So we finally got to watch Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan’s little girl make her debut on the big screen and must say that she did a great job. Sara Ali Khan ruled the screen right from her very first scene.
Kedarnath, as we all know, is based on the devastating floods in Uttarakhand in 2013. It’s a love story that revolves around Mandakini aka Mukku (Sara Ali Khan) and a local pithoo (human porter) Mansoor (Sushant Singh Rajput). While Mukku whose father (Nitish Bharadwaj) is a local priest, belongs to a stern Hindu Brahmin family, Mansoor belongs to a Muslim family. You’ve pretty much guessed the rest of the story, haven’t you? I don’t blame you for that since most of our Bollywood films are pretty predictable and this formula for a romantic movie is a much tried and tested one.
You may ask what’s new about the story? Honestly, there’s nothing new, it’s a very familiar kind of a story but what is different in the film is that it has a very relevant message for all of us, about how we are going against nature and how that has caused an imbalance in nature. There is an underlying warning for all of us about how nature has ways of getting back when we go against it.
What is also fresh and stands out in the entire film is Sara Ali Khan’s performance. It’s as if the role of the fearless, rebellious Mukku was tailor-made for her. She fits into the role to the T and shines brightly. Right from her expressions to her dialogue delivery was brilliant for a newcomer. In certain scenes, Sara looks like a splitting image of her mother Amrita from her films Betaab and Chameli Ki Shaadi where she too plays this rebellious young girl with a strong mind of her own.
While Sushant is a huge support to Sara in the film, he is kind of overshadowed by Sara’s livewire performance. But there are certain scenes where your heart goes out to him and he’s also very natural in some of the scenes. My favorite scene of Sushant was when the two are sitting inside what looked like a cave and he sings a few lines from the old classic Lata Mangeshkar song Lag Ja Gale.
I loved the whole quaint small town feeling that the film brings across. A town where everyone knows everyone. Coming from a small, quiet and very warm hill town, I could relate to that. Also the fact that both the Hindu and Muslim residents alike are very proud of their small town in Kedarnath and worship Shiva together. But some scenes in the film look unreal and the CGI could have been a lot better.
All said and done, Kedarnath is entertaining but it’s Sara Ali Khan’s brilliant debut that will stay in your mind when you walk out of the theater. Now we know why Amrita Singh wanted Kedarnath to be Sara’s debut film! (Wink!).Having said that Sara has proved all those debates about nepotism wrong, she was absolutely born to act.
