Kalank

Kalank (pronounced [kəˈləŋk]; lit. Blemish or Stigma) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language period romantic drama film. It was directed by Abhishek Varman and produced by Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, and Apoorva Mehta under Dharma Productions, and Sajid Nadiadwala under Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, in association with Fox Star Studios as presenter and distributor. The film is set in the pre-independence British era. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sonakshi Sinha, Madhuri Dixit, and Sanjay Dutt.

Kalank marked the first film distributed by Fox Star Studios following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. It was released on 17 April 2019 on 5,300 screens worldwide, making it the widest Bollywood release of 2019. The film grossed around ₹146.31 crore, emerging as a box-office bomb, though it recovered its budget. It received mixed reviews upon release, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, production design, costumes and performances of the ensemble cast, but criticism towards its direction, story, screenplay and length.

At the 65th Filmfare Awards, Kalank received 7 nominations, including Best Supporting Actress (Dixit) and Best Music Director (Pritam), and won 2 awards – Best Male Playback Singer (Arijit Singh for "Kalank") and Best Choreography (Remo D'Souza for "Ghar More Pardesiya").

Plot

Satya Chaudhry is told by her doctor that she has cancer and will die soon. She goes back to her native village in the Rajputana area and requests her acquaintance, Roop, to provide companionship to her husband, Dev Chaudhry who runs a liberal newspaper. Roop keeps rejecting Satya's proposal and retorts that just because Satya's father had done a lot of favours to her family, she cannot balance the scales by asking inappropriate favours but later gets convinced by her father, Dharampal, and agrees on the condition that she will marry Dev to which Satya agrees.

Once married, Dev tells Roop that he still loves Satya and that their relationship will only be cordial and platonic. A depressed Roop takes solace in music, which she begins by learning from the madam of a kotha, Bahaar Begum. Roop also begins working in her husband's publishing house, to use her education to her advantage. Roop expresses interest in writing about the condition of Heera Mandi, the locality in which the kotha is located, during which she meets with a womanising blacksmith named Zafar.

Zafar wants to exact revenge on his parents, Bahaar Begum and Balraj Chaudhry (who abandoned Zafar after ending his extramarital affair with Bahaar) by seducing Roop, as she is married to Balraj's legitimate son, Dev. Roop misconstrues Zafar's intentions and falls in love with him. She also begins to develop a friendship with Dev, much to Satya's happiness and sadness. Satya dies after urging Dev to give Roop a chance and to forgive Balraj for his affair. As part of another effort to humiliate Balraj, Zafar instigates communal hatred in his friend, Abdul Khan, by demanding for the partition of India on religious lines, which Balraj and Dev do not support.

When Balraj becomes aware of Roop and Zafar's love, he confronts Bahaar and Zafar. Bahaar, who disagrees with Zafar's approach, warns Roop and tells her about Zafar's real intentions. Heartbroken, Roop consummates her marriage with Dev but insists that she would never be able to love him. As Abdul's political stance gains leverage, riots against Hindus and Sikhs in the city take place, during which the Chaudhrys decide to flee to Amritsar with the help of Zafar, but not before Saroj, the benevolent maid is brutally stabbed to death. Zafar confesses to Roop that he eventually fell in love with her, despite his early intention. While boarding a train, Zafar is stabbed in his stomach four times with a dagger by Abdul, as Roop and Dev escape.

10 years later, Roop and Dev are interviewed about their experience by Aditya, a journalist documenting the partition. The story ends with Roop remembering Zafar and Roop's inner voice saying that the colour of love and hate is red, but it's love that often gets stigmatised or blemished.

Cast

• Varun Dhawan as Zafar, Bahaar and Balraj's illegitimate son; Dev's half-brother; Roop's love interest; Lajjo's love interest
• Alia Bhatt as Roop Sami Chaudhry, Dharampal's daughter; Satya's friend; Balraj's second daughter-in-law; Dev's second wife; Bahaar's student
• Aditya Roy Kapur as Dev Chaudhry, Balraj's son; Satya and Roop's husband; Zafar's half-brother
• Sonakshi Sinha as Satya Chaudhry, Balraj's first daughter-in-law; Dev's first wife; Roop's friend
• Madhuri Dixit as Bahaar Begum, Balraj's former love interest; Zafar's mother; Roop's teacher
• Sanjay Dutt as Balraj Chaudhry, Bahaar's former love interest; Dev and Zafar's father; Satya and Roop's father-in-law
• Kiara Advani as Lajjo, Zafar's love interest; Bahaar's student
• Kunal Khemu as Abdul Khan, Zafar's friend
• Achint Kaur as Saroj, the Chaudhry family's housekeeper
• Pawan Chopra as Dharampal Sami, Roop's father; Dev's father-in-law
• Hiten Tejwani as Abbas Ahmed Razi, Dev's colleague
• Pavail Gulati as Aditya Khanna, a journalist who interviews and documents Roop's life story (special appearance)
• Kriti Sanon as a dancer in the song "Aira Gaira" (special appearance)

Production

Development

Kalank was conceived by Karan Johar and his father Yash Johar about 15 years prior to its release. Actress Sridevi was initially supposed to play the role of Bahaar Begum, but post her demise, the role was played by Madhuri Dixit. Production designer Amrita Mahal was brought on board to work on the production design and structure that represented Old Delhi mohalla with a mahal in Film City, Mumbai. Sajid Nadiadwala, owner and producer of Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, and Karan were present during the clap shot of Kalank. The estimated cost of the set was reportedly ₹15 crore. Nadiadwala and Sanjay Dutt collaborated after 24 years, having last worked on Andolan (1995).

Filming

Principal photography commenced in Film City, Mumbai on 18 April 2018. Madhuri Dixit and Aditya Roy Kapur joined the cast from 31 May 2018. Filming of an introductory song featuring Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Kiara Advani with nearly 500 backup dancers was completed on 7 May 2018. Rehearsals for a second dance number featuring Dhawan, Kapur and Kriti Sanon began on 31 May 2018. On 2 June 2018, a few leaked stills from the film showed Dixit donning an anarkali outfit and pasa/jhumar (hair jewellery). Sonakshi Sinha joined the cast from 14 June 2018 for a 15-day filming schedule. She is paired opposite Kapur in the film. The third schedule of filming was postponed due to injuries to Bhatt, Dhawan and Kapur and was rescheduled to commence two weeks later. Bhatt announced the film wrapped on 19 January 2019.

Kalank's budget has been inconsistently reported. The producers announced a budget of ₹150 crore, which includes print and advertising costs not typically included in budget figures. Other sources published budget estimates in the ₹80 crore range.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Kalank is composed by Pritam Chakraborty, with lyrics penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The first single track "Ghar More Pardesiya" was released on 18 March 2019, followed by the second single "First Class" on 22 March 2019, and the third single "Kalank" on 30 March 2019. The fourth and fifth songs, "Tabaah Ho Gaye" and "Aira Gaira" was released 9 April 2019 and 13 April 2019, respectively. The entire soundtrack album was released by Zee Music Company on 22 March 2019.

Release

Theatrical

Kalank was initially scheduled for release on 19 April 2019, but to reap benefits of the extended weekend, the release date was preponed to 17 April 2019. A special screening of the film was organised for selected audience on 14 April 2019 prior to its release. Kalank was certified by British Board of Film Classification and Australian Classification Board with runtime of 166 minutes and was released worldwide on 17 April. The film was released on 5,300 screens worldwide making it the widest Indian film release of 2019.

Home video

Kalank was made available as VOD on Amazon Prime Video in July 2019.

Reception

Box office

Kalank had a bumper start at the box office, collecting ₹21.60 crore on opening day. The film went on to gross ₹95.65 crore in India and ₹50.66 crore from overseas markets with an overall worldwide gross of ₹146.31 crore. But it could not maintain the momentum, soon seeing a decline in revenue, and was declared as a box-office failure.

Critical response

Kalank received mixed reviews upon release, with praise for its soundtrack, cinematography, production design, costumes and performances of the ensemble cast, but criticism towards its direction, story, screenplay and length.