Saturday 19 August, 2006

KANK is Kyon Ki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.zip

Last week everyone on this planet seemed to have only one thing on their mind. Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna or KANK as they call it. A handful of channels had joined hands with Karan to trick everyone into watching this film. Yesterday, I was forcefully taken to the cinema hall and made to watch KANK and my verdict about the film is that KANK is Kyon ki Saans bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (or any of its counterparts) zipped into 3 hours...

Karan has managed to sign best of stars in the industry so that lack of good direction can be done away with. It is a story of two couples. They do not have so called successful marriages but are afraid to accept this fact. First couple is Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta. Preity plays this ambitious, intelligent, charismatic career oriented girl whose boss has hots for her. Shahrukh Khan is a good at heart but eccentric ex-footballer. He has lost his leg and thus his career in an accident right at the time when his career was at its peek. Preity has to assume the responsibility of "Ghar ka Mard" due to inability of her handicapped husband to earn money. Being a complete failure himself, Shahrukh Khan has a lot of broken dreams which he wants to fulfill through his son.

The other couple is Rani Mukherjee and Abhishek Bachchan. Rani plays the character of a simple girl who loves cleanliness and is not sure if she is really happy with her husband. Abhishek Bachchan plays Rani’s husband and he loves her very much. Rani is incapable of having a child and Abhishek every now and then makes her realize that he is okay with all this and will never ever make her aware of her incapacity.

Amitabh Bachchan and Kiron Kher are also thrown in to provide some nonsense comedy and some equally nonsense philosophy about love and life. Then, somewhere down the line, not happy with their partners, Shahrukh and Rani fall in love with each other. They know that this is going to tear apart their marriages but have no control over them and rightly so as Amitabh says before dying in the movie, “Mohobbat aur Maut, dono bin bulaye mehemaan hote hain, aur kisikaa saath naahi chodte…” After cheating their partners for quite some time, Shahrukh and Rani decide to let know their partners, the truth. After this, Shahrukh and Preity separate and so do Abhishek and Rani. However, as they always do, for no particular reason, Shahrukh and Rani pretend to each other that their corresponding partners have accepted them even after their misdeeds. Around ten minutes before the film ends, Preity meets Rani in a party and tricks Rani into spending the rest of her life with her eccentric ex-husband.

Touchy? I did not cry this time…
I’ve heard this from a few people. They say the movie is really touchy and addresses some of the complexities of human relationships. I must make a confession here… I cried like anything after I saw Million Dollar Baby, Titanic, Rang De Basanti and a bunch of other movies… But I did not cry this time (but again, neither did I laugh). So, for me the movie is anything but touchy…

Misdirected Direction
Is it Comedy? Is it a serious portrayal of extra martial relationships? I think it is nonsense. The film (if at all it tries to) fails to send across any message to the viewer… KANK has finest actors in the industry but the story does injustice to the acting skills of these actors. All of them have acted well but as a whole, the movie fails to make any mark. So, in all, KANK is shot completely outside India, at some of the most magnificent locations, with some of the best actors in the industry and all of this compensates for the poor direction or lack of it.

Box Office Story
Box office, however, has a different tale to tell. The movie has grossed record high earnings in US and UK. In the first week, the total earnings of KANK outside India are more than those in India. The movie is rated “Super hit”. This only means that a majority of Hindi film viewers have a different taste and expectations from Hindi movies and will ignore my post.

Why Kyon Ki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.zip?
Finally, if I want to summarize KANK, I will say “It is some nonsense comedy, nonsense emotional drama packaged in with best actors, poor direction by a lady ;-) and awesome locations. Though I may not believe it but people have liked it and I am now regretting my decision to watch it.” All of the above also hold true for those family soaps on TV at prime time like KSBKBT. Thus KANK is a KSBKBT.zip.