Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna – KANK (2006)

Directed by: Karan Johar | 192 minutes | drama, family, romance, musical | Actors: Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bhachchan, Abishek Bhachchan, Rani Mukerjee, Preity Zinta, Kirron Kher

‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’ (“Never say goodbye”) is the long-awaited and much-discussed new film from director Karan Johar, who deals with interesting and challenging themes with this film, especially by Indian standards. It’s not a dime a dozen Bollywood festivities where a boy and girl court each other, in between overcoming some obstacles, only to eventually get married; an institution usually presented as sacred and utopian. No, Johar shows a progressive look at modern (Indian) marriages here. Not everything is sweet, as it turns out. Male-female relationships are different than they used to be, and love and happiness in marriage are not as self-evident as has often been suggested in the past.

So things are brewing in the lives of the two couples in the film, and Johar has assembled a top cast to guide us through all the difficulties and ambiguities. The hugely popular “leading man” Shahrukh Khan is the male peace breaker in the story, and as female co-culprit is none other than ‘Black’ star Rani Mukherjee, who has worked with Khan several times before (‘Veer-Zaara’). , ‘Khuch Khuch Hota Hai’, ‘Paheli’) and here, of all the (top) actors present in the film, makes the most impression. The contemporary icon of Bollywood, nestor Amitabh Bachchan is also present, along with son Abishek, who plays the same role in the film and also plays Rani’s husband. Father Bachchan mainly provides the much desired healthy dose of humor. His licentious character is constantly partying or working with half-undressed women (usually white), and this makes for quite a few (successful) slapstick situations, including a nice parallel cut between the two marriages in the film. Preity Zinta’s pretty face rounds out the star cast. This actress is almost as popular as Rani and is also clearly making progress in acting.

‘KANK’ is beautifully shot, has attractive musical numbers (apart from perhaps the disco song “Where’s the party tonight?”, which seems a bit bland), and the acting is usually very satisfying. At least as important: the film has content. In ‘Khuch Khuch Hota Hai’ Johar already showed that he has a keen eye for the workings of relationships and the subtleties of (romantic) feelings, and in ‘KANK’ there are also several striking observations and the characters and mutual relationships are often interesting. designed. In the marriage between Rhea (Zinta) and Dev (Khan), it is the woman who wears the pants, and thus fulfills the traditional male role, to Dev’s dismay. The latter seems to have a promising future in the beginning, when we see him win an important football match – in which his face is beautifully hidden for a long time to increase the viewer’s anticipation of his identity – after which he is offered a multi-million dollar contract . But he sees his rich, independent life go up in smoke when he is hit by a car and can no longer play football. He is now the family man, while his wife earns a living.

Rhea puts a lot of emphasis on her career and as a result has less time for her child, which is equally rubbed off on her by Dev when she tries to satisfy the boy by buying a game console after just missing a football game from the little boy. Dev snaps at her, “If they’re selling time in that toy store, buy it for him.” At the same time, later in the film, she makes the fair point that men were never called selfish if they wanted to make a career and let their wives do most of the parenting duties. Why should a woman be held accountable? Also, when Dev comes to her after revealing his affair, Rhea uses a specular argument. “Would you take me back or forgive me if I had done what you have now done?” He doesn’t answer, but she knows what it must be: “No.” And so Dev can pack. In these moments, Preity Zinta shows not only that she has a cute face for light-hearted romantic roles, but that she can also stand up dramatically. Again quite an improvement since ‘Veer-Zaara’.

While Dev has a point regarding Rhea’s absence from raising their child, his behavior is often disproportionately hostile. It is clear that he is frustrated by the power imbalance in his marriage and his own inability to take care of himself. As a result, he often slashes his claws at those around him. Even, and this does not help the effectiveness of the main relationship in the film, to Maya (Mukherjee), when she crosses his path. He is brash and abusive, and later presumptuously possessive, so it’s not entirely clear how Maya feels about him. She needs someone with whom she can talk, and she can indeed do that with him, but the man is usually not sympathetic.

They mostly seem to be drawn to each other, as Dev himself explains in the voiceover, because they’re both incomplete, and that way, complete again when they’re together. He also admits that they are very different. This needn’t matter, and is quite understandable – they are drawn to each other because of their similar situation – but to suggest that this is some sort of ultimate relationship to be continued later seems to be a mistake. Halfway through the film, there actually seems to be an interesting click, and the beautiful musical montage also shows a romantic couple, but often they clash or their affair is imbued with great sorrow. We don’t get the impression that these two people should be together and that they have a passionate relationship. The lighter moments between these two are very nice. For example, she demonstrates in a bed shop how he should give his wife a massage when she comes home, and he shows her an exciting outfit in a lingerie shop that would please her husband. This last suggestion has a hilarious result when Maya shows up at home in a sexy romper suit with a whip and blindfold on, while her living room is filled with her father-in-law and a bunch of friends of husband Rishi. Very nice to see Rani Mukherjee throwing off her distinguished image here and happily throwing herself into this role of sex vamp.

Aside from these exchanges of tips, when Dev and Maya really come alive as a couple, there isn’t an excess of chemistry between the pair. In that regard, Rishi and Rhea would have been better off having an affair. When these two walk down the street complaining about their disappointing marriage and partner, sparks clearly fly and a natural playfulness that is usually missing between Maya and Dev.

The main conclusion is that the two marriages in question here were neither happy nor successful, and that those involved must be honest with themselves and the other. Maya has based her marriage mainly on friendship and that breaks up, both for herself – she still wants real love, and for her partner – Rishi can count on little passion in their relationship and becomes increasingly frustrated. This conclusion is continued in an almost perfect way in a great and subtly written and acted last half hour, in which every actor shows his best side. The final confrontations in the two marriages, the period in which the two guilty are on their own and try to find peace – beautifully captured in a musical montage, and then the reconciliation (as friends) with the previous partners: this is all very well executed. It’s a shame, therefore, that the absolute ending doesn’t seem to be entirely consistent with the central theme, as the individual characters still have to form a binding relationship, without necessarily having formed a solid foundation for it. But, perhaps this can be seen as a cyclical movement: the idea that people do have certain habits and needs, and there are no easy solutions.

Although the film is not flawless, at least for the Western viewer, due to the not entirely satisfactory design and outcome of the affair and the (traditional) melodramatic or overly explicit situations, ‘KANK’ is on the whole an interesting and mature film. turned into a movie. A production that is technically and in terms of acting good and, in terms of content, does not tread the beaten track. Anyone who is already somewhat familiar with Bollywood films and (because of this) is not allergic to some sporadic kitsch, and at the same time is interested in the less romantic sides of relationships, can definitely give this film a chance. But even for the average “Bollywood virgin” this movie is often very rewarding. Drama, humor, music, a pinch of romance: there are worse ways to spend three hours.