Kalank

Kalank offers unexpected and welcome nuance for a mainstream Bollywood film.

Kalank doesn't really lift off the screen. The whole feels like a giant set, stately and ponderous and minus impact; the cast all costumed and perfumed and largely life-less, sparking only in bits and pieces.

The film is an operatic fantasy filled with staggering sets, swirling fabric and heartache, but to enjoy it, you must wholly suspend disbelief.

The excesses - be it the protracted length, the over-the-top lines, the wordplay, use of metaphors or the constant repartee between lovers - bore rather fast.

Dialogue scenes can be static, stand-and-deliver affairs. And Mr. Varman leaves the actors at sea; when the script calls for character complexity, the result usually reads as incoherence.

A superlative piece of technical craft, one that rolls off several of the year's most beauteous shots.

Bollywood historical romance falls flat; some violence.

So much happening in this one movie, all of it in excruciating slow-motion for an inexplicable reason...

It's uneven but enjoyable, and you'll decide if you'll like within the first 20 minutes.

Kalank ends up impersonating one of those tragically dated Lucknowi nawabs that sees "character," rather than impending disaster, in the cracks of their dilapidated mansion walls.