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‘Kedarnath’ (2018) (dir. Abhishek Kapoor) is an age-old star-crossed lovers story set against the backdrop of the devastating floods that took place in the eponymous pilgrimage town in 2013. The film begins with sweeping shots of this stunning mountainous landscape and the cinematography maintains this loving interest in nature and the human details throughout the film. The lead actors also make a good impression, although it is soon clear that Sushant Singh Rajput is the more seasoned artist here. Sara Ali Khan, who makes her debut, is confident but raw, and often overplays a character whose complexity is sadly underwritten.
The film suffers from a slow pace, choppy editing, some staccato dialogue and clumsy visual effects in the flood scenes which take away from the emotional impact. As a story about religious tolerance the story is too in-your-face to really send a message, though I did enjoy some quiet moments that add subtlety and depth (like the two leads meeting back to back instead of face to face at a cricket match and praying for India’s victory, an elder sister going to her younger sister’s lover to give him the proverbial protective “older brother” speech, a Gujarati family being saved by a Muslim man). These patriarchal reversals, in-jokes and insights into the difference between faith and religion help keep this rather melodramatic tale engaging in spurts, but in the end an implausible storyline undoes most of the good intentions.
There is a moment in the film when the male lead who has just suffered a heartbreak is seen at his modest home taking care of his mule. We see a close-up shot of the animal’s eye looking worried, then the camera zooms out to the actor’s hands cleaning up dung from the ground furiously only panning up at the end to his eyes to reveal he’s crying. It is a wonderful look at how humanity and nature are intertwined, but goes by in a flicker. I wish the film had more of these. As it stands, it doesn’t quite commit to either the love story or the cautionary disaster tale.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 1h 56 min
Year of release: 2018
Streaming platform: Zee5
Hot take is a series in which I offer my first impressions of films from India and around the world.
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