India’s sweethearts, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, have been blessed thus far in their six-year plus career with one success after another. Unlike most of their Bollywood peers, neither of them has ever seen a film of theirs crash and burn with the sole exception of Shandaar, Alia Bhatt’s off-kilter 2015 comedy.
But with their latest film, Kalank, it seems that their hot streak has ended. The big-budget masala opera, which was expected to set the box office on fire this past weekend, only managed to generate a little over 100 crores on its crucial opening weekend thus earning a mere fraction of its inflated cost.
So what does this entail for the two? Absolutely nothing. As opposed to Bollywood’s sister city, Hollywood where actors are only as good as their last film, Hindi film audiences are much more forgetful and forgiving. Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are unarguably two of the best things to happen to Bollywood. The two are not only bonafide celebrities in every single way but are also exceptionally versatile; moving from genre to genre with both ease and acute precision. One would be hard pressed to find superstars of comparable talent and unwavering star power.
Still, as a result of their first out-and-out flop, the two will likely engage in some form of solitary introspection asking themselves “what went wrong?” In their defense, signing on to do Kalank was a no-brainer; a lavish Dharma Productions film directed by Abhishek Varman (2 States) and starring screen legends, Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt in their first film in 25 years sounds like a sure-fire winner.
But in this current confusing climate where indie films like Andhadun are generating 300 crores and massive blockbusters like Thugs of Hindostan are disintegrating into oblivion – nothing is certain.
What’s also confusing is that Dhawan and Bhatt have always been famously picky with their projects, choosing only the crème de la crème of Bollywood script piles. And that’s exactly what went wrong. Rather than focusing on the script as they often do, they made the mistake of gravitating towards the razzmatazz of a big budget blockbuster – a mistake their less insightful peers make, not them.
so True