zindagi [2016], Udta Punjab [2016] etc.), Varun Dhavan (few earlier films: Sui Dhaaga: made in India [2018], October [2018], Judwa [2017], Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya [2017], Dishoom [2016] etc.) & Aditya Roy Kapur.

*Music: * Pritam

*Story: *

Tale of an eternal love story set in the 1940s during the partition of India.

*Plus Points: *

• Very rich production value.
• Superb VFX and locations are perfectly captured by the cinematographer (Binod Pradhan)
• Money spent like water on sets, costumes, creation of era of 1946 etc.

*Minus Points: *

• Kalank – was a dream project of late Yash Johar (Karan Johar’s father). Karan practically left no stone unturned to shatter his dream into pieces.
• Director Abhishek Varman didn’t do justice to his direction skills and failed to get the best performance from the topmost star cast.
•  Varun Dhavan was an absolute miscast for the film. Being a youth icon, he’s not meant for such outdated historical films. His bare chest scenes are forcefully flashed while making a sword and for what?
• Alia is confused throughout whether she should be with her husband (Aditya Roy Kapur) or love interest (Varun Dhavan).
• Sanjay Dutt is hardly visible in any scene and if at all he appears, you’ll find him on the dining table. Totally wasted! The same goes for Sonakshi Sinha, carrying the same sad & helpless look who might just die any moment.
• Madhuri is shown to be an ever ready dancer. Put on some music and she’ll start performing as she’s dressed up all the time with her ornaments carrying one constant facial expression which she thinks is an ‘act’.
• Aditya Roy Kapur, in my opinion, plays a dead man’s role.
• Kiara Advani with only 3 scenes, is found just sleeping with the bad guy (Varun Dhavan)
• Kriti Sanon had just one job to do, an item number! Poor lady lacked grace.
• Kunal Khemu hardly has any mannerism to look like a villain.

In a nutshell, entire star cast is a miscast.

• Outdated story (Shibani Bathija), pathetic screenplay (Abhishek Varman) which is simply slogging throughout. Dialogues too, (Hussain Dalal) are just ordinary. First half is very boring & tedious. Viewers in the 2nd half too, have no respite.
• People are tired of seeing the same Hindu-Muslim drama. Give us a break!
• The gist of the movie is that Varun is the illegitimate son of a Muslim ‘madam’ Dixit & Hindu baba. He loves Alia who is the 2nd wife of Baba’s legitimate son Aditya, whose 1st wife Sonakshi is dying of cancer. (Wow, what a story line)
• 2 songs (Pritam) were good but were forced into the drama & the rest don’t add any value.
• Film is too lengthy and editing (Shweta Venkat Mathew) is not sharp.
• Lacks in entertainment. Emotions are weak and intensity of romance is missing.
• The amount of money spent on creating this drama; even if 10% of it was used on improving other factors like story, screenplay, etc. then the film could have been way better.
• The promo itself were very weak, it didn’t create any buzz or enthusiasm amongst the cinegoers.

*Box Office*

Film released on Wednesday as it could get the maximum benefit out of the 4 public holidays, but it wouldn’t gain any advantage out of it. Negative word of mouth will take a heavy toll on the film’s collection. Inspite of Mahavir Jayanti Holiday, the morning shows occupancy was just average.

#bollywood #hindi #kalank #yashjohar #karanjohar #karan #adityaroykapur #kiaraadvani #balkaninews