Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Dharma Productions 2001

For those of you not familiar with a typical Bollywood film, I'll explain them for you. A really good film is 3 to 3 ½ hours long. During this time, you usually see someone remembering the past, then the present is played out, then the main characters hopes or dreams come true or not. Bollywood films are best for their song and dance where the characters would "sing" (have a singer sing for them) and dance, usually to show emotion. This Johar film fits the Bollywood standard to a tee.

"Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" (K3G) is a great film. The film has six of the biggest names in Bollywood playing the lead roles. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan play Yash and Nandini Raichand. They are loving parents to Shah Rukh Khan's Rahul and Hrithik Roshan's Rohan. These guys fall in love with Kajol's Anjli and Kareena Kapoor's Pooja, sisters from a lower class. On top of these names, Rani Mukherji guest stars as Niana. The names pulled the people in to the theatres and the people say they experienced deja vu, I'll explain shortly.

Yash and Nandini Raichand have taught their sons, Rahul and Rohan the traditions that Yash grow up on. Yash went to boarding school, so Rahul and Rohan went to boarding school. Yash went to University in London, so do Rahul and Rohan. Yash's marriage was arranged, but Rahul falls in love with Anjli, a girl from Chandni Chowk, a lower class part of town. Yash becomes enraged and tells Rahul he cannot marry this girl. When Rahul goes to break up with her, he can't, so he marries her instead. When Yash finds out, he throws the fact that Rahul was adopted in his face, "You were never my son" and they are not welcome in the house. Rahul and Anjli leave and everyone, Nandini, Rohan, Rahul, Anjli and even Yash, but you don't see it, are hurt. Rohan, being at boarding school doesn't know what has happen until ten years later when his grandmothers' tell him the story. When he sees his mother, he promises her that he will fix her broken heart and he sets off to find his brother and remind him, "It's all about loving your parents." (Karan Johar)

Well, let's talk deja vu. Most of it comes out of "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". K3G has the title song playing through all the important parts of the film, we see it at the Diwali where we are introduced to the Raichand family. It plays when Rahul leaves, when Rohan makes the promise to Nandini, when Rohan sees Rahul for the first time, when Rahon reveals to Rahul that he is his brother, when Rahul sees his parents again and after Yash and Rahul make up. "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" title song also does this. Another case is Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol seem to be named the same, Rahul and Anjli, in both films and the actors again fall in love with each other. Oh lets not forget the small things. Johnny Lever, a comedian, in both films tries to recreate this role he had in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". And how can we forget the little boy in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" that counted the stars all the time? We can't since he is in K3G as well.

Not all of the deja vu cases happen to be along side of "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". The relationship between Amitabh and Shah Rukh's characters is the same kind of relationship that was in "Mohabbatein". In both films, Amitabh plays men who are all about tradition, honor and discipline. In both films, Shah Rukh has played men who follow their hearts, breaking the rules of which Amitabh's character enforces.

The acting in this film was awesome. The Bachchans did a great job as parents. Kareena, I feel, finally got a part which reflected her. Pooja is almost a carbon copy of Kareena. A bubbly, fun, loving person obsessed with fashion and boys. The only thing that Poo does and Kareena does not is let her popularity go to her head. I feel it was portrayed well. Shah Rukh always plays roles like Rahul. He is smart, fun and falling in love at the wrong time with the wrong person is a curse for Shah Rukh, but it doesn't stop him from making it awesome each time. Hrithik plays peacemaker Rohan, a part that involves him acting like he is acting. Rohan is acting as if he doesn't know these his brother. I find roles like this fun to watch. I by far think that Kajol got the best part. She played Anjli, a character who is deewana (crazy), yet emotional. She is very patriotic because even in London, she is saying her prayers and having sargi. I love this part so much because we can finally see Kajol use her comedic abilities.

Karan Johar had the best cast to work with. The legendary Bachchans, the soon to be legendary Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, and the hottest newer actors Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. Karan also got to work with his brother Yash who produced the film. Karan told the story well. There is no doubt that there could be improvements but the overall rating is an awesome 8 out of 10. Karan did the best job since Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and will most likely be able to make another hit in the near future.

The music was great. Like most Hindi films, the up beat numbers are the best. Jatin-Lalit and Sandesh Shandilya did great with the music. "Say Shava Shava", "Deewana Hai Dekho" and "You are my Soniya" are the best songs in the film. Of course, we all love "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" because legendary Lata Mangeskar sung it wonderfully. The cinematography was bright in the happy scenes and whenever Yash would yell at Rahul or Rohan, it became dark. The best scenes were those dark scenes in which no music played so you could really hear and think about what they were saying.

This film symbolizes the change in time. Yash wants the same things for his family that his father had for him. The thing is, the time has changed and Rahul and Rohan want different things. The message cannot be better put then with this quote from Karan Johar, "It's all about loving your parents." It show us that no matter what your parents do, you still love them.

"Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" is a star packed film with a storyline that was great. It hit the silver screen in December of 2001, stayed there for twenty-five weeks and was a hit. If someday you cannot figure out what film you would like to see, "...listen to your heart. If it doesn't answer you, close your eyes and think of your parents and...", (Rahul to Rohan) you'll know you have to see this film.

K3g movie website