KANK is a departure from Karan’s previous works ( Kuch Kuch Hota Hai , Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ) in the sense that the film deals with a theme that is relatively bold in Indian context. The movie simply says that it is better to walk away from a marriage if it is not working.
KANK still makes for a thoughtful, delectable, digestible entertainer primarily because of some well-conceptualized sequences, some good humour (courtesy Amitabh Bachchan in a superlative performance) and the chemistry between Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee.
KANK has its share of high points and downers. There are certain sequences in the film that have been well conceptualized – like the dinner when Shah Rukh jokes that he is in love with Rani, but Amitabh senses that there is more to SRK’s joke than just jest, or another sequence when SRK is holding a bouquet for Rani and it is Preity who bumps into him on the road, or Amitabh giving Rani the advice to leave Abhishek. To some extent, Johar has managed to convey the intricacies, the complexities, the dilemmas of two separately married people in love with each other.
But, on the flip side, Karan overblows some emotional scenes out of proportion. The second half of the film has SRK and Rani in tears in almost all scenes. The talk of love, commitment (or the lack of it), relationships, gets stodgy after a while. And as the movie moves into the third hour of its running time, you feel sated of the mushy sentimentality.
Although the chemistry between SRK and Rani is the mainstay of the film, SRK’s performance, if seen in isolation, is reminiscent of his previous portrayals of similar pained-in-love characters. It is the same trembling of lips, the same high brow, the lump in the throat, the tear-filled eyes, the same histrionic packed in a new character.
Rani cautiously doesn’t repeat herself and gives a rather noticeable, even laudable performance. She does the best of the lines she has been given, enacts best the scenes and situations her characters goes through.
Amitabh Bachchan is the most outstanding in the film. Although he has lesser footage, the Big B adds humour, fun, frivolity and also wisdom to the film with his portrayal of an aged philanderer young at heart.
Abhishek Bachchan’s character is the most credibly written of all. And the junior Bachchan does show moments of brilliance. Preity Zinta has more of a cardboard role of a modern, career-oriented wife who prefers her independence to anything. Kiron Kher plays her part well enough.
To cut to the chase, KANK is not a path-breaking film. It has a stellar cast, good music, good background score and some good performances. But the biggest flaw is the overblown sentimentality, the emotional outpouring which repeatedly fills the movie’s ever-stretching, never-ending 3.5-hour story that lives up to the film’s title.
I loved it. It is three and a half hours long. So what? Three and a half hours long intense, gripping, dark, funny, flashy, emotional, bittersweet, potentially trend setting movie.
Worth a watch