“Kalank”

“Kalank nahi, Ishq hai aakhon ka kajal piya” the song sets the tone for an intricate plot of the movie Kalank.

This movie reconciles two legendary actors, Sunil Dutt and Madhuri Dixit. Their pair in the movie SAAJAN was an instant hit and their chemistry in the song “CHOLI KE PEECHEY KEYA HAI”  was another hit, as well!After this they stopped working together due to some problem. But again this year, we have these two legends in one movie.

The story is based on pre-independene and the religious turmoil. Balraj Choudhary ( Sanjay Dutt) is the owner of a daily newspaper. His son Dev ( Aditya Roy Kapoor) is married to Roop ( Alia Bhatt). Both of them fall in love with other person. It is interesting to watch whether they can finally break rules for their loves or play safe.

Sanjay Dutt plays an amazing role as the father. We have seen him doing roles of a villain all this time. But this time he will shock you. Alia seems to be in the experimental mood. As with every role we find a new actress in her. She suits the grandeur of a Zamindaar’s wife. We have Aditya Roy Kapoor appearing after a while. Though he seems a bit off, the scene where he sees his wife for the first time in his office is handled beautifully.Varun’s Zaafar is the evidence of pre-independent India where religion created devastation everywhere. His anger, livelihood is a reflection of that time. Sonakshi Sinha is beautiful in her role of Satya. But however, as a wife of Choudhary, her role is mismatched.

Begum Bahaar ( Madhuri Dixit) seems to be little out placed. Her role resembles with her role in DEDH ISHQIYA. But she has an important part to play here. Kunal Khemu will surprise you surely. I think, it is one of the best characters on screen. His strong speech and austere religious love can be seen as a marked trait of that time. Kiara Advani is also pretty good in her role.

But the plot is extremely complicated. And in some places, this relationship between characters feels irrelevant. Madhuri Dixit appears to be little stiff. The religious turmoil before independence is a sensitive matter to handle. However I feel that the director lightly handles this issue and focuses more on the love relationships.

A few questions are there,too like Satya and Dev’s love contrast with their outer mother-son relationship. The reason of Satya’s death is not clear.  The relationship of Balraj and Satya seem more of father-daughter than of Husband-wife. Overall, this movie is a good watch but don’t expect any good historical incident. It is a good commercial movie, though.