Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna Review
Too long. Too tedious. And strangely plastic. No, this time, Karan Johar seems to have got the formula somewhat skewed. For unlike his earlier successful celluloid soap operas, the audience doesn’t get to shed any real tears even though the protagonists keep crying. In all his earlier ventures, the characters would hardly need the tissues despite the heartbreak, heartache, heartburn. It was the viewer who’d do all the crying, sighing and tear jerking ‘coz Shah Rukh Khan chose to laugh while he died, Hrithik Roshan sashayed to bring his broken family together and Kajol played basketball to drive her dilemma – Salman or Shah Rukh – away. Naturally, we the aam janata couldn’t bear the agony of these bravehearts and broke down copiously, while the box office jingled. But this time round, the rona-dhona becomes somebody else’s business, the jolly good fella bits seem to be in short supply and the aam janata ends up feeling gypped. Primarily because it doesn’t know why Rani relentlessly sobs and Shah Rukh goes gruff-gruff and all those designer marriages suck…
- Shah Rukh and Rani Mukherji
Okay, we know that Shah Rukh’s angry because he’s got a perpetual limp, he can’t play football, his wife’s (Preity Zinta) more successful than him and someone’s told him his pout looks sexy. But is that reason enough to fall in love with a wannabe bride (Rani) he meets on a bench one New Yorky afternoon as she ruminates on this whole marriage business and the grand mohabbat myths? And is that reason enough to pout permanently in the film as he goes through the entire gamut of incompatibility, infidelity, separation and reunion, barking down on anybody who happens to cross his path. Even his bechara beta!
Unconvincing again are the reasons behind Rani’s drift. All that hubby Abhishek demands from her is a bit of passion in bed, some rock-and-roll in dad’s (Amitabh) rocking party and a bit of bonhomie in their day-to-day life. Is that asking for too much from a roz-roz-morose Miss?
