Alvida ? Sure.

KANK – I liked it. Period.

I can watch the trailor of the movie & pretty much decide whether I’ll like it or not. KANK proved me wrong. Just about.

I had seen the trailor. I had hated the trailor.

The same New York locations as 50 other movies. SRK gives us the same facial expressions as he’s given for the last 15 years. Everyone mouths the same emotional, tear jerking, melodramatic dialogues. Everyone’s crying. Everyone’s rich.
I was pretty much sure I wouldn’t like the movie one bit.

I saw the movie this weekend. Quite late, & just because 2 of my friends whose movie judgement I trust told me to watch it & guaranteed that I’ll like it. They know me well, is all I can say.

So, here goes my KANK review. Yes, I’m late – but ki fark pendah?

The movie’s basic premise is great. Karan Johar has come of age & has made a movie which is not all candy floss & romance. He’s come close to real life & it passes as a decent effort.

Johar has dealt with the topic with formidable grace & reality. Infidelity is difficult to forgive – and that’s what is shown in the movie.

SRK hams, hams a lot as usual. His is a frustrated, cynical character. Though that is portrayed effectively, it could’ve been done much better.
The scene where all 4 meet at the ballet – SRK screws it with his blatant over acting. Abhishek’s Rishi says, “I told you he was on drugs.” I believe that he said it impulsively, it wasn’t in the script.
Also, when he proposes to Rani at the station, he’s vibrating!
He’s the biggest spoiler of the movie.

Rani does not have much to do. No great dialogues, but a large amount of screen time is devoted to her. It’s a role that could’ve been done by anyone. (I liked her in that corset & whip scene though – she manages to look sexy)

Preity – HOT, HOT, HOT. She looks the part, she acts the part. Very well acted. Looks as self confident as the character she plays. We are on her side when she says that she’s the man in the house, she doesn’t mind working hard & not giving enough time to her son just so that he can have the latest play station. A role she’s played to perfection. Btw, just loved the slap she gave SRK. Fantastic!

Abhishek has finally come into his own. Matches and outdoes more seasoned actors SRK & Rani in their scenes together. Portrays the right mixture of a child at heart & a sensitive son and husband. He calls his dad “Dude”. We call him Dude. We love him.

Rampal & John do cameos they would've died before doing in any other director's film. That's the power of Karan Johar. No one can say No.

Amitabh Bachchan – What do I say about the man? By far the best actor of the movie. By far. At 64, he plays his most rakish character yet. A character, actors/stars half his age could not do justice to. We would not accept or love any other veteran in this role. He’s the only one who can mouth the lines “imagine, a call girls calls YOU! A call girls calls you” & “Dude, any message for Mom?” (my personal favourite from the movie), with equal ease & credibility. He looks the part. He is Sexy Sam.

Btw, I strongly belive Mr. Bachchan can make a better DON at 64 than SRK at 41.

The script & dialogues are the real heroes of the film. Johar & his protégé Shibani Bathija have done a great job. Not all dialogues are OTT. Many reflect what could’ve actually happened.

“I am the man in the house. Why isn’t a MAN questioned when he works till late & does not give time to his child. Why is a woman expected to, even if she’s the only one earning in the house. I work hard so that I can provide my child with what a mere Football coach can’t”

I loved it. No other hindi film heroine has spoke to her husband, patidev like this before.

“Have you slept with him? How was it, huh? Did you enjoy it?” questions Abhishek to RAni when she discloses her affair.
I identify with it 100%. Couldn’t imagine how else he would’ve reacted. I would’ve reacted the same way, exactly.

“if you look for love, you’ll find it”, says SRK. It’s true. It’s all in the mind.
Rani does not love Abhishek because even before the marriage has happened, she says that maybe friendship has taken the place of love & love has no space to grow. She does not even try to look for love, hence does not find it in her marriage.

The main flaw, as people pointed out, in the script is the lack of reason for Rani to not love Abhishek. I have read quite a lot of interviews of Johar regarding this movie. In one, he admits that Abhishek had questioned him regarding the same thing. His answer was, “Sometimes, even perfect marriages fall apart, with seemingly no reason whatsoever. I just wanted to portray that in my film”
Works for me.

SRK – Preity track is very well defined. It reflects the male ego in its true form, and shows how men can’t deal with strong, individual & self sufficient women who just might be better than them at everything they do. Men want women to be lower than them, so that they feel secure & “manly”. So, SRK goes for Rani.

AB is a bed breaker, literally at times. But, we still love him. We like him when he says that he’s following his wife’s instructions to enjoy life to the fullest.

Music is bad except for the winner Mitwa. Btw, the tattoo on SRK’s forearm (definitely a comy of Beckham’s “Victoria”) is very wannabe-ish.

All said and done, it’s a movie that everyone must watch and try to grasp the basic premise without being lost in the frills packaging it.

I really feel that Dharma Productions pays for its character’s lives also. They are so rich. Rani lives alone and makes her house so decorated & beautiful by working as a kindergarten teacher? Yeah, right!

Arth is definitely the final say on infidelity, but Kank deserves a dekko.

2 of my closest friends asked me whether I will be able to forgive infidelity my partner.
No.