KALANK Review: Literally a Blot on Dharma Productions

Alia Bhatt asks Varun Dhawan in the movie, “Tum kuch bhi seedha kyun nahi bolte ho,” in one of the final scenes of Kalank. That is exactly the question I had on my mind while I was watching this Karan Johar magnum opus. My query, however, is not for Varun. It’s for director and screenplay writer Abhishek Varman. Kalank is a painfully slow film.

The film is set in the year 1945 in Pakistan which was part of India then. It was the time when the Muslims wanted a separate nation for themselves, the Hindus opposed the idea. Amid these tensions, blossoms the love story between Roop(Alia), a Hindu girl, and Zafar(Varun Dhawan), a Muslim blacksmith. But Roop is a married woman, whereas Zafar is an illegitimate child and in some way, they are connected with each other.

Kalank overwhelms you with its sheer grandeur — the sets are outrageously lavish, the costumes royal and faces breathtakingly beautiful. Each and every frame of this period drama is a visual treat. The soul, however, is totally missing. While the story lacks the punch, the dialogues are ineffective and boring.

Varun tried to become a Govinda, a Salman and here he tries to become SRK. But after watching his performance, your respect for SRK multiplies and u realize just no actor can ever touch the awesomeness of Shah Rukh Khan. Varun Dhawan hams as if his life is depending on it. Alia is fine but lacks spunk cause of her one-dimensional role.

Aditya Roy Kapur, Sonakshi Sinha, and Sanjay Dutt play their parts well but the poor characterization fails them after a point. Madhuri Dixit, on the other hand, makes her Bahaar Begum a little too caricaturish. She still appears to be stuck in the Devdas zone.

Kalank, in a nutshell, is a royal misfire. It’s a film that tries to accommodate too much but delivers little in the end.

We give Kalank 2 Kicks out of 5. Catch all the excitement of Kalank and many more upcoming Bollywood movies and stars only on FanKick