Never Say Goodbye

Point blank, here I share my perspective into what is (or was) inarguably 2006's most awaited Hindi Movie, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

Prima facie, KANK is a true blue (and Red and Yellow, and Green, and Purple) Karan Johar film. With its identifiable easy-to-listen rich soundtrack, the slick cinematography, and the very-very Karan Johar'ish wardrobe; it stands out as every thing his signature style entails. Yet it also signals the possible coming of age of our multi-starrers. The hint of the possible power in the script is something that is only let down by the final execution of it. When you have actors who are stalwarts in the niches that one can carve for them (SRK in the usual passionfilled romance, Rani in her gullible indolence, Priety in the strong woman semblance, and both AB's in their own forte of suave style), and yet the film delivers hiccups, there is something to be questioned, and some conclusions to be drawn.

The premise or the protagonist of the movie, contrary to what 99.8% (just a random sample) of viewers find to be SRK and Rani, is the story. It is not about there being a customized soulmate, in the altars of whose pursuit every other relation ought be sacrificed. Rather it is about questioning the foundations of relations.

It does not ask you to work on a marriage or to walk out of a marriage that does not seem to work. It asks you to examine it for yourself, that what you wanted or thought that you wanted from a liason, and what you actually take out of it. It asks you not to justify or rationalize what was done based on plans, it prods one to ratiocinate what has been already done. To determine how much is enough, and to derive -borrowing a phrase from Rushdie- that how much of bathwater can be lost before one loses a baby.

So the fact that Dev has to leave his wife Rhea and son, while Rishi has to let go of his love Maya; is not what this movie is about. It is about how frustrations turn a man bitter, about how career can be too dominating at times, about how fathers relate to their sons, about how physical can jealousy actually be, and about love being as much about the body as about the so called soul. But more than all of this, it is about the fact that the root of the word relation is not a ritual, but a verb called relate.

So when I decide to look beyond the veneer of a commercial film, I feel that apart from instances of pure Hindi phillum infection; the movie is "good". It gives some basic points to ponder, and allows the viewer to think, which is what I think this medium of communication should essentially be about. Just that Hindi films have a tendency to have an invariably happy ending, and in that pursuit of commercial viability the script suffers.

Perhaps here is a story that raises question that will find more relevance in days to come. Where it falters is in its attempt to answer them.

But I choose to overlook that for the moment.