I have often wondered, it is only me? Is it only me or all people suffer from the moments of indifference. When I prompted a few of my friends, to my surprise all of them accepted, albeit a few reluctantly. It felt so reassuring to be a part of the herd.
When I think about my life, there have been so many instances, where I was so indifferent between 2 choices but finally pursued one without doing any SWOT analysis.
I was 15, I knew all about cricket and movies and girls but had an iota of an idea about the difference between the career paths of a Science or a Commerce graduate. Ya, everyone knows that commerce leads to you becoming a CA and science makes you an engineer or a doctor. But, how about the lives of a CA or an engineer or a doctor. Who is happier of the lot. Finally, out of pure dilemma, I took up science -medical. Though, I hardly knew how the life of a vet doctor is different from a cardiologist. One month into medical and I shifted to non-medical mainly because of my inability to draw a neat frog's lifecycle to the utter dislike to my biology teacher who teared my 2-hours inept effort in 2 seconds and asked me to redraw it. It prompted me to introspect and I took up non-medical as a silent protest to my biology teacher, hardly realising how different my life would be after 12 years down the line. Then, the conventional option was to opt for engineering, which I did as an obedient child hardly understanding the effect it will have in my life. Life moved on and being a genius that I am, getting a seat in a reputed engineering college was not very difficult.
Then, came another stage of indifference during placements, where I hardly had any idea about the profile of an engineer in a core- company and in an IT services company. Also, there was so much indifference between taking an exam of a GRE or an MBA. I took both but decided to pursue the latter, never having any idea about the course of life post-graduation for either courses.
Then, again with limited knowledge, I started my career in sales and marketing, again being indifferent between a sales and a consulting job during placement. or maybe finance or an IT one. So, I shuffled between them ending up unhappy in each job. Am still to figure out, what interests me.
Finally, the most important event of my uneventful life happened when my parents decided to marry me. Again, I was indifferent between marrying a housewife and a working one. And choose between intelligence and beauty. (My experience friends reassured me, no one gets both). Finally, I zeroed in on a girl, who is my wife, out of 3 indifferent choices I had in my mind.
Today, I realise that there have been so many indifferent situations, where I could have gone either ways. I often wonder, what course my life would have taken, had I taken up commerce or medical in 11th standard, or taken up job in a core-services company or had pursued with GRE or had continued my first job in sales or had married some other girl instead of my current wife. Would I be happier than what I am today or would I be worse off.
Then, I reassure myself by telling that whatever permutation/ combination I would have folllowed in those key moments, I would have been as happy/sad as I am today. After all, happiness is the state of the mind. Today, whenever my friends and relatives ask me what would I like my first child to be: a boy or a girl. I answer proudly "I am indifferent".
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Friday, December 28, 2007
Twist in the tale
Picture this:
Story 1
A small town beautiful girl flirts with 4 guys, who always try to impress her by cajoling her in their own peculiar manner, only to disappear one fine night .Police catches all the 4 guys as the prime suspect of her disappearance. But the girl comes back next morning, after getting married to the 5th guy whose existence was not known to any of her 4 lovers. Her 4 ex- lovers end up making all arrangements for her wedding and laughing at each other.
Story 2
A live- in convenience relationship, which is on the verge of dismantling, as the guy becomes possessive over the girl's alleged involvement with one of her colleagues. The guy gets abusive day after day and the girl comes closer to her colleague, more so because of her voilent partner. One fine day her partner feels guilty of being volient and abusive to her and begs for her pardon only to be denied in lieu of her newly found romance. Girl's newly found romance ends when her colleague discloses that he can't marry her and he is a gay. This prompts the girl to return to her convenience partner, who accepts her with all dignity.
Story 3
A newly wed couple decides to rent a house and finally zeroes in on a place. But the only problem is that the owner of the place is another couple who are weird in its own peculiar way. While the landlord is a handicapped person, who is always suspicious of his new tenants, the landlady is a divorcee, who chews "pan" all day. The tenant owns a shop and his wife spends time with the landlady which her husband disapproves. Meanwhile, the tenant is always advised to bolt the backdoor at night which he easily ignores. The tenant thinks that the landlady secretly likes him and makes advances towards him when she tries to help him proactively. This makes him bolder and he decides to take advantage of her. One day, he returns early from his shop and discovers his wife is out for shopping. This is the perfect time to execute his plans and the landlady makes it easy by coming to his place to discuss important matter. This encourages him to make a move but as he is about to make the first move, she tells him that her wife has a secret lover, who comes every night from the backdoor which is kept open every night, even after many reminders by her.
Story 4
The marriage registrar’s office, a girl and a guy waiting (not a couple mind you) in the queue. The workplace is about to break for lunch. The people waiting in the queue have dispersed
except for the two, who are apparently waiting for their respective fiancés. They get started when the people they have been waiting for land up. And who are they? Who hate the look of each other? Start fighting at the sight of other? Well … they were living-together before…and so they meet again…and what could possibly happen? They keep coming up with things like “you burnt my magazines right? You didn’t call back after I left a message…. etc. etc. etc. so the other two who watch them fight, get bored and decide to marry each other. So that leaves us with the two of them again. And you can guess what happens.
Story 5
Sober looking guy sitting behind bars gazing at the flies on the ceiling. Beautiful reporter walks in. A smile of this guy’s face, not because she’s beautiful because she’s there to prove him innocent. Swears that he did not kill any of those who died after a dose of a drug brewed by him. They all had other reasons behind their death…the female who died last was insane, the man before her was drunk and driving. He had not drugged them without their knowledge. No we have this reporter babe who says gimme a dose and lets prove that you have nothing to do with those supposedly murders. Our man has a satisfied, almost insanely sneer on his face and he plunges the syringe needle. Signs of her feeling week…he says softly, “don’t worry, it wont hurt, I am not going to let anyone die painfully after what I saw happening to my parents…everyone will rest in peace…I didn’t kill them”.
Story 6
Lady sipping coffee listening to the Radio. The radio jockey’s narrating a story, reminds her of what happened 10 years back. He will be back today after 10 years. Turn back the time, she was young, living alone in the same bungalow near the sea. Her best friend was visiting her to spend the whole of the day. He was her only friend…they have had wonderful times together… but this night, something was wrong. He was drunk, so was she but the difference being she was sober. There came an end to their platonic relationship, once he told her what was on his mind. She sends him away, the bell rings …thinks her friend’s back apologizing…but no. There is this complete stranger walking in as if it were his own house. Says the cops are after him for a murder he isn’t involved. She doesn’t want to believe him but cant help falling for him. They sit around together chatting and now believes him. Bell ringing again, not the cops but her friend…who gets knocked out cold and apparently killed in a tiff. The bell rings again, it’s the cops this time…the stranger’s caught for a murder this murder and not the one he was suspected for. 10 years later he’s back today…and they decide to spend the rest of their lives with each other.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these are not fictitious stories created by me but a 1 hour long serial called Star Bestsellers, which used to air sometime in early 2000s. The unique thing about Star Bestsellers is that every episode was directed by the most promising young directors (Tigmanshu Dhulia of Haasil fame, Anurag Kashyap etc), and was enacted by the most brilliant TV actors (Irfan Khan, Raghuvir Yadav, Kay Kay and Harsh Chayya etc) at that time.
Nowadays, the repeat of this serial is ON on Saturdays at 4:30 AM, Sundays at 2:30 AM and Mondays at 00:30 AM. Do watch it and u wont regret !!
Story 1
A small town beautiful girl flirts with 4 guys, who always try to impress her by cajoling her in their own peculiar manner, only to disappear one fine night .Police catches all the 4 guys as the prime suspect of her disappearance. But the girl comes back next morning, after getting married to the 5th guy whose existence was not known to any of her 4 lovers. Her 4 ex- lovers end up making all arrangements for her wedding and laughing at each other.
Story 2
A live- in convenience relationship, which is on the verge of dismantling, as the guy becomes possessive over the girl's alleged involvement with one of her colleagues. The guy gets abusive day after day and the girl comes closer to her colleague, more so because of her voilent partner. One fine day her partner feels guilty of being volient and abusive to her and begs for her pardon only to be denied in lieu of her newly found romance. Girl's newly found romance ends when her colleague discloses that he can't marry her and he is a gay. This prompts the girl to return to her convenience partner, who accepts her with all dignity.
Story 3
A newly wed couple decides to rent a house and finally zeroes in on a place. But the only problem is that the owner of the place is another couple who are weird in its own peculiar way. While the landlord is a handicapped person, who is always suspicious of his new tenants, the landlady is a divorcee, who chews "pan" all day. The tenant owns a shop and his wife spends time with the landlady which her husband disapproves. Meanwhile, the tenant is always advised to bolt the backdoor at night which he easily ignores. The tenant thinks that the landlady secretly likes him and makes advances towards him when she tries to help him proactively. This makes him bolder and he decides to take advantage of her. One day, he returns early from his shop and discovers his wife is out for shopping. This is the perfect time to execute his plans and the landlady makes it easy by coming to his place to discuss important matter. This encourages him to make a move but as he is about to make the first move, she tells him that her wife has a secret lover, who comes every night from the backdoor which is kept open every night, even after many reminders by her.
Story 4
The marriage registrar’s office, a girl and a guy waiting (not a couple mind you) in the queue. The workplace is about to break for lunch. The people waiting in the queue have dispersed
except for the two, who are apparently waiting for their respective fiancés. They get started when the people they have been waiting for land up. And who are they? Who hate the look of each other? Start fighting at the sight of other? Well … they were living-together before…and so they meet again…and what could possibly happen? They keep coming up with things like “you burnt my magazines right? You didn’t call back after I left a message…. etc. etc. etc. so the other two who watch them fight, get bored and decide to marry each other. So that leaves us with the two of them again. And you can guess what happens.
Story 5
Sober looking guy sitting behind bars gazing at the flies on the ceiling. Beautiful reporter walks in. A smile of this guy’s face, not because she’s beautiful because she’s there to prove him innocent. Swears that he did not kill any of those who died after a dose of a drug brewed by him. They all had other reasons behind their death…the female who died last was insane, the man before her was drunk and driving. He had not drugged them without their knowledge. No we have this reporter babe who says gimme a dose and lets prove that you have nothing to do with those supposedly murders. Our man has a satisfied, almost insanely sneer on his face and he plunges the syringe needle. Signs of her feeling week…he says softly, “don’t worry, it wont hurt, I am not going to let anyone die painfully after what I saw happening to my parents…everyone will rest in peace…I didn’t kill them”.
Story 6
Lady sipping coffee listening to the Radio. The radio jockey’s narrating a story, reminds her of what happened 10 years back. He will be back today after 10 years. Turn back the time, she was young, living alone in the same bungalow near the sea. Her best friend was visiting her to spend the whole of the day. He was her only friend…they have had wonderful times together… but this night, something was wrong. He was drunk, so was she but the difference being she was sober. There came an end to their platonic relationship, once he told her what was on his mind. She sends him away, the bell rings …thinks her friend’s back apologizing…but no. There is this complete stranger walking in as if it were his own house. Says the cops are after him for a murder he isn’t involved. She doesn’t want to believe him but cant help falling for him. They sit around together chatting and now believes him. Bell ringing again, not the cops but her friend…who gets knocked out cold and apparently killed in a tiff. The bell rings again, it’s the cops this time…the stranger’s caught for a murder this murder and not the one he was suspected for. 10 years later he’s back today…and they decide to spend the rest of their lives with each other.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these are not fictitious stories created by me but a 1 hour long serial called Star Bestsellers, which used to air sometime in early 2000s. The unique thing about Star Bestsellers is that every episode was directed by the most promising young directors (Tigmanshu Dhulia of Haasil fame, Anurag Kashyap etc), and was enacted by the most brilliant TV actors (Irfan Khan, Raghuvir Yadav, Kay Kay and Harsh Chayya etc) at that time.
Nowadays, the repeat of this serial is ON on Saturdays at 4:30 AM, Sundays at 2:30 AM and Mondays at 00:30 AM. Do watch it and u wont regret !!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Fight Club
Though fighting does not come naturally to me, but thats what I did, during my last few days of student life. I was never like this earlier. Infact, I always thought I am too sensitive, reasonable and pussilanimous to fight anyone. But, I proved myself wrong. I fought and fought hard 18 hours a day for 4 long months. The rest 6 hours were reserved for sleeping, eating and discharging cumulatively. To make matter worse, those with whom i was fighting with were my best friends on campus. The sight of others mugging Brearly Myers for placement season didn't perturb me or any of my friends. We all had his one vision, to be the best fighter in KuntryKlub, if not in the whole campus.
Though no one admitted it, but everyone used to train hard alone at night in their locked rooms. And the difference was there to be seen every day. A new strategy was tried by somebody to catch a stronger opponent off guard. I remem Bihari raiding my civilization with 20 odd men at arms within first 15 min when my villagers were busy killing wild boar, or Chuchu trying a multiple tower attack near my towncentre before I could finish all the gathered sheep. This was one thing that completely frustated my plans for hitting castle in 18 min....and further delayed my march to imperial. Though, they became too predictible towards the end.
Though, the best remembered games were played between Jena and Chacha. They used to start the game after dinner just to finish it before breakfast. That too with someone forcing either one to attack the other. Things would have been different only if they could have concentrated as hard in Randy's lecture.
Now, 3 years down the line, only memories are left but am sure no one would mind one more go at his fav. opponent, just to prove one last time who was better.
Though no one admitted it, but everyone used to train hard alone at night in their locked rooms. And the difference was there to be seen every day. A new strategy was tried by somebody to catch a stronger opponent off guard. I remem Bihari raiding my civilization with 20 odd men at arms within first 15 min when my villagers were busy killing wild boar, or Chuchu trying a multiple tower attack near my towncentre before I could finish all the gathered sheep. This was one thing that completely frustated my plans for hitting castle in 18 min....and further delayed my march to imperial. Though, they became too predictible towards the end.
Though, the best remembered games were played between Jena and Chacha. They used to start the game after dinner just to finish it before breakfast. That too with someone forcing either one to attack the other. Things would have been different only if they could have concentrated as hard in Randy's lecture.
Now, 3 years down the line, only memories are left but am sure no one would mind one more go at his fav. opponent, just to prove one last time who was better.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa
I still very distinctly remember the day I watched this movie for the first time. No, it was not in any cinema but on Cable TV. I was euphoric for 2 reasons: Firstly. I liked SRK since his Fauji days and secondly my bro gave a thumbs up to this movie (happens 5% fo the time) after watching it first day first show.
Though the film has a story of its own we get to see the other characters through SRK’s eyes. This unique angle of view is what makes Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa a different and better love triangle. . The main character of Sunil, a small town guy of Goa, is played to perfection by SRK. He has only two passions - music and Anna, his childhood crush. Though it could not be implemented in the movie, but the protgonist (Sunil) is supposed to be fat, ugly, wearing thick glasses and braces (though Kundan Shah didn't go to this extreme with SRK). He is the guy who lies at the drop of the hat, has flunked his exams four times in a row. No wonder his dad (Anjan Srivastava of Wagle ki duniya fame) wants him to help in the garage only to be bailed out by his mother. He plays the saxophone with his band (Deepak Tijori, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan's & Swades's Director), Aditya Lakhia (Lagaan's Kachra) and Kurush Debookhia (Munnabhai MBBS's Dr Rustom). No one takes Sunil seriously. His band tends to ignore his talent & charm. His folks are against him spending time with his saxophone than his college books. In short, he is a loser and a below average guy. But what stands out in this character is the optmism and a sense of purpose for his desires that keeps him cheerful every morning only to go depressed every night.
Conventionally, in Bollywood movies, the underdog would ultimately get the girl as seen in Saajan and Rangeela. But in KHKN, no such thing happens. In the end, it is Anna and Chris who live happily ever after because Sunil bows out gracefully.
Plot Summary: Now the fun begins when Sunil gets to know that Anna loves Chis, who is a sort of an allrounder (topper in college, conventionally good looking, son of a millionaire). To win back his lady love, Sunil brainwashes Chris by telling him lies about Anna over a plateful of cream rolls and succeeds in creating a misunderstanding between them. Sunil eventually manages to spend one evening with Anna only to be caught red handed by Chris who tells everything to Anna. As a result of that, Anna, Chris and the rest of the band dump him, Sunil continues to be an optimist ably goaded by Father Braganza (Naseerudin Shah) and his sister Chutki. When his band gets booed at the local nightclub, Chinatown, he comes to their rescue. His performance finds an ardent admirer in The Don, Anthony Gomes (Goga Kapoor).
Ultimately, he gets a chance to marry Anna, his most desired fantasy. but he sacrifices his love for Anna in the end so she and Chris can marry and become happy. Depressed, after leaving the couple, he meets a young, lost woman. They are instantly attracted to each other and it is implied that he will finally find happiness with her. Like the Don sums it in the end: nothing can keep Sunil down for long.
There is something really refreshing about films that cast actors who have not yet been tagged with an image. Amitabh Bachchan didn't have an 'angry young man' image when Zanjeer released. He got it only after playing the raging rebel over a series of films like Deewar, Kaala Patthar, Shakti etc. But that raw appeal he showed in Zanjeer could never be repeated. The same rawness was seen in SRK's performance in Kundan Shah's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. When the film came out in 1993, SRK had just about begun as an actor. He was playing oddball characters (in films like Deewana, Chamatkar, King Uncle, Maya Memsaab, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Dil Aashna Hai), instead of going through the conventional hero routine. He hadn't established an image. He wasn't a cool dude. He wasn't a bad boy as he became post Darr, Anjaam. He wasn't obsessed. He wasn't a star. At the time of release of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, he was normal or rather below normal star.
What makes Kundan Shah's second classic after Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron great is that he makes his characters and situations entirely believable. The humour is subtle and circumstantial.
Any film that succeeds in making you identify with it stays in your memory for a long, long time. If you aren't Sunil, you must have encountered a Sunil somewhere, some place. Rich in emotion, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa had some beautifully executed scenes:
* When Anna returns from a trip and shows Sunil the gifts she has got for everyone. When she shows him a pair of sunglasses, Sunil assumes they is for him and begins to admire them excitedly. The moment she says it is for Chris, he tosses them aside indifferently. The emotion he displays when she tells her money got exhausted, so she could not buy anything for him. The smile comes back to his face when she shows him his present, a mouth organ.
*When their band is rejected by the local club, Chris saying "Pata nahi Anna aisa hamare saath ki kyon hota hai" and Anna consoles Chris by massaging her hand over Chris's hair. Sunil tries to repeat the same, only to be consoled by Yezdi (Kurush Debookhia)
*Sunil's dad fight with Anna's bro over his old car and Imran (Ashutosh) commenting "Isko bech kar, thode aur paise mila kar, 1 second hand cycle kyon nahi le lete"
*Sunil's dad is a picture of disbelief and pride as he reads out his son's fake report card which has him receiving 99 in Economics.
*When a dejected Sunil cries his heart out by playing the saxophone at the seaside. Hearing the sad music, Goga Kapoor tells his assistant Makrand Deshpande (of Swades fame) that someone is very sad tonight. As DEshpande starts taking a note of that, Gomes asks him "Note mat karo, feel karo, feel it". This is incidently the punchline of the movie.
*Sunil taking permission from Anna's parents for their marriage in the end "Mr. Gonzalves, Mrs Gonzalves, Mr & Mrs Gonzalves, uncle, aunty, mere liye is duniya ki sabse keemti cheez aapki beti Anna hai. Main jaanta hoon sab log mujhe nikamma aur bekaar samajhte hai. Lekin main usse hamesha khush rakhoonga aur kabhi tang nahi karoonga kyonki uncle, aunty main usske bahut bahut bahut bahut pyar karta hoon". The most touching scene for me.
* When Chris drops the wedding ring at the church. Even though Sunil can see it, he doesn't pick it up because secretly he still hopes Anna will marry him. The height of optimism.
The soundtrack of the movie is excellent with all the six songs: Deewana dil deewana, Aye kaash ke hum, Aana mere pyaar ko na tum, Sachi yeh kahani hai, Woh to hai albela and Kyun na hum milke pyaar karein revealed so much about the film's main protagonist and keeps the storyline going.
When KHKN came out, Suchitra received flak for her tacky look and wardrobe. But the actress said in interviews to various publications that her director wanted her to sport a non-makeup plain Jane look.
KHKN is one of the films Deepak Tijori did when he was trying to establish himself as a second lead hero with films like Sadak and Khiladi.
To me, this is SRK's best performance so far. He was spontaneous, vulnerable, boyish, mischievous and acting straight from the heart.
He went about his 'I love Anna very much' very matter-of-factly. Kundan Shah used SRK's freshness to Sunil's advantage. That was the last time Shah Rukh didn't play himself onscreen. There was no pressure of playing to an audience who knew what to expect from him. He wasn't a superstar then. None of the hamming, lip quivering, forehead frowning, the works.
KHKN won two filmfare awards- Best Film and Critics' best actor award. SRK was also nominated as the Best Actor in a leading role.
A masterpiece!!
Though the film has a story of its own we get to see the other characters through SRK’s eyes. This unique angle of view is what makes Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa a different and better love triangle. . The main character of Sunil, a small town guy of Goa, is played to perfection by SRK. He has only two passions - music and Anna, his childhood crush. Though it could not be implemented in the movie, but the protgonist (Sunil) is supposed to be fat, ugly, wearing thick glasses and braces (though Kundan Shah didn't go to this extreme with SRK). He is the guy who lies at the drop of the hat, has flunked his exams four times in a row. No wonder his dad (Anjan Srivastava of Wagle ki duniya fame) wants him to help in the garage only to be bailed out by his mother. He plays the saxophone with his band (Deepak Tijori, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan's & Swades's Director), Aditya Lakhia (Lagaan's Kachra) and Kurush Debookhia (Munnabhai MBBS's Dr Rustom). No one takes Sunil seriously. His band tends to ignore his talent & charm. His folks are against him spending time with his saxophone than his college books. In short, he is a loser and a below average guy. But what stands out in this character is the optmism and a sense of purpose for his desires that keeps him cheerful every morning only to go depressed every night.
Conventionally, in Bollywood movies, the underdog would ultimately get the girl as seen in Saajan and Rangeela. But in KHKN, no such thing happens. In the end, it is Anna and Chris who live happily ever after because Sunil bows out gracefully.
Plot Summary: Now the fun begins when Sunil gets to know that Anna loves Chis, who is a sort of an allrounder (topper in college, conventionally good looking, son of a millionaire). To win back his lady love, Sunil brainwashes Chris by telling him lies about Anna over a plateful of cream rolls and succeeds in creating a misunderstanding between them. Sunil eventually manages to spend one evening with Anna only to be caught red handed by Chris who tells everything to Anna. As a result of that, Anna, Chris and the rest of the band dump him, Sunil continues to be an optimist ably goaded by Father Braganza (Naseerudin Shah) and his sister Chutki. When his band gets booed at the local nightclub, Chinatown, he comes to their rescue. His performance finds an ardent admirer in The Don, Anthony Gomes (Goga Kapoor).
Ultimately, he gets a chance to marry Anna, his most desired fantasy. but he sacrifices his love for Anna in the end so she and Chris can marry and become happy. Depressed, after leaving the couple, he meets a young, lost woman. They are instantly attracted to each other and it is implied that he will finally find happiness with her. Like the Don sums it in the end: nothing can keep Sunil down for long.
There is something really refreshing about films that cast actors who have not yet been tagged with an image. Amitabh Bachchan didn't have an 'angry young man' image when Zanjeer released. He got it only after playing the raging rebel over a series of films like Deewar, Kaala Patthar, Shakti etc. But that raw appeal he showed in Zanjeer could never be repeated. The same rawness was seen in SRK's performance in Kundan Shah's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. When the film came out in 1993, SRK had just about begun as an actor. He was playing oddball characters (in films like Deewana, Chamatkar, King Uncle, Maya Memsaab, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Dil Aashna Hai), instead of going through the conventional hero routine. He hadn't established an image. He wasn't a cool dude. He wasn't a bad boy as he became post Darr, Anjaam. He wasn't obsessed. He wasn't a star. At the time of release of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, he was normal or rather below normal star.
What makes Kundan Shah's second classic after Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron great is that he makes his characters and situations entirely believable. The humour is subtle and circumstantial.
Any film that succeeds in making you identify with it stays in your memory for a long, long time. If you aren't Sunil, you must have encountered a Sunil somewhere, some place. Rich in emotion, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa had some beautifully executed scenes:
* When Anna returns from a trip and shows Sunil the gifts she has got for everyone. When she shows him a pair of sunglasses, Sunil assumes they is for him and begins to admire them excitedly. The moment she says it is for Chris, he tosses them aside indifferently. The emotion he displays when she tells her money got exhausted, so she could not buy anything for him. The smile comes back to his face when she shows him his present, a mouth organ.
*When their band is rejected by the local club, Chris saying "Pata nahi Anna aisa hamare saath ki kyon hota hai" and Anna consoles Chris by massaging her hand over Chris's hair. Sunil tries to repeat the same, only to be consoled by Yezdi (Kurush Debookhia)
*Sunil's dad fight with Anna's bro over his old car and Imran (Ashutosh) commenting "Isko bech kar, thode aur paise mila kar, 1 second hand cycle kyon nahi le lete"
*Sunil's dad is a picture of disbelief and pride as he reads out his son's fake report card which has him receiving 99 in Economics.
*When a dejected Sunil cries his heart out by playing the saxophone at the seaside. Hearing the sad music, Goga Kapoor tells his assistant Makrand Deshpande (of Swades fame) that someone is very sad tonight. As DEshpande starts taking a note of that, Gomes asks him "Note mat karo, feel karo, feel it". This is incidently the punchline of the movie.
*Sunil taking permission from Anna's parents for their marriage in the end "Mr. Gonzalves, Mrs Gonzalves, Mr & Mrs Gonzalves, uncle, aunty, mere liye is duniya ki sabse keemti cheez aapki beti Anna hai. Main jaanta hoon sab log mujhe nikamma aur bekaar samajhte hai. Lekin main usse hamesha khush rakhoonga aur kabhi tang nahi karoonga kyonki uncle, aunty main usske bahut bahut bahut bahut pyar karta hoon". The most touching scene for me.
* When Chris drops the wedding ring at the church. Even though Sunil can see it, he doesn't pick it up because secretly he still hopes Anna will marry him. The height of optimism.
The soundtrack of the movie is excellent with all the six songs: Deewana dil deewana, Aye kaash ke hum, Aana mere pyaar ko na tum, Sachi yeh kahani hai, Woh to hai albela and Kyun na hum milke pyaar karein revealed so much about the film's main protagonist and keeps the storyline going.
When KHKN came out, Suchitra received flak for her tacky look and wardrobe. But the actress said in interviews to various publications that her director wanted her to sport a non-makeup plain Jane look.
KHKN is one of the films Deepak Tijori did when he was trying to establish himself as a second lead hero with films like Sadak and Khiladi.
To me, this is SRK's best performance so far. He was spontaneous, vulnerable, boyish, mischievous and acting straight from the heart.
He went about his 'I love Anna very much' very matter-of-factly. Kundan Shah used SRK's freshness to Sunil's advantage. That was the last time Shah Rukh didn't play himself onscreen. There was no pressure of playing to an audience who knew what to expect from him. He wasn't a superstar then. None of the hamming, lip quivering, forehead frowning, the works.
KHKN won two filmfare awards- Best Film and Critics' best actor award. SRK was also nominated as the Best Actor in a leading role.
A masterpiece!!
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