Thursday, June 7, 2007

Never say GoodBye....


I was tempted to name this blog Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. But it being the movie people love to hate, I did not want this blog to turn out the same. Though I feel even people who love me are gonna hate me for having written this.

KANK is movie that has received a lot of brick bats. KJo managed to get good reviews for the movie though it was lampooned by the general public. I am not a KJo fan and I feel he degraded love by making a movie as crass as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I am also not a believer in the concept of soul mates which he touted in KANK. In spite of all this, I liked KANK.

I can hear some say what? Come again. Well I liked Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

I found it the first and the most mature movie made by KJo.

Be it the highly uppity Preity Zinta or the self deprecating Rani Mukherjee, the child-man Abhisekh Bachchan or the utterly bloated and repulsive Shahrukh Khan - I found each character real. The fact that the audience found SRK irritating or Rani Mukherjee a schmalz I think just proves that they delivered the character they were supposed to. But in KANK we had stark reality.

The couples in the plot were the most ill matched ones personality vise, but I think that’s how life is very often. It’s a different matter that we rarely see them in candy floss cinemas.
In Indian marriages we have an unwritten code of honor “Adjust”. But the characters in the movie were not taught that I suppose. And that made them jarring and aberrant. And that made sense to me.

The audience sympathy was with Preity Zinta and Abhisekh Bachchan, because they had not erred. They were the ones wronged against. Again I felt that’s a very human trait to cling to the first support one finds. And that’s the characters of Rani Mukherjee and Shahrukh Khan did. They found support in each other and broke the sacred vows. I am also an Indian to the core and don’t corroborate what they did, but on a logical after thought, I would say what they did was attuned to the concept of one making relationships rather than having relationships thrust upon oneself.

I simply loved Shahrukh Khan in the movie. Being an ardent admirer of his, I hated his character; which just proves how very convincing he was. Usually as one of my friends says, “his performance has layers”. It’s not a simple one track depiction of a character. He makes it realistic and puts a lot of zeal and feel into the depiction. So every time you see his work, it’s like a different and new perspective of the character being unraveled each time. And KANK I feel had the multi dimensional SRK at his very best. The first time I watched the movie, I detested him. He seemed as a term goes – an MCP (Male Chauvinist Pig – for the uninitiated). I found him weak and loathsome. But the second time I saw, I was hit by the pathos in his character. And the third time around I was gaga about his perfect timing of comedy. He just gets better at reinventing himself with each movie :).

[I know when my friend Ashma (an Aamir Khan fan) reads this, at the above line she would have the best frown a girl can put on her face.]

Some characters were redundant and not so well etched out like that of Amitabh Bachchan. And the ending could of course have been a bit sleeker. But I think KANK would have been much better received with out the prevalent multiplex culture. Because I feel in a multiplex one is too affected by group behavior. You see one person letting out a yawn and fidgeting and your attention level drops. It’s so easy to get influenced by the person seated beside you. And matters just get worse if you have a big group along with you. Under those circumstances the movie has to fight for an equal footing with the pop corns and colas moving between the chairs. KANK on the other hand deserves ones undivided attention else or none at all. I being one who watches and not sees movies, felt the small screen does more justice to the script of this movie.

I hope with this blog I might have opened a lot of debate gates :). I also hope some will give KANK a dekko again.


11 comments:

Ashma said...

Nice attempt!! But u were still not able to make me watch it ;-p

smriti said...

really..i don't have any problems with the concept of the movie. i think its the actors that were not so promising in those roles. I did not watch it in the influence of the crowd, even though I am sure Shahrukh's and KJo's large fan base here would have loved it anyway. I feel a lot of the directors are "coming out" of the conventional and stereotype Indian movie factor and experimenting on concepts that would create a dialog similar to the few other movies that came out last yr., like Lage Raho and RDB. But they caused quite a stir and I am sure KANK would have been as powerful if only the actors (Shahrukh maily) had played it well. My favorite is the "child-man".In my opinion he is the only realistic character in the movie and the only person who portrayed his character best . I really want to see a KJo movie sans Shahrukh. No personal issues with either cos my favorite movies are shahrukh movies. The question for me is does KJo's commitment with shahrukh giving him a limited palette of options in coming up with variety. I do understand that he is following the genre of Yash Chopra movies but Yash chopra did not always stick to one particular actor and came up with a lot a more variety by choosing the perfect actor based on the nature of the role and the character of the movie. What I intend to say is Shahrukh wasn't the best choice for the role and I would not want to see the movie more than once.

Amrita said...

Smriti, the child man was of course the most likeable character.. it was so easy to like him.. but Smriti tell me why did nt u find the others realistic?
Arent thr career driven women like Preity Zinta in the movie or self deprecating ones like Rani.Or are nt thr absolutely loathesome ppl like SRK in the movie.. Thr are rite??
And i feel even Rani's performance was awesome... If u watch the movie she always has these guilt ridden eyes.. which just stirs a cord.. i dont want to sympathise with her vehemently.. but she delivered what she was supposed to..
And I dont understand the issue wid SRK.. Tell me who else wud hav been able to elicit tht revulsion from u? Mayb personally u dont like him.. so it was easy on ur part to dislike his character.. but i am an ardent fan.. and still i was disgusted.. my initial response was SRK has reached new lows.. but then.. I thot... it was Dev who was disgusting not SRK...
But yea.. u can suggest ne other actor who wud hav suited the bill.. i am ready to contest it :)
Aamir - No.. Too mellowed We hav him as a char like this in Akele hum Akele tum.. dont think he cud deliver ne thing byond
Salman - Ahem nopes
Ajay Devgan - Maybe yes. But i cant imagine him as a romantic.. As a subtle lover as in Hum dil de chuke he is fine.. but as some one vocal and expressive as SRK was towards Rani.. i doubt.. But wud hav been a gud experiment..
Ne other names tht pops?
And its also a question of having ur favs be it ne director.. While KJo has SRK, u hav Abbas Mastan sticking to Bobby Deol and Akhshay Khanna/Kumar, Priyadarshan teaming wid Aki and Suniel Shetty..,Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aish.. yahan tak u hav Guddu Dhanoa wid sadda Sunny Deol. I think it needs some one to b as mercurial as Ram Gopal Verma to not have ones favs in the cast from the word go.

Amrita said...

And Ashu i never wanted to make an attempt to people to view it.. I just wanted to pen what i felt about a much unpopular movie :)

WritingsForLife said...

I couldn't agree more... the movie really makes you think about relationships and life at a whole another level.

Deepsikha Mishra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deepsikha Mishra said...

When relationships break it does create a Lot of pain :-( KANK was an emotional drama and a dramebaaj like me loves all kinda dramas be it what :-D

Anonymous said...

some like me are forever falling in & out of love would remain misfits in any monogamous union.others who appear more steady & are the marrying types tend to be possessive,jealous and more often than not,bores.so what can i say?
the commonest prevalent illusion is that people fall in love only once in their lifetimes.

love wakes men once a lifetime each;
they lift their lids & look
and lo,what one sweet page can teach
they read with joy,then shut the books.
and some give thanks and some blaspheme.
but most forget;but either way
that like a child's unheeded dream
is all the joy of all their day.

one should marry only when the desire for freedom is spent.
by all means take a plunge but do not expect too much from it.if you think it wont work out before first child comes,hv the courage to call it off and not corrode each other's existence.it is better not to hv family before you hv known each other for 5 years.but once u hv childrenmyou hv to learn the art of appearing to them s being good parents.they must never be exposed to angry diagreements & if u feel a compelling need to engage in extramarital relationships then make sure ur children never get to knom abt them.
why does then this polygamy happens.its bcoz blissful reunion can never be repeated with the same person and the craving for that experience again tempts us to try it out with others.so they began to fall apartthey lie each other.they pretend their new relationship is platonic or emotional & not physical.that is the time to put an end to that relationship because the one who wished to prolong it in the hope that it may be restored to its initial intensity is the one who is going to be hurt.when love affair is broken off the heaviest blow is to the vanity of the one who is left.
orkut id-sid's zest for life

Anonymous said...

amrita don't be angry everybody has a right to its view.plz don't delete any comments anyboy has said unless in an abusive language.i completely agree with ur opinion.
this is a topic which can never hv politically correct statements which fits for all.
yes shahrukh has a vast reportoire of emotions which he can display very easily.the problem is there is nothing like dream match.but what if that person is a total mis-fit.added to that you hv a lucrative option in the sideline.then ur bound to get tempted.it has tried to break the the holy notion of marriage & that is a very brave thing on KJo's part.many hv congratulated him for depicting in his film what they hv felt all these years but never attempted by our morally upright brigade.
sid's zest for life

Aravind said...

Totally :O

Saying I hated this movie would be an understatement and I certainly don't agree with the "characters being real" thing. I thought all the characters were half-baked, poorly written and worse, poorly acted (expect may be Rani to some extent).

[Too shocked to type anymore] ;)

--Aravind

I'll try 2 be truthful said...

Was searching old blogs and came upon this.

I second you , to this date I do not know why people don't like KANK.

It showed the reality even though its not a pretty reality.

SRK did well ... to portray a man who hates himself and thus makes the world hate himself too.

- :)

Amrita