FILM REVIEW: KYON KI... (2005)

Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rimi Sen, Om Puri, Jackie Shroff
Lyricist: Sameer
Musician: Himesh Reshammia

Kyon Ki tries to answer the question - Can love happen in unexpected places, against unexpected odds?

It is a tragic tale of two relationships and three lovers that try to fight for love against their fate. This is Priyadarshan’s 58th film and a remake of his Malayalam film Thalavattam (1986) starring Mohanlal, which was further inspired from the English movie ‘One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest‘. Recently the director praised Salman Khan for his role. He even went so far to say that Salman Khan was better than the original hero Mohanlal in certain scenes. Certainly this created much expectation from the film.

Kyon Ki….its life!

Sometimes we love and understand someone and expect the same from them but in return we don’t get the same feeling back. The story of Kyon Ki also starts on the same note where Dr. Tanvi Khurana (Kareena Kapoor) who gave all her love and understanding to her patient no. 36 who in return does not reciprocate with her. She feels cheated and get disturbed. She is the daughter of Dr. Khurana (Om Puri). He is a hard hearted and strong headed person. He is the head of the Mental Hospital who does not leave anybody for their mistakes. Anand Sharma (Salman Khan) is admitted by his elder brother in the above Hospital for the court has declared Anand in mentally disturbed state and that he has killed his wife. He is given the hospital clothes and he becomes patient no. 36.

Kyon Ki….that’s fate!

Anand is shown as a loving but pranky patient who does no harm to anybody. Instead he stands up against any injustice done on his inmates by the hospital authorities. He now gangs up with his fellow inmates, has fun in the hospital, sings and dances, comes up with his naughty pranks, and does every bit to make his and his inmate friends’ world a much better place to live in. These sequences are the best in the movie and Salman Khan delivers them well to his abilities. There are also some comic scenes done by Salman that cause laughter and make the movie light which otherwise would have been a bore. Sometimes his pranks cause him pain too. Dr. Tanvi who develops a hatred for no. 36 spends her pent up anger on him. But he sustains his sense of humor and doesn’t let his shoulders sag. All this, much to the displeasure of hospital head Dr. Khurana.

Kyon Ki….Dr. Khurana comes from the school of thought that says that insane people can be cared only with a stick and not a flower!

Eventually Anand sees ray of hope in the form of two sympathizers - Dr. Tanvi Khurana and Dr. Sunil (Jackie Shroff) who is just the opposite of Dr. Khurana in his attitude towards the patients. Sunil remembers that Anand’s family was instrumental in making him a doctor so he resolutes that he will treat Anand to good health and will see that he faces no problems. He also soothes Tanvi and gives her Anand’s diary, which makes her see a different Anand altoghether.

Kyon Ki….its love!

In past Anand was a normal man of his age who comes to love a pretty girl called Maya (Rimii Sen). He woos her, charms her, gets her attracted towards him and it becomes irresistible for her that she falls for him. Maya has a habit of playing pranks on him. In two instances she makes him seem as a complete fool. Then comes the tragic part where Anand throws Maya in the swimming pool, thinking her protests as a part of making him fool once again. He comes to find that she was not playing a prank this time and she actually did not know swimming. He gets the ultimate shock of Maya’s death that makes him mad. After reading his life story Tanvi decides that she will get Anand back to the state of normalcy and with her good treatment he gets well too. And now Tanvi’s life changes!

Kyon Ki…she has fallen in love with Anand during the course of treatment!

Anand too is in love again. Tanvi’s care, compassion and love bring him closer to her and he too wants to live the rest of his life with her. Dr. Khurana is enraged to hear about this relationship as first of all he can’t believe that a mentally unstable person could get well to this degree and secondly he has never liked Anand in the first place. Also Tanvi is engaged to a man (Sunil Shetty) whom her father approves of. In his mission to destroy Anand’s life once again, he operates on him and turns him into a living corpse.

Kyon Ki….its tragedy!

The climax of the film is completely shocking. Dr. Sunil to end Anand of his misery kills him. When Dr. Sunil accuses Dr. Khurana of destroying Anand’s life Dr. Tanvi hears it. She gets shocked to the core, for she could not believe that her father could do such a thing and she could not believe that life could be so cruel. In the end she is shown on a wheelchair as a mentally disturbed person and her father equally helpless.

Produced by Mukesh Talreja and Sunil Manchanda who had earlier come up with ‘Tere Naam’, ‘Kyon Ki’ should have touched our soul but does far from doing so.

Kyon Ki….what went wrong - Everything!

The theme of Priyadarshan’s movie Kyon Ki doesn’t gel with the Diwali festive mood. It has one of the most predictable stories as such that it doesn’t need much guessing what’s in store next. The narrative is devoid of anything exciting. Even the editing is loose, with the second half going on and on endlessly.

The romance between Salman and Kareena seems unconvincing. One does not even realise when the two actually fall in love. Also the romance between Salman and Kareena in the film doesn’t tug any string at the viewer’s heart. In fact, it looks absurd that Anand (who went insane because of his lost love) starts singing and dancing in love after regaining his memory. Then there is unnecessary inclusion of songs that could have been done away with. Kareena Kapoor slips into her character well enough, but sadly there is hardly anything to speak of her chemistry with Salman. Salman Khans speedy recovery (his treatment - few songs here and there and strolling outside with Kareena) looks all unconvincing. The interval point, where Rimii is thrown into the swimming pool, and dies, appears to be too filmy. Did she forget to shout or was she practicing swimming before dieing?

In short, there is hardly anything in Kyon Ki that catches your fancy. The movie is a slow and brooding romantic tragedy with a climax that depresses you. Priyadarshan’s direction is an absolute letdown. One feels sick by a lifeless screenplay.

Himesh Reshammiya’s music is okay. A few numbers looks good to hear but a hit score is clearly missing. Cinematography is eye-catching, especially the locations of Romania. Dialogues by Sanjay Chhel are quite nice at places.

Salman Khan delivers an honest performance right through. None can question his good looks. Kareena Kapoor is natural to the core, clad in cotton saris with minimal makeup. One good character played by Rimii Sen touches the audience hearts but her role is so small that one feels left gaping for more. Om Puri is loud, shouting and screaming throughout the film. Sunil Shetty’s cameo is very much unwanted in the movie.

After all said and done one can conclude Kyon Ki is disappointing affair.

RS Rating: 3/10

Credit: This review was submitted by Ankit Jain of Footprints.in. They run their own movie Blog at DCECinemas. To submit your own review for posting on radiosargam.com please email.