Aditya Roy Kapoor Is So Good In Kalank That You Might Want To Watch The Film Just For Him

Kalank has finally hit the theatres and we were fortunate enough to catch the first show. Despite a few magical moments and strong performances, the film suffers greatly due to extreme dialoguebaazi and over-dramatization but still manages to keep you entertained even if not fully convince you.

But, in the entire running time of the film, there was one person who lit up the screen every time he graced it. We are talking about Aditya Roy Kapoor who plays Dev Chaudhry in the film. Aditya’s character in the film is that of a London return who runs his father’s newspaper business and is not afraid to air his opinions about sensitive issues during the politically charged climate of India during the partition.

In his personal space, Dev is deeply in love with his wife Satya and has a tumultuous relationship with his father, Balraj Chaudhry, played by Sanjay Dutt, whose ideas of masculinity and honor clashes with his own.

The character, though well-written, needed a lot to absorb from the personality of the actor and Aditya does a stupendous job of doing that. Whether it's Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani or even Fitoor, there was a certain surety and calm that was missing from his performance. But in Kalank, Aditya holds his ground and does not miss a single beat.  The character of Dev could have easily become somewhat boring compared to that of Zafar and Roop given they are the creatures of passion in the film, but Aditya brings a certain broodish and stoic charm to the character that seems incredibly sexy. Having said that, in a particular scene with Sonakshi, his character sheds the outer veneer of strength and gives us a glimpse of his vulnerable side and Aditya has executed this scene with nothing but sheer perfection. In fact, despite limited screen time, his chemistry with Sonakshi actually seems pretty genuine and easy.

There are two scenes in the film where Aditya especially steals the show. The first one is with Varun Dhawan where both of them have a conversation at the ghat. While Aditya has played the inebriated lover stereo to perfection for a while now, he completely gives a new dimension to the scene and is far from pulling the same tricks that he usually does in his drunken scenes.  In fact, he steals the spotlight away from Varun completely in the scene and that is a big compliment.

The next scene is with Alia when they have a small, calm yet powerful conversation with each other at the breakfast table. Aditya not only holds his fort with an actor of Alia’s caliber but delivers a performance that screams maturity and finesse. 

Apart from that, he is quite the visual treat in his regal kurtas and bandhgalas and we are not complaining. Even when he performs action sequences with full gusto, he seems a little unsure and hesitant about it which actually works brilliantly with the character and even when he dances in the street with abandon, there is that air of aristocracy and sophistication that hangs around him.

His romance, though understated, finds a beautiful reflection in the climax of the film and that is another scene where we ended up rooting for this character a little.

In a film whose biggest issue is overdramatization, Aditya downplays his role to perfection and gives his career-defining performance. While there can be a lot of reasons to watch Kalank and an equal number of reasons to give it a miss, Aditya’s performance might be the biggest takeaway from the film and after this performance we are excited to see what tricks Aditya has conjured in the last two years when he took a break from screen.