Kedarnath: An insipid story line saved by Sara Ali Khan’s grace!

Kedarnath is an inter-faith love story based in the Himalayas, which could have worked even without getting the Hindu pilgrim place in picture. Director Abhishek Kapoor tries to please everyone with a great start, but loses edge leading to another Bollywood tear jerker.

Story

Kedarnath is a story of star crossed lovers Mandakini aka Mukku (Sara Ali Khan), who is the daughter of a local priest and Mansoor (Sushant Singh Rajput), a human porter. Their inter-faith romance isn’t accepted well by their families and how one dramatic event changes their destinies forms the rest of the story.

Performances

Kedarnath marks the debut of Sara Ali Khan, another star kid on the block who does an amazing job of making the film watchable. Her performance adds the perfect amount of entertainment and her character becomes easily relatable. She reminds us of her mother Amrita Singh (in some scenes) and seems quite confident considering it’s her first film. Sushant Singh Rajput on the hand seems very average due to a loosely written script. The writing doesn’t add layers to his character which provides Sushant with no scope of showcasing his skills. Nitish Bharadwaj and Pooja Gor as supporting actors in the film do a decent job. However, Sara Ali Khan steals the show and we hope to see more from her in the coming days.

Music and VFX

The only good thing about Kedarnath after Sara Ali Khan’s performance is the music and VFX. Amit Trivedi is a genius and with tracks like ‘Namo Namo’ he sets the mood of the film right away. Director Abhishek Kapoor trusts him after delivering hits for his previous films ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Fitoor’, and he doesn’t let him down. The film gets a cinematic boost with its VFX and cinematography. Although the script is weak, the dramatic flood sequences add value to the vision of the director.

Overall Kedarnath fails to meet up to the expectations and drowns due to weak writing and slow pace. On the other hand, a memorable debut by the Pataudi granddaughter makes it a onetime watch.

Rating: 2/5

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