Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna [2006]

KANK
Reviewed: 10th August 2006

Living up to expectations:
Where do I start? Karan Johar is not only one of my most loved celebrities but most importantly my favourite director and a filmmaker I really admire and love, I’ve gone around saying for years now that ‘main Karan Johar banna chahti hoon’… I’ve seen every Dharma Production film in the cinema since Duplicate… Duplicate, KKHH, K3G, KHNH, Kaal and now KANK…And I have loved each one a lot! In my eyes Dharma Production is the finest production house in India… The fact that KANK is Karan’s 3rd directorial, following 2 of my top 5 films ever [KKHH and K3G], expectations were sky high from me! They were so high that I feared heavily that I would be disappointed…How can anything live up to what I expected of this film? I’ve followed the film every single day since it was launched… Every day I have thought about it so heavily… Throughout the shooting in New York we had extras informing us about what was going on etc and getting us onset pictures… I have around 500 onset pictures saved to my PC, lots of accounts of the shooting, 300 movie stills…and then we had a load of promos, interviews and specials across various channels especially NDTV and MTV… All this… How can a film live up to expectations after all these spoilers? How can a film still be so special? How can a filmmaker justify the talent of such huge superstars…? One thing for sure the only filmmaker capable of doing this is – Karan Johar! Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Kirron Kher…with Arjun Rampal, John Abraham and Kajol making appearances… Nothing, and I mean nothing, can be bigger than this! Such a starry event makes one thing it will be left merely as such – an event – and there’s a fear that the substance/story will be lost in the starcast…Does this happen? No! Karan makes a film about characters, a film about relationships…and the fact is that though he has India’s biggest superstars in the film they do not ‘stand out of their characters’; they LIVE their characters and that is all thanks to Karan Johar!

Story and Screenplay:
I’m not going to give a brief on the storyline because we all know what the story basis is [if you don’t, then you can always visit www.dharma-production.com]. The story is fantastic! It genuinely is different…There’s not a single film, that I know of anyway, which Kabhi Alvida… resembles. When the cast and crew used to go around saying ‘it’s a different film, it’s very different to Karan’s usual style’ etc I used to think ‘hmm how different can it be?’… But it so is. It really stands apart from what Karan has made earlier. It is far more mature in both the story and also in the way it has been treated. Screenplay is brilliant, it’s so well written. There’s not a moment where you feel bored. Regardless to the length of the film, it just does not drag! It engages you in every moment. Every scene is so well written, that I found myself at many points saying ‘this is my favourite scene’, ‘this is my favourite scene’, ‘this is my favourite scene’… And after a long time I watched a film, which while watching my backside did not get tired on that cinema seat haha

Some Favourite Scenes:
Oh God I was just discussing with my sister and it is impossible to list all my favourite scenes from the film because I don’t think I am wrong in saying that every single scene was my favourite scene LOL…But hey I’ll talk through some scenes which I can recall at this moment, which I really loved:

- The beginning. What a great way to start the film! Introducing each character really made you realise how different each one is…Dev, the successful footballer who gets a 5m contract…. Rhea, a fashion editor who’s just got a new job… [Note here it was great to see the phone call between Dev and Rhea following… Both happy for their individual self] and showing Maya as a bride in front of the mirror and Rishi sleeping on the sofa haha…. In fact the entire wedding sequence was brilliant… The bench scene with Dev and Maya, absolutely fantastic…two sides of a coin meeting… I have loved all of Karan’s bench scenes so far [the one in KKHH and both the ones in K3G], and yet again he delivers a perfect bench scene

- The part when Dev and Maya try to make their marriages work is so great! Especially when Maya’s telling Dev how to be all ‘romantic’ in the bed shop haha and that man sitting on the bed with them says ‘I am taking this bed!’ LOL… and when Maya went home dressed like that LOL and Dev goes and starts ‘massaging’ Rhea oh my God that was hilarious like he was beating her up…and then he goes ‘blue babe’ LOL

- All the confrontation scenes between the married couples were awesome [arguments, and when they tell them about their affair] …I loved how when something would happen with Rishi and Maya the same would be happening with Dev and Rhea… Oh my God how hilarious was

- The entire black beast situation was too funny for words!!! The way Dev was telling Arjun how he’s going to make juice out of him at home LOL and then Maya thinks Dev is the black beast, and then when Dev sees Maya with Arjun he thinks she is the black beast LOL it was so funny…I am wondering though – who was the black beast?? Haha jus kidding!

- The flower scene when Dev takes Maya flowers…Rhea and Rishi trying to call them, leaving the voice message… That whole sequence is awesome

- The anniversary scene when Maya and Dev organise it for their spouses aww that was a great scene

- When Kamal and Sam see Maya and Dev and that whole scene with Sam and Maya following is so sweet and scary at the same time

- The dinner table scene with the entire cast…What Dev says took my breath away, I was like ‘oh…my…God!’

- Sam’s death scene…Oh my God that was really sad especially on the bench outside when Rishi says to Maya ‘At least I have you’

- The phone call between Dev and Maya after they’ve told Rishi and Rhea the truth…That was damn sad

- The ballet scene was amazing…Dev getting jealous towards the end got me so scared lol

- The scene towards the end [3 years later] when Rishi goes to meet Maya in her house is so emotional, when he asks her to be his best man oh my God I was crying in that scene my eyes were so full… so touching…So well written… Possibly my most favourite scene of the lot if I had to choose [alongside the first bench scene with Dev and Maya]

- The ending at the train station with Dev and Maya!

Music/Songs:
Songs are nice, really nice album…Picturisation of the songs made me like them even more! I wish that version of the title song used in the beginning was actually on the CD, I loved it…

Rock N Roll was quite cool, it was a very real-ish party lol…Kajol looked damn damn gorgeous, that pink sari wow…and she came at the part I wanted her to come [Sar pe topi laal…] I was so happy! She looked fantastic with the Bachchan’s! Mitwa was so beautifully shot…it was damn gorgeous! There’s a slight confusion in the lyrics and picturisation both and that adds to the greatness… Tumhi Dekho Na was beautiful…Especially how it starts with ‘blue’… I mean after all I’m sure we all would love to say ‘I like blue’ *wink wink* haha… Wheres The Party Tonight was shot quite nicely, the highlight being the inter-cutting! My heart was in my throat watching that, and don’t worry it’s not ‘bold’ like some people thought it was going to be…it focuses only on their faces! The title song was shot GREAT! Situational and beautiful…!

Farah did a great job with all the songs

Technicalities:
The film looked gorgeous! Great cinematography…All outfits were gorgeous… Everything was fantastic…! I was glad the camera work did not focus so much on the fact that they were in New York lol we didn’t have flags rubbing up in our faces etc it was all cool and casual like Karan said NY is just a backdrop in KANK and nothing more, it’s not a main character

Direction:
He debuted 8 years ago with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and stole my heart, he was fantastic. He followed it up with a huge film, and again did a fantastic job… Now he’s back for a third time…and saying he’s fantastic this time would be a huge under-statement! He is beyond fantastic…He outdoes his previous work even, and makes such a wonderful film…! Any words will be too little in describing his excellence as a director and writer…He’s simply the best!

Performances:

Shah Rukh Khan stole the show. No one could’ve been Dev better than he was…he was just mind-blowing! All those who say Karan does not give him good roles can eat their shoes and clothes too, because this is one of his finest roles and one of his most perfect and finest performances! He excels so well that I now find it weird calling him SRK, I feel like calling him Dev! Mind-blowing, he was just so great! Too great beyond words…Stole the show, stole every scene, stole everything including my heart…Shah Rukh Khan as Dev Saran will prove to all his cynics that he is the best there was, is and ever will be…One of his top 5 performances, no doubt! God he was amazing in every single scene, such a consistent performance it’s impossible to choose his best performed scenes, they all were flawless!

Rani Mukerji was brilliant, the actress cannot get enough of churning out her best performances back to back, beating her previous attempts time and time again. It’s now common knowledge, and has been for some time actually, to expect nothing but the best from her! As Maya she was flawless, beautiful and so sensitive… She was so warm you felt like reaching out to her and hugging her, this warmth only Rani could churn out…Her performance is so great, I am 99.9% sure that the Best Actress trophies have her name across them for a third year in a row! Brilliant, fantastic performance! One of her best performances ever, definitely in her top 5, she excelled in every one of her scenes it’s far too tough to choose her best scenes in KANK!

Abhishek Bachchan was so great! His finest performance till date, he was so awesome! A scene stealer, he was absolutely great especially in his confrontation scenes! He expresses so well through his eyes…Abhishek has come a long way and even still the only way left for him is up…He’s absolutely amazing, he rocks, what a fine performance, absolutely stunning! He was also stunning in his two scenes with Maya towards the end [especially when asking her to be his best man] and when his father passed away

Preity Zinta was lovely, she gave a nice performance and did well in the second half especially. I would not go as far as she does by calling it her best, because I don’t feel it is, but she looked gorgeous and acted well especially in the sequences she has with her son in the title song, the scene she breaks down in front of her mother in law and of course the scene she confronts Maya at the end

Amitabh Bachchan was superb, he was so much life and bought in a great comic angle to the film…he’s a legend, every breath he takes is flawless…His performance is truly great and I loved him a lot more in KANK than in K3G, so so so much more!

Kirron Kher was wonderful, she looked lovely and acted very well!

Ahsaas did a good job in his scenes with SRK and the little girl who played Rani’s student was so gorgeous oh my God lol the whole Tujhe Dekha thing between them was so cute

Arjun was nice and looked hot but his role was very, very small… Kajol looked freekin gorgeous and danced very well… John rocked…!

Overall:
Karan Johar has impressed me beyond words with this film…Every emotion is depicted so wonderfully, every scene is so perfect… I am so glad I am able to say this – it is even better than his past two films…I love this man so much. KANK is a great, great, great film…it’s commercial, it’s ‘big’, it’s entertaining, you can tell it is a very expensive film, it’s a huge banner and has a huge cast – yet it deals with an issue so sensitively, so beautifully, the film is so perfect, I loved it so much! I cannot wait to watch it again and again and again in the cinema and I cannot wait to buy the DVD! End note: I am glad to say that the evening shows for today are booked out in the cinema [Cineword Feltham] I went to, and even the screening I went to which was very early [10:20] it was in the biggest screen and nearly booked, which is amazing! This film deserves every success that comes its way, and more!