Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006)

The Compliment:

This movie is beautiful.

There area lots of great scenes of New York.

The story is compelling.

And, the classic Bollywood dance scenes are worked into the storyline cleanly in logical places.

The Complaint:

Be forewarned, I ordered this 2-disk special edition from Amazon (not the marketplace) and I was sent the single-disc, double-layer version. Unfortunately, I had torn off the plastic wrap before I realized there was only 1 disc inside, so returns seem to be out of the question. I understand that the covers of the single-disc and double-disc versions are almost the same. This was probably a picking error. So when you buy this, check it very carefully before opening it.

Movie opens on boy meets girl on the girl's wedding day to another man. The man she married was arranged n out of obligation to the man who raised her after parents died. It shows with empathy toward the characters how one can easily fall into an affair n destroy two marriages. Quite a few themes in American and Indian culture & marriage r explored. Great acting by all six main characters. I love this movie!!!

Buy Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) Now

Regardless of its flaws and faults, KANK is a bold and realistic attempt to portray the dilemma of Indian NRI's who live American lives but marry as per Indian norms. Where the director falls short is not in the right idea but in the realistic characterization, and following a script that rarely portrays the pains of two loveless marriages. A serious topic needs a serious portrayal. Karan Johar's otherwise popular attempts at comical relief have gone awry in KANK because the treatment never gets serious enough to call for a break. Pains of relationships bound by social pressures and traditions, are not an Indian wedding (KHNH) or a teenage romance (KKHH). Mixing fun and humor with such a serious issue can distract the audience and KANK suffers on this account.

The flaws of script and lack of right directorial focus can, sometimes, be made up by individual acting brilliance. Unfortunately, the movie is not helped by the typical 'Sharukh Khan show'. Neither does a reasonably happy looking Preity Zinta make the audiences sympathize with her husband's perpetual lack of involvement. Abhishek and Rani share another loveless marriage but that does not come across as a serious issue apart from during a few outbursts. Amitabh is brilliant but his impact is to distract the audience if at all and KANK's last hope is lost with his demise before the critical climax. His brilliance if properly utilized might have helped a rescue act. Even music, an otherwise strong aspect of a Karan Johar movie, rarely attains the heights Shankar Ahsan Loy have scaled in the past.

Overall, KANK a bold effort at saying goodbye to conventions has less that succeeded because of factors that are obvious in hindsight. Sadly, even the genius that he is, Karan Johar, did not see it while directing KANK. Nonetheless, Indian cinema will be better off with KANK in its archives than without it not so much for what the movie achieves but for what it fails to attain.

Read Best Reviews of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) Here

Definitely a must see even for those who aren't fans of bollywood films! I've already seen this film twice, and when I showed it to my family (who would never ever sit down for a film like this) they were all at the edge of their seats with anticipation. And the music was AWESOME definitely got the album from itunes afterwards. This is by far the BEST!

Want Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) Discount?

Such an inordinate number of successful Bollywood films seem to tread the jaded lines of one geometric shape, the triangle--Kuchh Kucch Hota Hai, Dil To Paagal Hai, Saajan, Kal Ho Na Ho, Parineeta, ad infinitum--that one could be forgiven for wanting to hand the industry a Camlin compass box.

Not to worry. Karan Johar, the under-30 Star Director (as they'll have you believe) rips through the shackles of that well-established formula, and offers us this putative "breakthrough" film: a quadrilaterial! Four lead actors, you see, caught ever so helplessly in the web of extra-marital flexibilities. A smart, savvy, young theme, one that showcases the intricacies and challenges of an India of the future.

Right. I hate to prick the bubble, but this flapdoodle is anything but. Notwithstanding the familiar picnics that we've seen in Sooraj Barjatya flicks (polygons?), KANK's problem is not with the moral indignations that ultra-conservatives may have with its theme. Sure, attractions beyond ill-conceived and hastily-arranged marriages are a reality. Who, having enjoyed an orange, would nevermore want an apple?

But where the film comes up short, very short, is in its sheer lack of sensibility with the subject matter for grown-ups. Like a lumpy soup in a cheap restaurant where the chef couldn't decide quite how much to put in, of what, KANK never quite makes up its mind about being a sincere film exploring a sincere theme, or a mass market slapstick, leaping instead from the frivolous to the utterly idiotic.

We see a couple of couples make what we're supposed to believe is an honest endeavor at a platonic relationship. A When-Harry-Met-Sally exploration of male-female bonds ensues. Love gratified is love satisfied, and love satisfied is indifference begun. But only the married folk in this fairy tale complete that circle, not these well-meaning friends with their thinly-veiled flirtations.

The editing doesn't help either. As the story meanders through the needless song and aerobics, Rani and Abhishek are probably the only two that carry their roles with a semblance of sanity. Big B looks like a buffoon, but he seems to have been working hard at it for a couple of years, so I suppose we must say he's successful. Shahrukh seems to continue to win accolades for his hammy prattle, which ceased to be charming quite a while ago, and is only more egregious in this self-same installment. Kiran Kher joins the jamboree for the sole purpose of bringing sobriety to an erratic old man by oh-so-coyly calling him "boyfriend" (imagine the middle-aged aunties in the audience swooning over in giggles), and because that were clearly not enough, she also manages to bag a couple of gaffes celebrating her derriere from Jullundur.

Bollywood's fascination with New York--the most usual suspect among "foreign cities", after London--continues, with just the kind of bromides we have seen in numerous previous attempts. A cavalcade of overcoats is obligatory (what a uni-seasonal city NY must be) and the Johar version of New York lives, breathes, sleeps in eternal perpetuity right by the Hudson river, because, clearly, that's where everything happens.

For viewers/reviewers gushing with praise because they "truly saw moments from their lives embedded into this film", may I recommend a healthy dose of some of our own gems -Ijaazat, Silsila, Kaash, Arth, Kabhi Kabhie, Saath Saath (for a dash of the light-hearted), Seema (with Balraj Sahni) and so forth -where similar themes have been handled with the kind of grace and cadence that the subject calls for, and heck, deserves. If one is truly inclined to expand one's perspective and savor more intelligent films about the cobweb of relationships, I wholeheartedly recommend the likes of The Ice Storm, Eat Drink Man Woman, We Don't Live Here Anymore, Lost in Translation, Heat and Dust, An Ideal Husband, American Beauty, Dangerous Liaisons. And so on.

Barring the soundtrack, which has some hummable melodies, the discerning may do well to skip this three-hour non-entertainment. It is not a breakthrough. It is certainly not a New Experiment. It's a mawkish popcorn thing that's made to appeal to the masses and to overworked engineers named Hari Prasad.

Save 11% Off