Later, she falls for the bad guy, the good-looking, bare-chested philanderer of the area, Zafar, the ironsmith. Feeling betrayed, Roop looks for meaning beyond her marriage and steps to the forbidden area- Hiramandi that houses Bahaar to take music lessons from her. Roop agrees after her father’s emotional plea but on one condition-she would only enter Satya’s house after she marries Dev.ĭev, however, finds it hard to love Roop even after marrying her as he is still in love with Satya. She wants the eldest of the three daughters of the man, Roop, to come and familiarise herself with her family before Satya dies, so that Roop can marry Dev later. Foreseeing what would happen to her husband, Dev, after she is gone, Satya goes knocking on the doors of a man in Rajputana, who was helped by her family in the past. Satya, the dutiful wife from the most affluent family in Husnabad that runs The Daily Times, discovers after a medical check-up that she has only a year or two to live. Kalank begins in the year 1944, in Husnabad near Lahore when India is on the verge of Partition. The movie brings together the on-screen hit couple of the 90s, Madhuri Dixit (Bahaar Begum) and Sanjay Dutt (Balraj Chowdhury) after over two-and-a-half decades and the hit pair of recent times Varun Dhawan (Zafar) and Alia Bhatt (Roop) apart from Sonakshi Sinha (Satya) and Aditya Roy Kapur (Dev Chowdhury). The only element partly holding the movie together is some good performances by the actors-but not everyone’s role is well etched out.
It looks like a mishmash of many Hindi films over the years. It also has opulent sets, a brothel and a mansion, high-octane drama, and an overdose of dance and songs to introduce characters. Kalank has all the elements of a quintessential Bollywood film-star-crossed lovers, an illegitimate affair, two brothers from different mothers who meet for the first time accidentally and bond, selfless women who give up their lives for the happiness of the men in their families, and an evil and manipulative villain.
Films about the heir of a rich family falling in love with a nautch girl, those about illegitimate kids, movies about long-lost brothers meeting and bonding in their adulthood, and those about the ultimate sacrifice made by women of the family. It wouldn’t be wrong to classify the regular Bollywood masala fare into a few of distinctive categories.