Hi Ifey Members,
I am planning on giving you guys both a review and an analysis of Kalank's failure. So I watched 80% of Kalank last night. I could not manage to finish it. Maybe I will soon. But why do I think it underperformed? Interestingly enough the reason's are not Alia or any of the casting. I did not pay attention to the way Karan promoted it or whatever Dharma productions could have done better. I even wanted it to work somewhere deep down because I find Aditya Roy Kapur very handsome. I find Sonakshi Sinha to be a very natural actress and a wasted talent. Yes, she has wasted her own talent by doing flower pot roles. Did I mention she has a very aesthetically appealing face?
When I was watching the film I could not help but get reminisces of "Hum Dil" or "Devdas." For example, in Alia's introduction. How was it not any different from Aish's in "Man Mohini" from HDDCS. Here I will blame the casting to some extent. People who are making the film should know that Alia is not an Aishwarya Rai, who can't just be introduced playing and having fun like a bubbly, confident girl and leave people spellbound. For Aishwarya, that introduction works because she is too beautiful to imagine. Alia doesn't look like anything special in traditional aesthetically beautiful Indian clothes. So to introduce her one would have to highlight the strengths of her character. Some of the best parts should be highlighted. Perhaps the fact that she had too much self-respect to run behind a man who did not give two hoots about her or the sacrifice she was willing to make for the family should have been highlighted. The scene afterward did that. It highlighted the amazing qualities of the character both her selflessness and self-advocacy. The fact that she wanted to marry before her reputation got destroyed. The almost could have skipped the song. It did nothing for the character.
Then, of course, there were reminisces of "Devdas." When ARK tells Alia's character, "Is rishtey mein apko izzat mile gi par pyar nahi. Ho sake to mujhe maaf kar dene." It was not very much different from Aish's oldy hubby telling her, "Aap is ghar ki bahu hain, hamare bacho ki maa hai par hum Sumitra koi nahi bula sakte." Of course, the return answer given by the wives was processed very differently by the husbands in each film. I mean I have watched Devdas with Caucasian, Lebanese and Pakistani friends. And when Aish told her husband about who Devdas was? She told him that he was her first love and she still loves him. Her hubby goes, "Do you understand what you saying." Aish answers, "Yes, the same thing you told me on our first night." "Parvati ap is ghar ki bahu hain, hamare bacho ki maa hai par hum Sumitra ko nahi bula sakte." Her hubby answers, "Sumitra hamari patni thi." Aish says, "Sumitra apka pehla pyar thi, aur pehla pyar koi bhi nahi bhula sakta." Her husband responds by not allowing her out of the house, the rest of her life. Especially my caucasian friend was really offended, "She goes double standards, he needs to read the feminist mystique." ARK in Kalank takes a complete 180. When Alia tells him I fell in love with somone the duration of our year long marriage, ARK asks, "Are you sure you are not still in love with him? Im sure you can give me and yourself that much respect and figure out where your happiness lies," In a way Kalank was a much more progressive version of Kalank.
Coming back to the core behind the reason for the failure. I felt it was very similar to KANK. The love story between Zafar and Roop begins after the marriage. The development phase of the love story is shown after the marriage so is the build-up between the chemistry between Alia and Varun. In Devdas, all of that is done before marriage. After marriage, Aish's character always ensures to maintain boundaries between her and Dev no matter what her feelings were.
Now, this film was a couple of steps ahead of KANK as it never glorified infidelity. The two infidels never get a happy ever after. The whole Madhuri and Sanjay angle was done to show that infidelity resulted in nothing besides pain. Neither was Madhuri's character happy nor was Sanjay. The most daunting symbol of the pains that come from infidelity was Zafar himself. A soul is innocent in his parent's actions who paid the price for them his entire life. You almost could not blame him for wanting revenge even those two wrongs never make a right. But AGAIN the entire development of the love story still happens after the marriage. It even says something about the Indian audience if they can accept misogynistic David Dhawan comedies but they can't accept infidelity even when it is shown as nothing but a common human flaw that ultimately results in nothing besides tremendous pain for every party involved. Seems like KJO still hasn't learned his lesson about Indian audiences and their taste.
Coming to the casting flaws that many people have already pointed out. I am sure those also contributed to the failure. Alia is not an Aish or Madhuri that can amaze people with her grace and dancing skills. Nor is a Sonam, Aish or Deepika that can be used as an ornament to add aesthetic appeal to a film no matter how lavish her jewelry or clothing. In fact, there were scenes in the film where she just looked plain Jane ugly. The crying scene before she consummates her film she looked beyond plain. The scene immediately before where Madhuri somewhat miscontrues Zafar's intentions to her was historical. Even with all the aging, botox and mature figure I somehow felt Madhuri was more aesthetically appealing in the same from simply do to the superiority of her features. People playing a side character like Kiara were far prettier and more aesthetically appealing than the main lead. Again not something that normally happens in SLB films with the exception of Padmavati.
Again in terms of acting the character was Alia's forte. She was almost forced/coerced into a loveless marriage so we were supposed to feel bad for her. Her acting was passable. But the grace, aura, looks, dancing skills and other star qualities required for the film and character were missing.
In terms of the other casting, I was almost unsatisfied with chemistry exploration. Since I find ARK ten times more attractive then Varun I almost rather see his chemistry explored with anyone even Alia over Varun. If not a full-fledged romance between Roop and Dev they could have explored his chemistry with Sonakshi more. The acting as a whole was above average even good by most parties.
Let me know if you agree or disagree. (I welcome all opinions as long as we respect each other's right to disagree)
Marathi TV
20