I wrote this review for IMDB after seeing the movie on the first weekend, but I think here is where I will write my reviews henceforth :-) Here goes...
Way to go!Classic Dharma productions look and feel, so not let down there.
New York is captured so beautifully and for the second time within a very short time frame (After the suprisingly well treated, and refreshingly different ’Out of Control’) New York has been made the heart of the storyline in a way that does not stand out and remind you it doesn’t fit in with your regular serving of bollywood protagonists. Nor is it one of the locales, one that appears in a brief period of the movie or a song -its right there as the setting of the entire movie, all throughout.Nothing in the script occurs because the setting is NY and not Mumbai for e.g. to remind you that the location is relevant. This has been attempted with a lot of movies no doubt, Yaadein for e.g., not so much K3G, which has an overlap with India, but each time the characters have felt out of place. In Kal Ho Na Ho(KHNH), I must say I was able to enjoy an NY setting, without getting distracted from the story. So that’s a definite plus.
Then comes the maturity in terms of absence of melodrama and sensitivity to audience emotions - Aman (SRK)had to die, otherwise the story would have lost its meaning, and yet seeing Aman take his last breath in a dramatic fall of his hand from Rohit’s(Saif) palm or a turn of the head on the pillow would have made me wince, and left a bitter taste in my mouth. That bitter taste would take away the warm, somehow feel goodness about how we can move on and things can turn out once you accept the inevitability of death that Karan (by way of script) or Nikhil (by way of direction and final presentation) had very very carefully managed to build up in me till that point. That was very beautifully handled, and though I did well to not let tears run free, I did not really come out heartbroken either :-) , in a way that would discourage me from seeing the movie again etc or want to forget it.So improvement there :)
Improvement also in a way, that there seems to be a sprinkling of somethign for everyone in a just right balance that has been so elusive to the best of filmakers. Focus too much on a tight storyline and you end up with a gut wrencher like Aks that is so dark that there is no emotional relief during the 3 hours and the movie doesnt click, or mix one element too many to provide that relief and audiences come out of the theatre wondering where the joker fit into what had potential to be an intense script!!! KHNH seems to have found that balance and people were laughing loudly at the humour, as well as weeping with the emotions :) so that’s worked.
These are my take aways from the movie, and the things I wanted to focus on in the review becasue everyting else is summarised in the first line -Classic Dharma production. Beautiful locales, wonderful perfomances, superb music and feel good , ’shudh desi ghee main prepared’ Indian emotional appeal :)
Should definitely work, and take Bollywood one step further in the conventional channel, just as films like KMG are tapping unconventional channels :)