Kabhi alvida na dekhna

The following write-up is a kind of screed. So please read on if you have the patience which is very much required

here. Here is a small joke which i heard from some unknown quarter.
Manager to boss : Sir, aap hamesha picture dekhne ke liye secretary ke saath kyun jaate hai ?
Boss: Aaj kal family ke saath dekhne layak filmein kahan banti hai.

One person would be certainly offended with this joke- karan johar. His films have always upheld family values. But post kabhi alvida na kehna he is going to be the butt of ridicule of such jokes. But to be truthful, this movie definitely needs to be watched by married couples. Who knows ?? An unknown passion might get stoked.With kabhi alvida na kehna karan johar completes trilogy of a sort. In KKHH, the protagonists fall in love. In K3G, the protagonists take care of their parents. And in KANK, the protagonists get bored of the earlier two things . So they start having extra marital affairs. So far so good, right ?? No, because the movie falls flat on its face.

The movie has everything: dream cast, great music, amazing locales. But it lacks in THE most important thing - script which can atmost be termed as higgledy-piggledy. Two marriages are apparently on rocks. And one person from each marriage falls for each other. From hereon, the movie becomes part 2 of kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi. The characters are so loosely conceptualised that they are way too capricious. At one moment preity n srk hug each other and in the very next shot with no specific provocation get into haranguing n hectoring each other. Abhishek n rani's relationship is no better. Amitabh bachchan is given a role which is best suited for the likes of gulshan grover or shakti kapoor. Karan johar
sleepwalked in the direction department beacuse the whole bunch of actors were shouting in either strident or shrill voices. Ladies were cantankerous. Men were as good as them.
Its only when abhishek bachchan appears on the screen that the proceedings become alive. But due to proximity of srk to karan johar abhishek makes sporadic appearance in the film. The whole film is only about srk n rani.
However, kudos to karan johar for taking this kind of "hatke" subject. But i guess he had no conviction in the script half way through. Its a cliched ridden movie. Srk is a limping man and so his self-esteem takes a beating. Rani cant bear a child and
so she is kind of guilty for depriving the joy of having a child. And these two battered souls meet up only to bore the audiences.
Its good that the movie has been made. Extra marital affairs have always been debatable(read it as polemic) issues. Atleast the inamoratas will have kind of badinage on this movie even after its over. The projection though, has been
wrong. Do married people have extra marital affair - as shown in the movie- for physical satisfaction ?? Or emotional ?? If they are really in love, should their partners be commiserating enough to let them have a relationship ?? Well, these are
questions emanating from my mind with no defnite answers.

From trade point of view, this movie is a big letdown. It does not cater to nri audiences who expect large doses of patriotism. They would like it if AB baby would address BIG B as pitaji rather than as DUDE. On home front, the movie is an even bigger letdown. Our audiences are not mature enough to accept these subjects. I am in no way snubbing their intelligence but the truth is this. Not many can relate with this kind of storyline. Finally, law of averages caught up with karan johar and he delivered a dud. Atleast he should have changed the city. Same old new york as in KHNH. Nah..

Karan johar is better off as a brand ambassador of glycerine products. One last question pops up in my mind :Whenever taboos like live-ins and extra marital affairs have to be shown, why do the filmmakers flee to foreign cities like
siddharth anand to australia and now karan johar to new york.

P.S: I am a big AB BABY fan. I saw his bare chest in antar mahal. And in KANK i saw his long hairy bare legs. OOh.. One good reason to watch KANK. DHOOM-2 trailer is being shown. And boy oh boy, hrithik looks dashing, bips in a
striped bikini is oomph la la.. Aish looks stunning and abhi is as usual cooooll..