Say Alvida to KANK. Review on Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

In Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, director Karan Johar has used lavish sets, designer trendy wear, high profile stars and plenty of romanticism. These are the things which have not changed in a ‘Karan Johar flick’. But what has changed is that Karan’s characters now have several shades to them, they are not simply good or bad, they have several shades of grey too. In fact the main players Shahrukh and Rani are characters who are human and hence they are portrayed as fallible.

Another aspect that has seen a major change in Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna is the storyline. The film not only deals with happy, positive emotions, it does not tread the safe road of always doing what is right. The film delves into the other side of relationships and love outside marriage.

KANK has been produced under the Dharma Productions banner and directed by Karan Johar. The story has been written by Shibani Bhatija and Karan Johar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have composed the music. The film stars Shahrukh Khan as Dev Saran, Amitabh Bachchan as Samarjiit Singh Talwar/Sam, Abhishek Bachchan as Rishi Talwar, Rani Mukherjee as Maya Talwar, Preity Zinta as Rhea Saran, Kiron Kher as Kamaljeet Saran, Ahsaas Channa as the child artiste, Arjun Rampal, Kajol and John Abraham in special appearances.

The Sarans and Talwars are two families who have been living their lives routinely until the other one came along. Dev Saran is an ace football player; his wife Rhea is busy trying to establish her career as a fashion editor for a savvy magazine. They have a little son too. Kamaljeet is Dev’s mom who is a caterer for wedding receptions. It is through one of his mom’s catering jobs that Dev has a chance meeting with Maya who is supposed to wed Rishi. Sam is the fun-loving, happy go lucky father of Rishi. Maya and Rishi are childhood friends and Rishi proposes marriage to her as he loves her dearly. But Maya is unsure right from the onset if Rishi is truly her soulmate. She meets Dev by chance on her wedding day and it is on this very first meeting that Dev imparts some advice to her that charts her future course. Maya goes on to get married to Rishi.

Unfortunately when Dev is at the peak of his football career he has a major accident and due to a leg injury can never ever play football again. Dev is embittered by his failure and his shortcomings; he turns into a cynical and negative human being. Unfortunately Rhea has no time to take care of her emotionally wounded husband or her little son, as she needs to make money and establish her career. Major cracks begin to develop in Rhea and Dev’s relationship when they bicker and fight about everything. Meanwhile the Talwars too begin to have their share of problems, Maya loves children but she can never have any of her own, this disability coupled with her feelings of not completely loving Rishi make their relationship head for disaster. Samarjiit and Kamaljeet befriend each other and try without much success to make things between the two couples work.

But ultimately the broken, disheartened spouses Dev and Maya find solace with each other. What begins as a friendship soon turns into love between the two. What will become of their respective marriages, will they hurt their spouses or will they eventually part ways? And what happens to Rhea and Rishi who have been betrayed, will they forgive their spouses or will they part ways with them?

An exceptional[dont know in what sense] love story that deals with failed relationships, failed marriages, betrayal and unconditional love[n blah blah.]. Karan Johar and Shibani have penned an extremely noteworthy[For making viewers fully disgusted] script. There are several scenes which have been written with complete nonsense. The film is interspersed with high doses of emotions but nonetheless there are several funny moments too due to Sam’s flamboyant and flirtatious character[The ugliest thing ever to be done by Amitabh]

The dialogues by Niranjan Iyengar are forthright and make a minute impression on audiences. Several dialogues stand out and several fail to touch ur ears. Cinematography by Anil Mehta is simply fine. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has given some melodious tunes for the love songs and some super catchy dance numbers.

However the length of the film is too long and the editing could have been fine tuned. Also some scenes are not very convincing like the manner in which Shahrukh and Rani meet each other after their first meeting, there's too much of weird drama of the black beast which doesn’t quite fit in. Also Shahrukh always scaring the living day lights out of his kid is a bit weird.

The actors have definitely degraded the film in a big way with their performances. Shahrukh as the cynical Dev is in form once again, he gets into the character so artificially that after a while his negativity actually gets on your nerves. Whether he is delivering his lines with extreme gusto or simply using his eyes and facial expressions to convey his feelings he is big time loser. Shahrukh once again proves with this film that he is good only for same roles. Preity Zinta has an extremely glamorous avatar and her no-nonsense attitude wife’s role has been performed convincingly. She gives her character innate strength, dignity and poise.

Abhishek Bachchan’s fun loving attitude definitely comes through in his character, but he also emerges in form when he learns of his wife’s betrayal. Rani looks absolutely mediocre and her performance is just okay. Amitabh’s character lights up[in opposite way].Kiron Kher delivers an efficient performance and the child artiste is average. Special appearances by both Kajol and John Abraham come across as cool.