A mockery of love and marriage--KANK review

Contrary to popular claims, I believe, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was a typical Karan Johar film. It was not bad but was would not be counted in the league of the best movies in the history of Bollywood.

For those of you who haven’t caught the film, this is a gist of the plot: Dev Saran (Shah Rukh Khan) and Rhea Saran (Priety Zinta) are married for 5 years. Rishi (Abhishiek Bachchan) and Maya (Rani Mukherjee) are also wed after a comtemplating for three years.
Both marriages turn out to be a failure because Dev and Maya are (I think) fools who do not recognize the love that their partners give them. They find "love" in each other and decide after much deliberation to break up with their respective spouses. In the end, they 'live happily together'.
The film has a few good performances and a few very good ones. Notably, Junior B (notwithstanding the immense fascination I have for him) has given a fantastic performance. The treatment of a few scenes is also commendable. And since Johar works with big budgets, the locations are also mind blowing. Given a chance, this is the Album I would love to own. It has awesome sound tracks.

But I think the film is all about the concept of marriage and love. It is this that I want to delve into. I would like to point out a few discrepancies and contradictions in the concept the film deals with.

First: The moot question is, why do you love a person? I feel, for his/ her qualities, ethics, attitude, habits and to whatever extent, looks. Then this concept of love-has-no-reasons is ridiculous. Why would anybody who has as good a husband as Rishi, want to find love elsewhere especially in a person who is eternally irritated and frustrated with everything under the sun? The film talks about love having no logic. Any thing illogical is beyond my comprehension.

Second: Rhea is a sensible, hard-working, rational person. Then why did she marry an annoying being such as Dev in the first place? (The film says that it is how Dev had always been, not that he had become irritable because of ups and downs in his married life.)

Third: (Sexy) Sam, who loves his late wife dearly, is seen with every other teenager in New York City. This is also contradictory to the claim that love is eternal.

Fourth: There is a scene when Maya says that physical relationship with a person is not as important as sharing one’s woes and happiness. Then why does she not keep her relationship with Dev to just sharing her ‘joys and sorrows’?
It is here that there is the master of contradictions: Both Dev and Maya knew that they were in love with each other and not their respective spouses. Then why were they jealous of each other’s independent sex life? Intellectual compatibility was present was the most important thing. So, is loving a person all about a physical relationship? If not, why do they make it sound like one?

Bottom line: if you have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon, this is not a bad film to watch.

On a lighter note, I’d say that Rishi is the Perfect Husband. What do you say?


Raksha Kumar

Too much ado about nothing?

I heard Jaspal Bhatti, a well known comedian, say that Diwali is the ‘festival of corruption’. The officials are bribed in the garb of Diwali gifts, he says.
I say Diwali is more injurious than just that. It creates problems of air and sound pollution, contributes to child labour, makes life hell for the birds, brings economic class differences blatantly out in the open and most importantly acts as a perfect pretext for the businesses to create hype and sell their products.
You would be forgiven for thinking that I’m a spoilt sport who does not enjoy the festival that the media claim is being enjoyed by the whole nation. Well, you might be right. At the same time I shall stick to my stand Diwali is unnecessarily over done.

You must have guessed by now that I’m not very religious. Therefore, as I understand it, festivals are occasions to get together and spend some memorable time with your loved ones, which you are otherwise denied of in this busy world. So why would you want to spend it in a din with anxiety about the safety of the people you care for?

Let’s look at the objections one by one. Pollution: it needs very little explanation. My mother is an asthma patient and I know how many precautions she’s got to take in the run up to the festival. Most researchers, today, talk in one voice about the dangers of global warming and depleting ozone layer. Why would anyone want to contribute to it?
Even on a normal day, our cities are a din, and it would not be wrong if I said that people have not understood the real danger of noise pollution yet.

Commuting on the days of the festival is a nightmare. What about the people in hospitals or have to go to one? Birds have become a rare sight in the cities due to their changing architecture and lifestyle. Diwali literally is a death call for millions of our avian friends.

Most of you might think I’m overreacting. But my main objection is that it has become a classic example of what might happen if the media join hands with commercial interests that are- business, trade and commerce. It could be a fatal combination. The media tell you what to buy, how much to spend et al.
For instance, Cadbury Celebrations pack makes your diwali complete. For most people it is a battle between the aspiration and the inability to buy products.
You might say that this is true of most festivals these days. Point taken. I think it comes out starkly in the festival of goddess Laxmi.

Most middle class families end up saving money in the run up to the festival and usually spend more than they have saved. The figures prove that there is an increase in the loan rates during the festive season. Sweets, dry fruits, clothing and, not to forget, the firecrackers are the essentials on every person’s shopping list. Sometimes it is uncalled for.

Well, I will not be surprised if I get some extreme reactions to my extreme thoughts!


Raksha Kumar