Movie going audiences the world over, or so smart young filmmaker Karan Johar would like to believe, are glad that the wait is finally over: `Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham' or `K3G', the snappy alternative title that the publicity machine came up with, hit movie screens today! The shrewd publicity campaign ensured that wherever Hindi films are shown, a fever pitch of anticipation sharpened to incandescent proportions over the preceding several months. A record 650 prints of the film have gone into distribution-unprecedented for a Bollywood release. The cast of the film is equally unparalleled: Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, plus another popular leading lady in a `guest' appearance, form the headliners. Such a formidable phalanx of stars alone would guarantee that this film would elbow out the competition. So, you ask, how good is this film; was the foregoing hoop-la justified?
Let's put it like this: I saw it this afternoon (first day, first show, just like in my student days!) and, though it is a shrewd and manipulative exercise in filmmaking, I bought into it. I laughed, I cried, I resisted the urge to dance in the aisles. The word `shrewd' comes to mind again and again. The casting was shrewd, the marketing blitz, as well. Ditto, for the mix of the film's ingredients, the plotline, and clever typecasting. Shrewd, shrewd, shrewd! But Karan Johar persuades you to overlook the blatant exploitation of your emotions, the plot twists seen coming a mile away, the unsubtle set-up of the next dramatic confrontation. He inveigles you into colluding with him in this charming filmic flim-flam; he winks broadly and you roll your eyes but go along for the ride. Why? Because the characters, while not the least bit new, are likable. Johar handles his dauntingly large cast well, gives each of them a moment to shine.
Amitabh reprises his stern unyielding patriarch role. He has portrayed uptightness before, as recently as `Mohabbatein', but here he's filthy rich and the stakes have been ratcheted up a notch. He plays a captain of industry, though what industry, we are never told. References are made to his appearances on CNN, so one gathers he is a globally important captain of industry. As is the wont of tycoons, he lives in an enormous salmon pink palace, but inexplicably, all the indoor scenes take place only in the cavernous drawing room with its spooky shadows and fifty-foot ceilings (like the lobby of a particularly unwelcoming hotel), or in his dressing room. Early in the film, his business tycoon character is shuttled to the office in a helicopter. The man gets out, shoots a look of proprietary pride at the monogrammed chopper and deadpans to a minion, `Nice machine! Should get a few more!'
Jaya plays his worshipful, obedient wife clad in matronly pastel sarees with tasteful embroidery and triple strand of pearls--appropriate Mrs. Tycoon garb. Just as you question the wisdom of coaxing her out of retirement for this thankless role, Johar gives her a small scene where she puts her steely-eyed pig-headed husband in his place, and this without raising her voice and thundering as he does, and you think, right on! Then it makes sense that she is in the film. Shah Rukh, as their son, plays Shah Rukh yet again, alternatingly lovelorn and stubborn, but here he gets to do some comedic shtick too. Mercifully, it's not slapstick; in fact, all the humor in the film is intelligent. Even Johnny Lever, who is insufferable in most films, is given some pretty good lines. But best are the throwaway ones that Shah Rukh, and on a couple of occasions, Kajol, toss off casually. Anyway, Shah Rukh has a London MBA in this film, and good thing too, because he has to go off and make his own fortune in the tough, cruel world. Oops! I gave away something you'd never have guessed would happen in a Hindi film.
It is a delight to see Kajol in a film that makes good use of her looks and skills. Her screen appearances are becoming rare and it is a shame to see her squandered in execrable fare like `Raju Chacha'. In `K3G', she looks ravishing, is photographed lovingly, and positively sparkles playing, once again, a character called Anjali. Hindi filmgoers will recall that Anjali was her character's name in Johar's debut film, `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. This Anjali is from Delhi's Chandni Chowk and speaks an outlandish mix of Hindi and Punjabi. You don't understand it all, but her sheer effervescence bowls you over, so it's no surprise that Shah Rukh (whose character, like the one he played in `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', is named Rahul) falls for her almost immediately. They go into an extended dream sequence that involves them singing around the Pyramids, a heretofore-unused location in Hindi films. Kajol wears loads of kohl and numerous stunning monochromatic sarees which contrast well with the starkness of the Egyptian sands, while Shah Rukh, not to be outdone, resorts to see-through organdy shirts. Unfortunately, right after the sartorial one-upmanship of this song, daddy announces he has other plans for his son, and thus begins the `Gham' (sorrow, tears) portion of the film.
Hrithik and Kareena play the other romantic leads and they are adorable. I got a kick out of the back story that Hrithik's character has been given: in early childhood, he was obese and all the scenes featuring the boy Hrithik (played by an extremely tubby child actor), show him either eating or conniving to get something to eat. So all you overweight boys out there, take heart-you could well grow up, turn into a Hrithik, captain a winning cricket team, and end up with a cutie-patootie like Kareena Kapoor! But I should caution that it is unlikely that this would happen outside the wacky world of Hindi films. The grown up Hrithik is endearingly earnest and sets about restoring the `khushi' (joy, happiness) of his film family, but takes time out to drive fast cars, and show off some nifty dance moves and bicep revealing leather vests. But mostly, as he performs good works, he gazes soulfully, while his brown eyes glisten with unshed tears.
Kareena Kapoor's character is modeled after Archana Puran Singh's in `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', so of course I loved her. After seeing Ms. Puran Singh in a film called `Raja Hindustani', I became a big fan of her work. In that movie, she played a deliciously evil stepmother, had a fabulous wardrobe and was nasty to everyone within hollering distance. She was so enthusiastically wicked that she completely overshadowed the insipid heroine played by Kareena's older sister Karisma Kapoor. But, enough about that film. Here Kareena, channeling the spirit of Ms. Puran Singh, vamps hilariously and is adorably clueless. She is aided and abetted by two sweetly dim cohorts. Of course, like any self-respecting younger female lead, her clothes are skimpy to the point of being almost non-existent. One of the best lines in the film has to do with her blink-and-you'll-miss-it outfits. That she pulls this off without looking cheap or vulgar is to her credit. After this and her similarly fabric-challenged turn in the awful `Asoka', the courageous Ms. Kapoor should be given some sort of award for conserving cloth and her contribution towards reducing the wardrobe budgets of films.
So you see, I had a couple of good laughs, tapped my feet to the songs (the handiwork of three different composers), and shed several cathartic tears that Karan Johar contrived to wring out of me. Of course, the "gham" (sorrow, tears) in the film was disproportionate to the amount of "khushi"(happiness), but as a friend e-mailed me, what good is a Hindi film without the opportunity to weep copiously! I walked out thinking, `There was nothing new, I was hoodwinked with my complete cooperation, and it was all good fun!'
