Alia Bhatt comes back to the big screen on a high with director Abhishek Varman’s period piece Kalank, just a couple of months after the success of Zoya Akhtar’s contemporary Gully Boy. Set in the pre-partition era, the romance between Bhatt’s Roop and Varun Dhawan’s Zafar is foregrounded in communal tensions. Does this tension also speak to us, in the context of the times we live in, the times ofGully Boy, I ask. “It could,” she shoots back, pausing with, “I don’t want to say anything,” then finally rounding it off with, “a lot of things could. The whole film speaks to our times. Isn’t that the point of cinema?” she smiles.
Dhawan, on the other hand, is more circumspect. “It [communal tension] is just the backdrop; the film is not about strained Hindu-Muslim relations. A lot of films have been made about that and it’s been done [enough]. That is not the basis of the film at all. Religion doesn’t even come to the forefront, for that matter,” he clarifies.
At centre stage
For Dhawan, the film is more about the six central characters and what they go through. “Ever since the film was announced, it has been such an exciting journey for all of us. A true ensemble film like this hasn’t come out in while, where each character has its own journey, backstory, thoughts… it [is] a very fulfilling experience for every character and each is a protagonist in this story,” adds Bhatt about the multi-starrer where everyone is purportedly an equal.
Dhawan’s Zafar is a 1940s blacksmith or “lohar”, and Lahore — the city of blacksmiths — used to be called Lohavar, shares the actor. “But when the British brought in machines, it left the Lohars jobless… Many locals supported the British over and above them,” says Dhawan. This (and his upbringing) is partly where his character’s defining emotion—anger—stems from, he explains. Dhawan who spring-boarded off comedy films (which he continues to do) also has some serious dramatic turns in films like Badlapur, October and Sui Dhaaga. For Kalank, which is an addition to that list, he went through a massive physical transformation. He also had endless conversations about Zafar with Varman to get the character’s childhood experiences and psyche into his head.
Comfortable chemistry
Bhatt reunites with Varman in his sophomore film, after2 States in 2014. But, both for Dhawan and her, Kalank is a first in many ways; especially for the time it’s set in and the sheer scale. “A lot has gone into this film beyond us actors,” shares Bhatt, talking about the backroom boys, the workers in particular. “If we could have all the workers come here and speak, we would,” she says. The sets took over 700 workers and the combined vision of set designer Amrita Mahal, cinematographer Binod Pradhan, and Varman.
For Dhawan, just the sets and the look of the film already speak volumes for Varman’s talent, “Abhishek was visually really in charge. He has been wanting to make this film since the last four years and knew exactly what he wanted with everything,” says Bhatt.
Both actors agree that having an entire world created for them makes their job a lot easier. “It is one of most beautiful looking films I have ever done in my life. Recreating that era and its form did so much work for the actors. Every time you stepped on set you were transported to that place. It was like time travel,” says Dhawan.
Bhatt had the added benefit of having worked with Varman as well as Dhawan before and says that she has an “unsaid understanding” with both. The two actors, who have starred in films like Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Badrinath Ki Dulhania , “understand each other’s instincts” as well as “expect a lot from each other”. What are these expectations? “To be on our ‘A-game’. We pull each other up, we fight a lot but also work as a single unit. At times, if I am slacking or he’s not getting in the ‘zone’, we, of course, have our director but also each other to fall back on,” shares Bhatt. With Varman, she says, “Even through his silence, I just know what part of my performance he has liked and what he has not. The chemistry after some time was just flowing like butter,” she says.
Bhatt says its the “unsaid understanding” that works well in a film, “Where love is such a big driving force, and your performances have to be, at once, powerful, passionate and fresh.” For Dhawan, although Bhatt and he have worked together on “urban romcoms” before, Kalank will break new ground. The film is not just about love but there is also a lot of pain and anger within the characters. It was important for him to channel these emotions through the lens of the era and not think about them as one would today. But, ultimately, as he says, “love is love; hopefully, that doesn’t change.”
