Kedarnath Film Review!

Sara Ali Khan, like a true Saif Ali khan-Amrita Singh hybrid progeny, shines in her debut role. She has a dazzling and confident screen presence, and pulls her very first character off like she was born to be in front of the camera. Sushant Singh also plays his character with simplicity and sincerity.

Kedarnath is a romantic- drama film set the back drop of the huge scale floods that enveloped the state of Uttarakhand not to long ago. It touches upon various issues of uncontrolled development, religion- based politics, secularism, even gender inequality- for we observe with astonishment at how the lead is bartered off to marry a man her elder sister was promised to for her entire life ( just because she turns out to be prettier than her sister), with the consent of her own father, a so-called renowned pundit of the Kedarnath temple.

However, as luck would have it, she crosses paths with a Muslim pithoo, who she immediately feels drawn to. Their love story is cute and unlike the other typical clichés Bollywood normally shows. It feels genuine and simple, without too much of unnecessary embellishment. Their encounters take up much part of the first half. ‘Namo-namo’ and ‘Qaarifana’ are two songs I have immediately added to my playlist as they are must-haves.

Then comes the tension filled second half. Her family obviously gets to know, with her elder sister only telling on her out of jealousy. Sushant is beaten up and his family is asked to leave town immediately by the moral police who condemn the love between a Muslim and a Hindu. All this drama happens with the background of already raging clouds with torrential rainfall, hinting towards a huge storm. And the rest as you know, is history. The script wobbles towards the end, with some major plot holes even a two year old can point out.

However, if anything, this film teaches us the spirit of fraternity in trying times, and how we need to question ourselves about our unconscious neglect of our planet; which happens to be our only home.