Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Director Abhishek Varman’s ravishing epic, highlighting a triangular love affair in Lahore, Pakistan before the 1947 partition from India, scores with its whimsically wonderful cinematography, elaborate, exultant chorography and staggeringly sensational performances: Varun Dhawan, “Zafar” with well-oiled, pneumatic pectorals, is the illegitimate offspring (Kalank) of a Muslim/Hindu assignation who woos “Roop” (naively, pungently sensitive Alia Bhatt) in an arranged marriage to “Dev” (sculpted, lean Aditya Roy Kapur); Varman’s direction skillfully weaves the political contentiousness of the times with the tumultuous restlessness, uncertainty pulsating in the households of the protagonists; modernity at odds with traditionalism; polygamy, versus monogamy; children clashing dramatically with fathers’ and mothers’, familial loyalty transcending emotional gratification; pain, revenge, isolation, distrust constitutes the complex narrative of discontent, disillusionment seething at the heart of a world ignoring the power of religious diversity, annihilating the minority, resulting in today’s borders, divisiveness.
THREE &1/2 STARS!!!
A small, poignant personal caveat: years ago I was granted the opportunity to roam, record, interview the scions, icons of the Bollywood universe; after a hilarious office visit with director Mahesh Bhatt, I ventured to his home for tea with Soni Razdan, his wife and fellow director and actor; it was there that a darling, sprite of a girl came prancing home from school, their daughter, Alia Bhatt.
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