Bollywood Movie Review: Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (Never Say Goodbye)

For those of you who have been a die hard fan of Karan Johar (Director of movies like K3G, Kuch Kuch Hota hai, Kal ho na ho and now KANK-Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) this year in 2006, you get to see his much awaited movie, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna starring Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherji, Preity Zinta and Shahrukh Khan. I must say that having loved Shahrukh Khan in previous Karan Johar movies, I was looking forward to seeing him with Abhishek Bachchan in the same film. But to my utter surprise the movie failed to capture my attention.

The storyline did start with a not so new subject for bollywood of Extra Marital Affairs but what really turned me off was the way the subject was treated. Having seen old movies on the same subject like Silsila (Directed by Yash Chopra) and Arth (Directed by Mahesh Bhatt) which touched all our hearts, it was sad to see the same from a viewpoint of a director who has given so many prior hits in such poorly light. The story takes place in New York where Dev Saran (Shahrukh Khan) plays football but when he is bound to make his dreams of getting a well paid contract from the club come through, he meets with an accident and can't play professionally. This makes him indulge into self-pity and fights with his wife and he takes out his frustration on his family including his son.

Rhea Saran(Preity Zinta-married to Shahrukh Khan in the movie) is a modern and confident woman who is also career oriented and is very successful at her job. She is not a typical traditional wife and sometimes gets caught between the role of a career woman Vs wife and mother. They have a good marriage but the their relationship goes through a tremendous pressure when Dev meets with the accident as he can't digest the fact that his wife is more successful and divulges in self-pity most of the time instead of helping her out with the responsibilities in whatever way he can. His mother (played by Kiran Kher) always tries to make both of them understand each other's views by being honest and supportive.

On the other hand there is another couple, Rishi Talwar (Abhishek Bachchan) who is trendy, fashionable and very much in love with his wife Maya (Rani Mukherji). He is very fun loving and from time to time, gets annoyed when his wife does not understand his need for fun. That's when he gets broody and doesn't know what to do about it. Maya Talwar on the other hand has married her best friend Rishi but she doesn't love him. And she can't take much of Rishi's childlike ways and not being serious most of the times. She respects her father in law, Samarjit Talwar (Amitabh Bachchan) a lot as he has looked after her since she doesn't have any family of her own.

She can't conceive and that always plagues her mind so she teaches children and gets some comfort out of it. She doesn't understand how her inability to be a mother doesn't bother her husband and tries to bring it up whenever she can which creates fights between the two. Samarjit Talwar loves his family a lot and though he senses tension within Rishi and Maya's relationship, he doesn't know what to do about it. But from time to time, he tries to get them to understand each other by way of sharing his own experiences. He is also shown as someone who is young at heart and loves to play hard as he believes that life is too short and he needs to enjoy every moment of it.

But then the time comes when both the couples are going through a difficult patch as misunderstanding rises and the relationships are on the verge on breaking point. At this point, Maya and Dev become friends and come to know that they have more in common and even though they try to deny it, they develop stronger feelings for each other. Initially they both try and advise each other on how to solve their marital problems but instead get carried away and have an affair. They try to snatch moments together while still staying in their respective relationships but like anything else the truth comes out when Maya's father in law and Dev's mother see them together in each other's arms. Samarjit tries to tell Maya to leave his son so that he would find someone that could return his love and she could also find her happiness.

In the meanwhile, he becomes ill and dies leaving a vulnerable Rishi who tries to find solace in his wife's arms. Maya now wants to end her extra marital affair and stay with her husband to provide that solace but decides to tell him the truth. This creates a rift between them instead of getting them closer and same happens with Dev and Rhea. Dev's mother decides to stay with Rhea and Dev leaves the house thinking atleast Maya will be happy in her relationship. Maya leaves her home but doesn't contact Dev thinking, he is happy in his life now. They live like that for few years until one day Rishi comes to see Maya for inviting her for his wedding. That's when he comes to know that she is not living with Dev and then with the help of Rhea gets them two together.

Exhausting....Yes I know. I felt it even while I was watching the movie but before we look at why, let me give you the positives. Three cheers to Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan for their superb acting as without them you will be left with no entertaining moments in the film. These two characters give you the breathing space necessary in this movie. Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherji have acted well within their respective roles with a few funny scenes thrown their way. Shahrukh Khan unfortunately looks uncomfortable doing a role of someone who is so full of self pity and I certainly didn't like to see him that way because you do not understand his frustrations but then his character was poorly written so you can't blame the guy.

I can understand the difficulty of someone who wants to play professionally but can't. But on the positive, the accident has not taken his ability to perform the day to day activities which means he can get another normal job but he doesn't prefer to do that. So you wonder from time to time what his problem is? He tries to do what he always does but the parameters of his role makes it look out of character. The music of the film is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and has good tracks like Mitwaa, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Where is the party tonight, Rock n role soniye & Tumhi dekho na.

Now to the negatives, call me too logical if you like but you can't help but ask questions like, why would a wife be not happy to have a husband who is fun loving and who doesn't keep on reminding of the fact that she can't conceive? or the fact that how does Maya get attracted to someone who constantly feels self-pity for himself? or how Dev thinks of taking his frustrations on his young son and then rather than helping matters, creates a mess by indulging in extra marital affair? Why do Rhea and Rishi help get Dev and Maya together after loving them themselves?

So inspite of all this if you decide to watch this movie, then please keep any reasoning power at home and just enjoy watching Amitabh and Abhishek. That itself should be worth every single penny.