Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham has fully satisfied my expectations! This 40 crore magnum opus is fraught with lavish sets, strong performances, brilliant music, well developed screenplay and storyplot, overall, a strong film!
~~~~LOOKS~~~~
The looks of the film have been designed by Sharmishta Roy (set designer), Manish Malhotra, Rocky S., Shabina Khan (Dress Designer), Mickey Contractor (Makeup); they all elevate the standard of the film to an extra ordinary level. The looks of the film stun you, and especially the picturization of ’Suraj Hua Maddham’ is mind-blowing!!!
~~~~PERFORMANCES~~~~~
’’Raichand, Raichand...’’, he says that and you can feel the voice thumping in your heart! Amitabh Bachhan beautifully portrays the adamant father.
The mother’s eyes say it all. Jaya Bachhan may not say anything during a scene but yet leave a longlasting impact.
Shahrukh Khan leaves you speechless! That s the only word I can think of! He is absolutely brilliant in any scene, may it be the love scene with kajol or the emotional climax with Amitabh.
Kajol portrays the bubbly ’Chandni Chowk’ girl who takes off suddenly in Punjabi, which is a delight to the ears, and I am sure that no one doubts her performance.
Hrithik plays the younger brother, there is agony and pain in his eyes, in the first scenes, there is style and passion in his eyes in his scenes with Kareena. Hrithik has done it beautifully.
Kareena plays a hot, ’sexy’, and vivacious ’POO’, which is the abbreviated form of Pooja! Kareena Kapoor beautifully shows this character full of ’attitude’, yet with an Indian mind, deep within.
~~~~MUSIC~~~~~
When you have so many music directors, Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya and Aadesh Shrivastav, you ought to have brilliant music. The title song is a treat to the ears. Bole Chudiyan should have been faster. You are my soniya is the current hearthrob of the youth. Suraj Hua Maddham takes you simply ’out-of-the-world’! Say Shava Shava is undoubtedly brilliant!!! Yeh Ladki hai allah is also a very good song, and so is Deewana hai dekho! There is yet another song sung by Usha Uthup and Kavita Krishnamurthy (She has sung the last piece and yet, nowhere, she has been accredited for the song. thats partial, right??!!!) It is called ’Vande Mataram’, this is an ultra modern form of this national song! Yet it is not quite bad.
~~~~SCREENPLAY~~~~~
Yashvardhan Raichand (Amitabh) and his wife, Nandini (Jaya) adopt a son as they do not have a child. They bring him home. The truth is hidden from him. But at the age of eight, (Why do all the truths come out at the age of eight? This is a common figure for all Johar and Chopra movies!) he comes to know about the truth and a feeling of insecurity grips him. The truth is put away, Yash decides that no one will mention it again. An year later, Nandini gives birth to a son. Both of them are the ’goody-goody’ boys (Who listen to their mommy and follow the ’parampara’, prateeshtha’, and what not!) Rahul is the elder one and Rohan is the younger one. Rahul (SHahrukh Khan) is interested in calling Rohan ’fatty’, hugging his mom and flirting with his childhood friend, Naina (Rani Mukherji). Rahul is sent off to London, he comes back from there, and fills the atmosphere of the house with joy. Yash hands the responsibility of the business to Rahul and takes a promise from him that he will always keep up to the respect and the traditions of the house. Rahul agrees to it. Rahul now goes to Chandni Chowk, to deliver some medicines to the ’daai jaan’ (Farida Jalal). There he is spellbound to see a girl dancing in a ’toli’! This girl is Anjali, (Kajol) the one he later falls in love with, after a series of incidents like Yash’s birthday party, Anjali breaking a vase there and then, apologizing for it, she taking him for her friend’s husband, Rahul going to her house to apologise about his brother’s misbehaviour and finally, the mela! All these scenes are beautifully put up by both these doyens of Indian cinema. Rohan is sent off to a hostel. It is soon after Rahul confesses his love to Anjali, that Yash fixes up Naina and Rahul’s marriage, much to the audience’s dismay. Now, Naina, maturedly, (as expected), gives up her love so that Rahul can complete his ’prem-kahaani’!! Yash is shocked to know that. He feels that his son whom he considered his strength, has taken disadvantage of his confidence. Rahul succumbs to his father’s wishes. But, then, certain incidents follow (Why do I tell you that, just check it out in the theatre), that Rahul has to marry Anjali. Yash is deeply hurt. Rahul walks out of the house. When Rohan comes to know of this, a grown-up Rohan( Hrithik Roshan) takes up the mission to bring his ’bhaiyya’ and ’bhabhi’ back home.
Does he succeed?
Does the close-knit family become together once again?
Do watch this movie to know the answers!!
~~~~SOME INTERESTING FACTS~~~~
The hero entering his house in a helicopter, this idea is somewhat out of imagination.
Why does a person who leaves his house have to go to London? Is London a resthouse for all the ’ghar se nikaale hue’ people?
Why does Yash who is an entrepreneur have to dance in his own birthday party? Doesn’t he get any dancer for that? Or is it because of the ladies in pink (oops!) around him?
Why does Anjali say bad about her British neighbour? It is Anjali’s very own culture which says that the guest is God. Isn’t it too overexaggerated on her part to do that?
Was there any need of Rukhsar’s (’Heena’ fame Simone Singh) character? If any, was there any need of her marriage plot? If any, was there any need of having her deaf mom-in-law?(Shashikala)
http://www.findafriend.com is a site for people in the US, how does Rohan find an address in the UK?
Daadi and naani have the job of crying and crying throughout the film. That really irritates you.
Summing up, it is a good masala movie, with comedy, drama, emotions, all the required content of a typical Hindi film with a topping of the lavish budget.
Cheerio!