Kal Ho Naa Ho
Meet Naina (Preity Zinta), part Sardarni part Catholic -- lives in New York but very Indian at heart. Meet Rohit Patel ( Saif Ali Khan), a nice hearted skirt chaser and scion to the richest ’’Gujju’’ family in the US. Also please meet Aman ( Shah Rukh Khan), a child at heart, but has a heart like the sky -- his aim in life is to create happiness around him.
Naina and Rohit are great friends, while a part time MBA course gets them together each evening, their friendship is very love/hate. More so, Rohit has a deep liking for Naina, something which she doesn’t know. Naina and her mother, Jennifer ( Jaya Bachchan) are deeply troubled by the fact that Naina’s father committed suicide and Dadi Ma (Sushma Sheth) has always accused Jennifer for the suicide.
While Naina and Jennifer are very upset with the goings of a bad family life ( thanks to the Daddi Ma) and business life ( their restaurant business is not going anywhere) there arrives a neighbour in the name of Aman. He brings back the happiness to their lives and in turn Naina falls in love with him. Aman has a life threatening heart disease and hence he lies to Naina that he is already married to Priya ( Sonali Bendre), who in actuality is his heart doctor. Aman wants Rohit and Naina together as he knows ...Kal Ho Na Ho.
The story of the movie can be called a ’’love triangle’’, but its how the movie is made which is simply amazing. Produced by Karan Johar and director by debutant Nikhil Advani ( Assistant on films like Mohabbatein, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G), his ability as a good director clearly shows in the making of the films. All this with the whole world talking that Johar has ’’ghost directed’’ the film.
The most beautiful part about the film is that Karan Johar is a master craftsman at writing ’’emotional moments’’. His ability of weaving in small nuances via these moments clearly makes him one of the best directors in Bollywood ( now dont say he is only 3 movies old). Having spoken about the emotional moments, the comical moments of the film are par excellence. Both Shah Rukh and Saif are tres fantastique and to their witty best. More so the film is shot in ’’sync sound’’, which in non jargonistic terms means ’’live sound, and little to no dialogue dubbing later on’’ -- like they do abroad. While purist believe that an actor can elevate his performance in the film via a great ’’dubbing’’, I guess that Bollywood is catching up in film making procedures with the west.
What is nice is a lot of shots are ’’long’’ -- the actors act like they are on stage, less cuts which make the scene more interesting to watch as the actors really shine out. Shah Rukh with his Delhi stage acting background has used this to his great advantage. The music of the film by Shankar Ehsaan Loy has been pretty popular from the day of its release. The audience really freaked out when the songs started and his reaction was really nice to see.
Anil Mehta, who was recently responsible for cinematography on ’Lagaan’ has done a great job. The picturisation of the songs are truly fantastic.
To sum it up a great film, with funny as well as emotional moments -- a must watch...you never know...KAL HO NAA HO !
Rating ( on 5)
The Look - 3.5
Story - 4.5
Performances - 4
Music - 4.5
Background Music - 3.5
Overall - 4