“Pal mein paraya kar diya! P...P…Pal…Pal mein paraya kar diya!”
--- Rahul, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.
I don’t like this movie for many different reasons. But the reason that tops my list hands down is this.
“This is the film responsible for inventing the annoying “Poo” (short form for Pooja) image of Kareena Kapoor and then flinging it on the unsuspecting audiences.”
If not for this, we would not have suffered immensely in all the other Kareena starrers that followed, compelling the audiences to unwillingly tolerate the same “Poo” interpretation that Kareena chose to give to EVERY character she played after this.
A fun loving, arrogant-but-deep-down-nice, scantily clad, pouting and giggling Poo.
And I can’t help but reminisce on the high point of the film where her friends come to pick Pooja up and insist on screaming “Oh Poo! Poo!” Simply pathetic, and who else would come up with such creative characters but our very own incompetent-excuse-for-a-director, Karan Johar?
This regressive-thinking, story-starved man chose to tell us yet another unrealistic and overused tale through Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (sometimes happiness sometimes sorrows). For this illustrious project, he roped in his favorite stars Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. Also present are Amitabh and Jaya Bacchan, Kareena Poo Kapoor and Hritik Shining Roshan.
After peeling off layer after layer of expensive sets, men’s churidars, men’s shiny-ornate kurtas, beautiful Kashmiri shawls, tons and tons of artificiality, cloyingly sentimental dialogues, finally, I could decipher the story as this. Please take note that most of the scenes during the telling of this story occur while one or all characters are weeping, crying, sobbing and generally shedding gallons and gallons of tears (this is the ‘sometimes sorrow’ part of the title “some times happiness sometimes sorrow).
*Plot
A rich family (by ‘rich’ think “using helicopters for routine travel” *and *“men of the household wearing heavy, ornate kurtas” and “women of the household wearing heavy, ornate saris with heavier jewellery even while at home”) living in a palatial mansion is headed by Yash Raichand (Amitabh Bacchan) and his wife (Jaya Bacchan).
Now, Yash is a very noble man and in one of his noble acts adopts an orphaned boy called Rahul. A while later they are blessed with a biological son whom they insist on calling Rohan. Please note that, the wife is a super-mom and thus has the* telepathic ability* of “knowing” whenever Rahul is nearby.
Once grown up, Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) falls in love with a middle class girl called Anjali (Kajol). Being the noble man that he is, Yash should have readily agreed for Rahul and Anjali’s wedding. However, in a cruel twist that the director Karan Johar has spun for us, Yash does not agree for his son and Anjali to get married (huh!) and the poor couple having left no other option (?) leaves home (read ‘palatial mansion’) and homeland (read ‘India’), and settles down in London. I have to especially mention that Rahul’s bidaai scene was brilliant.
Now, why a man with a heart big enough to adopt an orphan, would be shallow enough to reject a girl based on her economic/financial status is beyond my level of understanding.
Years pass, and Rohan (Hritik Roshan) has now grown up and is no longer the fat youngster that he once was. He desperately wants to see his family as whole again. This of course means traveling to London, lying to Bhaiyya and Bhabhi (both of whom by the way have had a few generous sips of some magic elixir so as not to age with the passage of time) about his identity, flirting with Pooja, Bhabhi’s younger sister and so on. Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) is also now all grown up and is no longer a part of the human species, but has transformed into an alien called ‘Poo.’ Finally, estranged son, daughter-in-law, nanny and grandchild etc. are reunited with the parents and all is well.
*In a funny tone
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In between the torrents of tears that accompany almost all scenes in this film, director KJ thought it appropriate to entertain and amuse us with a pack of monkeys dressed in short skirts playing the incessantly giggling friends of Poo.
Also entertaining is the mental illness that the character of Poo depicts;this alien affliction causes one to pout, change facial expressions 40 times in a given 30 seconds, exaggeratedly bat one’s eye lids and so on.* Kareena, in an award winning performance.
Shahrukh Khan has carefully researched the many situations that Rahul faces and has used this knowledge to give us a truly inspired and “natural” performance. He especially displayed his unlimited acting talents in the scene, where, upon rejection by his father, Rahul shakes, twitches, violently trembles and mouths with quivering lips “Pal mein paraya kar diya! P… P… Pal… Pal mein paraya kar diya!” to a stoic and unmoving Yash.
*In a serious tone
Frankly speaking, one does not have to appreciate this movie in order to prove that they love their parents and/or possess a heart in general.
The usually lively and subtle Kajol is uncharacteristically loud especially in the scenes later in the movie with Farida Jalal. Some people had complaints with the National Anthem “Jan Gan Man” scene. Some said it was patriotic to include the National Anthem in a mainstream movie while some others said it was an insulting thing to do. No comments.
Hritik Roshan acts okay but cannot help the poor script and the poorer direction. Ditto for Jaya Bacchan. Amitabh as usual delivers a strong and sincere performance, but the characterization of Yash Raichand left a lot to be desired.
The film has its share of good songs. Essentially what could have been a touching story about parent child relationships has been mocked and made fun of, on glossy, glittering, larger than life sets. The main emphasis as in all Karan Johar’s movies is on the sets, designer outfits and popular clichés instead of on the plot.
KJ tries to bring out a lot of sad emotions from the characters, but is able to draw only one emotion from the audience. Joy, at finding and watching such a FUNNY movie!
All in all, a good concept gone horribly WRONG.
