Producer: Dharma Productions
Director: Karan Johar
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, John Abraham, Kajol and Kirron Kher
Background:
Karan Johar has made two films before as a director… The candyfloss Gucci Gucci Hota Hai with hip clothing and style and the promote-the-handkerchief tearjerker family saga Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Johar has been screaming from rooftops that this film is a huge departure from his earlier thinking and has the maturity that he has gained after his father Yash Johar's demise.
Storyboard:
(Shah Rukh Khan) and Rhea (Preity Zinta) are married. Either you can be happy or you can be married. That's what Karan Johar thinks after looking at people around him these days… look at marriages in Bollywood of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, Sanjay Dutt and Rhea Pillai, Aamir Khan and Reena Datta. Point taken Karan…
So Dev and Maya (Rani Mukerji) – who is married to Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan) get closer because Maya and Rishi too are not close as she can't beget him a child and both have grown out of their marriages.
All four have been trying to dive deeper into their relationships and have found nothing. That emptiness; that vacuum leaves a void in their lives making them look for love outside and Dev and Maya find love for each other outside their marriages. They leave their spouses behind in this endeavour and try to slowly communicate the same to each other… When their emotions reach a crescendo, tradition knocks them over and they separate…
Will they be back with each other? Will Karan Johar get Shah Rukh Khan to take away another man's wife… is the story.
Critique:
Shah Rukh Khan has always taken away women belonging to other men; Kajol in DDLJ, Rani Mukerji in Paheli, Preity Zinta in Veer Zaara and Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai… to name a few. In Darr and Anjaam he even turned negative to try and take away another man's wife. He does it again… not just turn negative but picks up another man's wife.
Shah Rukh plays Shah Rukh to the core. Rani Mukerji rocks in her performance. Amitabh Bachchan in a lusty role is surrounded by semi naked women for most of the time and keeps saying that he misses his wife. His is as confused as a character as Karan Johar seems to be while handling Bachchan in this film. Preity Zinta has come out as well as she did in the Karan Johar produced Kal Ho Na Ho. In fact her scenes with SRK sometimes stand out especially when there is a lot of conflict.
The dialogues by Niranjan Iyengar here take the cake. Niranjan too has developed very well from his Jism and Kal Ho Na Ho days. Reverting to Preity, her performance as a stylish career minded woman stand out.
One feels bad in the entire film for Abhishek Bachchan whose wife has been taken away by Shah Rukh Khan. We didn't feel that bad for Salman Khan when SRK took Kajol away from Sallu in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Abhishek is good in both comic as well as emotional scenes with Rani. However his scenes with Rani are badly written and the hatred for her does not stand out.
Arjun Rampal resembles the furniture and Kirron Kher is fine in her limited rendition.
The look of the film is magnificent. Karan Johar has actually spent over Rs 100 million more on the film to shoot in New York. His budget went up because of that. Some of the songs by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy are brilliant. Mitwaa is my favourite. The songs fit into the film and do not become item numbers.
When Yash Chopra attempted films like Lamhe on relationships, they weren't accepted. Things are different now. Traditional minds will not like the film. But the fresh blood will love this idea.
As Shah Rukh Khan said in a recent interview, "My earlier roles were of Utopian lovers, where female fans wished for boyfriends like me. In KANK I run away with someone's wife, and so all boyfriends and husbands will tell their spouse if they can all be like Dev."
RS Rating: 7/10
Tony
A much more detailed review will be online soon.
Click on the song titles to listen to the tracks. You will require Real Player installed to play the music.
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