Back in the’90s Hindi cinema was perhaps best known for its romantic dramas. Just think of movies like Dil, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Saajan, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and Pardes, among others. The list is endless. But today if one has to make a romantic drama tick then one must be smart enough to package it so that the romance is just a part of the larger story. Abhishek Kapoor’s Kedarnath is one such attempt to set a story of forbidden love between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy in the backdrop of the 2013 deluge that had hit the North Indian state of Uttarakhand. The Kedarnath Valley, which is the home to the Kedarnath Temple, was amongst the worst hit parts of the state and that’s where Kapoor’s film is set. Kedarnath marks the debut of Sarah Ali Khan, the daughter of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, who stars opposite Sushant Singh Rajput.
The idea of a love story set in the foothills of Himalayas certainly does sound alluring and that too one that involves a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. Since the Kedarnath Temple is not directly accessible by road and requires an 18 km uphill trek, the pilgrims hire human porters to take them to the temples. While the pilgrimage is essentially for the Hindus the porters also includes Muslims who make a living by serving the pilgrims who come to visit the temple. The character played by Rajput is one such Muslim porter who meets the girl, played by Khan, on one of these pilgrimages. The two fall in love despite being fully aware of the consequences. The divide between the boy and the girl here is not just on the basis of religion but there’s also a strong class divide here. Such subjects have already been done to death in Hindi cinema and so what’s required is a fresh approach. But, unfortunately, Kedarnath fails to rise above the clichés and that becomes the film’s greatest undoing.
The use of visual effects in the flood scenes is certainly very impressive. The effects with water are never easy but Kedarnath demonstrates a complete mastery over technology. And the good part is that the film uses the visual effects not to show off but to tell the story in the best possible manner. One of the film’s strongest points is the chemistry between Sushant Singh Rajput and Sarah Ali Khan but despite their best efforts the screenplay lets them down. Kedarnath could have been a much better film had it tried to keep things simple instead of overdramatising them. Kapoor, who has delivered films like Rock On!! and Kai Po Che, somewhere seems a bit incapacitated by the burden of expectations. He really needs to loosen up if he is to discover his lost mojo. Hindi cinema needs fearless filmmakers like him and so one hopes that he makes a strong comeback with his next offering.