Film: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Release date: 16th October 1998
Certificate: U
Running time: 177 mins
Director: Karan Johar
Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Farida Jalal, Reema Lagoo
Genre: Bollywood/Comedy/Family/Musical/Romance
Studio: Dharma
Format: DVD
Country: India
Every so often a casting director pairs two actors who mesh so well together it feels like magic. Rarer still are the occasions where the on-screen duo will work repeatedly alongside one another to become not only respected as individual actors but beloved by the public as half of a whole. In Hollywood, such pairings include Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, even Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. In Bollywood, however, there is one couple that stands out above all the rest, one couple who over and over shared such dazzling chemistry that their celebrity remains equally for their individual talents as for their work together. This couple is Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, who starred for the second time together in the smash Hindi film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something Is Happening).
Khan plays Rahul Khanna, a successful businessman who’s wife Tina (Mukherjee) dies in childbirth in the opening scene, leaving behind nothing but eight letters for her daughter and two strict instructions to her husband. The first is that he name their daughter Anjali, the second is that Anjali must receive one letter every year on her birthday.
The story begins on Anjali’s 8th birthday, when she reads her mother’s last words to her. Through this last letter, she not only learns how her parents met, but of her father’s best friend in college, a woman who – it turns out not coincidentally – is also named Anjali. The letter ends with Tina’s last dying wish: that her daughter should reunite the two long-lost best friends.
The audience is then taken through flashback to Rahul’s college days, where he and Anjali (Kajol) are inseparable. She is a tomboy through and through, and it never occurs to either of them to take their friendship to another level. Then Tina arrives. Tina is the antithesis of Anjali; beautiful, feminine, and the apple of every boy’s eye. Rahul falls for her within seconds. But at the same time as he’s falling for Tina, and Tina is slowly falling for him, Anjali is beginning to develop romantic feelings for her best friend. In an attempt to have Rahul look at her as more than a basketball buddy, she starts to emulate Tina’s mannerisms and discards her tomboy clothing for more feminine attire. Of course, typical of a man in love, Rahul remains completely oblivious to Anjali’s feelings, and her actions go unnoticed. She finally decides to confront him and tell him how she feels, but just when she is about to express her feelings Rahul tells her he’s in love with Tina. The news crushes Anjali and, heartbroken, she decides to leave college, and Rahul, behind forever.
Little Anjali is touched by this story of unrequited love, and though she knows her father loved her mother deeply, she also shares Tina’s certainty that on some unrecognized level Rahul and Anjali were soul mates. And so she decides to fulfil her mother’s last wish and play cupid.
The rest of the film recounts how the young Anjali attempts to reunite her father with the only other woman he could ever fall in love with. However, with the older Anjali about to get married to a man she doesn’t love, little Anjali is off on a race against time…
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the debut of writer/director Karan Johar, is a romantic comedy that tells the age-old story of a platonic friendship-turned-true love. However (a necessity given it’s three-hour running time), there are so many twists that by the film’s happy ending even the most pessimistic viewer believes that love can overcome all obstacles.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is an impressive film debut for Johar. Rahul states repeatedly throughout the film, “We live once, we die once, we marry once and love…we love once.” But Johar juxtaposes this saying with the events unfolding on camera, and under the guise of a light romantic comedy creates a film that sends a message that true love can occur twice, that marriage can occur twice, and that if life is measured in loves, than living and dying can occur more than once as well.
That being said, the film’s message is not the focal point. Rather, for the most part, the film is what it sells itself as: a heart-warming romantic romp. It is a fun, oftentimes funny story that shows the great lengths people will go to for the ones they love.
The techniques employed in the film are typical of Bollywood. The story is mildly melodramatic, the script is a mix between Hindi and English dialogue. and the costumes – both western and Indian – are bright and sparkling.
As with any good Hindi film, the story is interspersed with ‘filmi’ numbers: song and dance sequences that Johar uses to reflect the nature of a scene. These sequences can run for up to six minutes, which to a western viewer would more than likely seem tedious, but for Bollywood is nothing short of ideal. In fact, the entire film might seem tedious to a western viewer, not because the story is bad, the story is great, but because it could easily be told in a much shorter time frame. Every scene includes long glances exchanged between two characters or exaggerated humour that doesn’t actually advance the story in any way. To western moviegoers, these tactics would normally be viewed as easily dispensable, but they are enjoyable here because the film is, quite simply, not a western movie.
Therefore, regardless of the long running time and the Bollywood clichés, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a winner for all audiences. Particular praise needs to be given to the cinematography team, whose mix of aerial shots and close-ups capture both the vibrant feeling of the overall film and the strong emotion of the individual characters.
Furthermore, the use of flashback allows the viewer to get a sense of the personal growth of Rahul and Anjali. Understanding their emotions and how they’ve evolved over time is important in order to bring believability to an otherwise slightly far-fetched story, and the successful realization of this is a testament to Johar’s vision and the excellent abilities of the editing team.
The principle kudos of the film is the famous pairing of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. Both actors absolutely shine in their roles, and Kajol is especially fantastic as the chatterbox tomboy side of Anjali. She is so honest in her representation of a victim of unrequited love that viewers from all over the world are sure to be able to sympathize. The chemistry of the two actors is in no way over-hyped. They play off one another brilliantly, both as best friends in college and as adults who realize that their outwardly happy lives are incomplete without one another. The way they look at each other when they finally declare their love for one another seems so true that even the toughest of male viewers are likely to shed a tear or two.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is enjoyable from start to finish. Truth be told, it’s more than just another romantic comedy. On top of a cast of good-looking actors with great chemistry, a light, but often poignant, script and an upbeat soundtrack, it makes its mark as a top-quality Bollywood film. It reignites the hope in any cynic that it is never too late to find happiness - that it is never too late to find that one true love. HA
