Images

Bollywood's complicated relationship with Lahore is on full display in Kalank

Bollywood's complicated relationship with Lahore is on full display in Kalank

The characters in Kalank deliberately avoid naming Lahore, but the film still exploits the city's emotional value
Updated 23 Apr, 2019

Kalank, directed by Abhishek Verman, is an extravagant exploration of love and infidelity in pre-partition India, in the city of Lahore.

It takes a fragment of history and makes it unbelievable - a thing of fiction and legends, and you are left to question whether the events that preceded the eventual partition of India were as fantastical and oddly colour coordinated? Our collective memory doesn't betray us and perhaps that’s why Kalank seems so irritatingly unbelievable.

The plot

In the fictional neighborhood of Husanabad, the dying wife of a wealthy man organises her husband’s wedding to the beautiful young girl, Roop, played by Alia Bhatt. Bhatt's character continuously questions the ridiculousness of the situation, and the actress might have too, but we are all forced to move along for the sake of the narrative. Roop then becomes deeply interested in learning sangeet from Bahaar Begum, played by Madhuri Dixit, who has a kotha at the infamous neighbourhood of Hira Mandi.

Just like the two different worlds of Hira Mandi and the other unnamed neighborhood of Lahore are not allowed to collide in the movie, the result of tensions among the two countries has called for a general cultural boycott to minimise the collision in reality as well.

The characters in Kalank seem to deliberately avoid using the name of Lahore, but the filmmakers appropriate the city’s history to capitalise on its emotional value. While the responsibility on Dharma Productions to depict the events of partition in Lahore authentically is arguable, the audience does expect a level of self-awareness from the film in its appropriation of a tragic event in the past.

But the fear of humanising the experience of a Lahori lends Verman to use the intricate costumes of Manish Malhotra and the monumental set design of Amrita Mahal to make the events more palatable for the contemporary audience.

The film divides Lahore into two areas: one where the rich Chaudhary lives, and the other Hira Mandi.

The film lives up to its promises of grandeur and luxurious set and art design. However, its overwhelming attention to cosmetic detail overshadows the story and the characters. The director seems heavily inspired by Sanjay Leela Bhansali but Kalank’s story lacks a compelling narrative and the audience is left with a chaotic display of emotions, colours, and an overindulgent exuberance.

Roop falls in love with a lohaar, Zafar, who resides in the Hira Mandi area. The neighbourhood is introduced as the forbidden land for the respectable people of society. The film divides the city into two areas: one where the rich Chaudhary lives, and the other Hira Mandi. In a bizarre sequence, the characters suddenly find themselves amidst a cliffside village in snow-capped mountains where Varun Dhawan’s character, Zafar, fights a terribly rendered CGI bull to win Roop’s heart.

The sequence highlighted the film’s continuity errors and further confused me as a viewer given that there are no mountains around Lahore. But setting the story in Lahore is a convenient choice that allows the makers to sell this fable of love set in a manicured fantasy land.

Bollywood can't avoid Lahore, but it can't fully claim it either

The use of Lahore to evoke nostalgia is an age-old Bollywood trope - a nostalgia that is collectively felt among the contemporary Indian audience. The location choice also allowed the director to use the violence of the partition of India as a backdrop to his love story that was guaranteed to tug at the heartstrings of the audience. Bhaati did burn. And so did Lohari. But the fires of communal violence in Lahore did not inquire of the religion of the victims it engulfed.

Here those events seem to be trivialised to serve as the antagonist of a singular love story, which caricatures the characters and makes the wider national history seem one-dimensional. The writers Abhishek Verman and Shibani Bathija employ the Hindu vs Muslim narrative, which is one of the most popular master-narratives of South Asian historiography with little space for nuances except for in the last sequence. The residents of pre-partition Lahore did not occupy such different neighbourhoods just based on their religious affiliations, and the current political landscape is incorrectly imposed on history for our convenience.

Lahore is one of those cities that epitomise the sophistication of South Asian cultural production. The conception of Chandigarh was an attempt to fill the void caused by the loss of the Punjabi capital, Lahore. The Hindi film industry capitalises on this loss. The industry caters predominantly to a small section of the North Indian audience, where the last generation of Indian Lahoris is still alive. The dynastic memory, coupled with a wider national nostalgia of the past times, makes for a marketable film.

While the Hindi film industry is maintaining a boycott on Pakistani artists, it still produces big budget movies set in Lahore that transcend the boundaries exaggerated by description. In the past years, movies such as Veer Zaara, Happy Bhaag Jayegi, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (edited due to fear of backlash), had characters that belonged to the city of Lahore, and interestingly one of the most famed Bollywood movies, Mughal-e-Azam, was based on a legendary courtesan of Lahore. Cultural exchange is inevitable, and the ongoing cultural contact is contemporaneous with ancient times.

Kalank plays on the age-old Bollywood tropes- an inter-religion marriage, a Muslim tawaif, and exploiting the cultural memory and trauma of the Indian partition.

Thomas Moore, an Irish poet, in his poem Lallah Rukh (1818), gives a detailed description of the princess’s procession into Lahore, where she stops on her way to Kashmir. Anna Suvorova, a cultural topographer of Lahore characterises the description as just another example of stereotyped Anglophile literature on Muslim cities. You can put any Muslim city’s name next to this description, and it wouldn’t matter.

Kalank falls prey to the same stereotyping as the city’s skyline is shown littered with domes, minarets, jharokhas, arches, and mosques, and could be understood to be any other city in Pakistan, India or the Middle East. While watching the film as an actual Lahori, I was very cognisant of the gaze of the writer towards Lahore. The makers are guilty of the same gaze with which Thomas Moore wrote about Lahore.

Kalank plays on the age-old Bollywood tropes- an inter-religion marriage, a Muslim tawaif, and exploiting the cultural memory and trauma of the Indian partition. It exhibits complex emotions and manages to display a commendable achievement in terms of the scale of the filmmaking and art design.

However, its attempt at a lyrical and a poetic telling of a tragic love story set in politically unstable times fails at the expense of its ambition in grandiosity.

‘The ancient whore’, wrote Bapsi Sidhwa about Lahore, and the city’s analogy to a tawaif is an old one. But Abhishek Verman, the director of Kalank loses out on the great potential of this analogy. Instead, he opts to waste the setting of the story, and great talent of Madhuri Dixit whose ill-timed dance numbers are awkwardly crammed into the storyline. Lahore is often called an endless dinner party with an unpredictable number of guests, then Kalank is a seemingly endless love story with a parade of farcical characters and situations.

Comments

SATT Apr 23, 2019 09:10am
Lahore of our dreams.
Recommend (0)
abhishek Apr 23, 2019 09:11am
flop movie.
Recommend (0)
Aj Apr 23, 2019 09:45am
Over the years Bollywood has turned cultural appropriation into art form. That’s in it’s lifeblood.
Recommend (0)
Welcome Apr 23, 2019 11:19am
There’s no complications in the relationship here. In simple terms, it is of a monopoly producer vs an addictive consumer relation. Thanks to the language, Bollywood has a significant consumer population in Pakistan, than say southern India. So they pick a theme that will entice this population. And give it a colour of emotion and what not to market well. At the end, movie making is a business. Bollywood is an industry. Art is its domain.
Recommend (0)
jagmohan trivedi Apr 23, 2019 11:51am
The write up on Kalank is very Lucid and Enchanting,thanks for the same.Aim of any film is entertainment ...and if it is nostalgic for two separated brothers...who shared past for centuries, and happen to meet somehow....in the lingering shadows...one can't fail to say it is Indo-Pak theme.
Recommend (0)
Babu Apr 23, 2019 12:55pm
Bollywood has always tried to distort history , they only produce films that suits their narrative and profits. Useless film.
Recommend (0)
Jawwad Apr 23, 2019 02:20pm
I bet all male characters are referred to as 'Janab' which I have never heard anywhere in Lahore despite being born and raised there.
Recommend (0)
Shankar Apr 23, 2019 03:12pm
Looking to Bollywood for realism. What can we say?
Recommend (0)
Must learn Apr 23, 2019 04:26pm
@Jawwad .Since you were born after partition you not heard ‘ janab ‘ as most of the janabs moved away to other places where people grant respect to janabs. No doubt wonderful movies are produced in Lollywood but still the motherland of movies is Bollywood, to great extent the realities are reflected in Bollywood movies. Instead of probing shortfalls in exciting film, the guys at Lollywood must learn from Bollywood .
Recommend (0)
Ga Apr 23, 2019 05:26pm
Why are you even critiquing a Bollywood movie? It's the largest film industry for a reason: quantity over quality.
Recommend (0)
Rubina Apr 23, 2019 05:53pm
@Welcome Bollywood earns millions in South indian theatre. South Indian states have their own industry plus watch bollywood.
Recommend (0)
Shah Apr 23, 2019 07:21pm
I am so happy I said good bye to Bollywood second grade movies a long time ago. It is irritating to see people in leading roles becuase their fathers were actors of the past.
Recommend (0)
RationalBabu Apr 23, 2019 07:58pm
@Ga if the quality wasn’t good enough for the viewers it would be impossible to sustain the quality. Simple economics!
Recommend (0)
Riaz Apr 23, 2019 08:08pm
A much better movie could have been made to promote peace between the two neighboring countries. Waste of money.
Recommend (0)
Reader Apr 23, 2019 08:08pm
In Bollywood Hoindus and Muslimms are not separated and Partition has not taken place. In its world we are all One people.
Recommend (0)
Arjun Singh Apr 23, 2019 08:17pm
The movie is a complete disconnect with Indian audience thus an utter failure. No one here, understands what and where the director and producers want to say their story . Every thing seems like fictional . Any one who is interested in a fictional Lahore may spend their money and watch the movie in theaters. Even Nadiadwala and Karan Johar company put together could not pull it off, leave aside comparison with Bhansali . Madhuri magic is intact although sans Saroj Khan. Agree with review.
Recommend (0)
Jimmy Apr 23, 2019 08:19pm
@Jawwad. Lol! Also most of the men probably wearing surma for eyeliner and saying Adaab by waving their hand to the forehead. Only seen this in bollywood movies as a depiction of Muslims and Pakistanis.
Recommend (0)
Jigar Apr 23, 2019 08:23pm
@Must learn. Jawwad is right. Pre-partition or post partition, no one says janab unless perhaps in service like the police when speaking to a superior. The only other place is in bollywood movies.
Recommend (0)
omveer Apr 23, 2019 08:53pm
Why this sudden interest in Hindi movies that are banned in Pakistan? Anyway, the movie bombed at the box Office.
Recommend (0)
Frank Apr 23, 2019 09:08pm
@Must learn In fact 'Janab' has never been commonly used by Punjabi Muslims as a form of address. It was even less commonly used by Sikhs and Hindus. The fact is despite all this supposed nostalgia for Lahore, with the exception of Sikhs Indians know very little about the city of Lahore and the culture of Punjabi Muslims.
Recommend (0)
Raja Apr 23, 2019 09:13pm
A few years ago, I pointed out to my wife something common and subtle in Bollywood movies. Almost always, the male protagonist or hero or the good guy in Bollywood movies happens to be a Muslim and is in love with a Hindu girl/heroine. And the villain is an orthodox Hindu.. someone with a vermilion Tilak on his forehead and other manifestations of Hindu orthodoxy. She didn't believe me. Since then, it has become a routine for us to notice this pattern. Never ceases to amaze me.
Recommend (0)
Malik Apr 23, 2019 10:40pm
Despite bad reviews associated with this film all over social media, I alongwith my family still went to watch this movie in a full house cinema here in Toronto. Despite few flaws in direction and the length of movie time, I like the movie overall. Its not a complete waste of time. The storyline is too good and with few corrections in directorial part, this could have been a super duper hit movie.
Recommend (0)
Haider Apr 23, 2019 10:51pm
Indian Obsession at its peak.
Recommend (0)
Vijay B Apr 24, 2019 02:34am
Lighten up folks, AT THE END OF THE DAY. IT IS JUST A MOVIE. "Nothing personal, strictly business."
Recommend (0)
Laila Apr 24, 2019 02:35am
It's entertainment. Not an autobiography. Jisr enjoy it for what it is. Entertainment. I met watch it but I am not keen on bollywood 3 hr long movies.
Recommend (0)
DG Apr 24, 2019 03:03am
Is Hira Mandi sole reason that author connected this movie with Lahore? Why couldn't it have been inspired by Meerut, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Moradabad, Aligarh, Bhopal or any other city in India? I find premise of this article quite silly. For one Lahore, India had dozens of centers where Muslim culture was thriving. "Lahore is one of those cities that epitomise the sophistication of South Asian cultural production. " - What is this "South asian cultural" production? Are Calcutta, Madras, Mumbai, Delhi and Dhaka nothing? I am really surprised by such knee jerk articles !!
Recommend (0)
Mehkan Apr 24, 2019 03:36am
@Must learn LOL! where did you get this information on 'janabs' from? sources?
Recommend (0)
shubs Apr 24, 2019 03:49am
"The conception of Chandigarh was an attempt to fill the void caused by the loss of the Punjabi capital, Lahore. " LOL! That is an imaginative reading of hisory!!
Recommend (0)
shubs Apr 24, 2019 03:55am
Pakistanis put on a big show of moral (read: Islamic) superiority when talking about "degraded western morals", yet are one of the most prolific consumers of internet porn in the world (fact: look it up). They also put on a a big show of scoffing at the Bollywood film industry, yet are the highest consumers of Hindi movies outside India.
Recommend (0)
fika77 Apr 24, 2019 07:50am
And couple of days back we were on a brink of a war :) Amazing how ordinary people memory works.
Recommend (0)
Humza Apr 24, 2019 08:21am
@Shankar Who cares about Bollywood ? Pakistanis hould watch their own movies anyways which show their own culture. Let Indians make whatever they want.
Recommend (0)
Alka Bajwa Apr 24, 2019 09:06am
This is why film was super flop. No one wants to talk about it.
Recommend (0)
Jimmy Apr 24, 2019 06:23pm
@shubs Ermm....looks like the only one putting on a big show of moral superiority is you. Have you read the article, please do so before going off on a tangent. From what I can gather its about an Indian movie loosely set in Lahore.
Recommend (0)
AA Apr 24, 2019 08:43pm
Waste of my $5 and 2.5 hrs.
Recommend (0)
Falooda Apr 26, 2019 03:37am
I watched Kalank yesterday and throughout the film, the characters refer to the city they live in as "Husnabad". I assumed that it was a fictional city, which would explain the neighboring mountains in the bullfight scene. I don't know how the writer jumped to the conclusion that it was set in Lahore.
Recommend (0)