CRASH………. Review on Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa -

Came the sound from somewhere as I looked at her after she uttered those words to me. No, it wasn?t the sky falling, nor did any beautiful symphony play in the background it was just the sound of my recently repaired heart crashing to pieces yet again. Why you ask? I don?t suppose you would jump for joy if the girl you were wooing for four months earnestly invited you for her wedding next week, now would you? Yes funny as it now seems that time I could do nothing but wail. Anyhow, I wished her the best of luck, a great life and thought to myself aaaah well chalta hai, Kabhi Haan to Kabhi Naa. Welcome friends to another mind-numbing read, and the movie I write about today evokes some nostalgia, in that it too reflects another phase which lots have passed through, and that is the feeling one would always describe as a crush (actually its another biological process relating to hormones and what not, but heck, it sounds much better this way). A refreshing movie, which brought out the versatility in a certain girl-killing psycho called Shahrukh Khan who got accolades for his villainous portrayals earlier, and changed lanes with this small, low budget and sweet movie. Without further ado, lets go on to the review. Story: Sunil (Shahrukh Khan) is a simple and somewhat idiotic guy, who just cannot for the life of him pass his college exams since his heart is into music and as a result his poor academics suffer. Always the subject of scorn and ridicule at home due to his father, he is doted upon by his mother and sister, who still believe in him and is encouraged by Father (Naseeruddin Shah). He is part of a garage band with his friends who dream of making it big someday. The two other characters of note would be Chris(Deepak Tijori) and Anna (Suchitra), since Anna is the apple of Sunil?s eye and his raison d'être, whereas Chris is his rival for Anna?s affections. Unfortunately for him however, Anna?s heart lies with Chris, but he doesn?t give up, rather he goes the route of telling lies (harmless, but lies nonetheless) to get to her. Having lied to Chris and making him believe that Anna is not of good reputation, he goes to console Anna and make his move, but she finds out about his actions and drops him from her life as do the other band members. A series of episodes now commences from here, what with the band getting into trouble at a local gangster club, and the friendship which forms between Sunil and the don, and so on. The culmination of these events and who gets Anna forms the rest of this simple story. Pros: The biggest advantage that I found in this movie was the simplicity of the movie with respect to this story, which was so down to earth, that a larger than life representation of characters would?ve ruined it. This and the deft handling of various emotional and comical moments with subtlety while at the same time getting the desired effect and reaction speaks volumes for Kundan Shah, who after Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron provided a great follow up. The characters were well etched, and at times though the movie delved into the illogical (wrong timing of song and dance) it doesnt jar so much. Shah does well and injects enough life into each character so that they do not seem like caricatures and does make the audience root for the hero despite him being flawed, which required finesse so as to not make the movie melodramatic. A well directed movie indeed, which brought out great performances from the cast, as follows. Deepak Tijori As Chris: A good actor, who although not having the major role, gave it his all and made Chris come off as a nice guy who although is easily intimidated, does care about Anna enough to make the right decision and not abandon her. Good work in a not so substantial role by an underappreciated actor. Suchitra As Anna: For her first movie, I thought that she had done quite well, despite not being the most glamorous in looks, she performed naturally enough and suited the part since none of the characters were shown to be your extremely handsome picturesque people. Surprising that she did not come in many movies after this since she did have confident screen presence as was displayed by her later pop career. Naseeruddin Shah As Father: A good performance by this exemplary actor, who made the most of this role, and though not lengthy left a definite impact with it, proving his capabilities in both comedic and dramatic scenes. But then his acting does not require my views to be proven as good. He is convincing with all his mannerisms and get up as the surrogate father figure to Sunil?s character. A good performance by him in a role that could easily have become a caricature due to its singularly distinctive nature(the community father et al). Shahrukh Khan As Sunil: Although I am a fan of Shahrukh Khan, I believe that he has been repeating himself ever since he performed in DDLJ and has been using those same mannerisms over and over again. However, I also think he is a good actor as he has proved in his earlier movies by being versatile and trying out different roles, especially a role such as this at a time when he could have cashed in on his new found star status and done a spate of safer movies. For me this is one of his most natural performances, no typical SRK mannerisms (quivering lip, stammering etc). He does brilliantly in light scenes and sentimental scenes of self reproach, proving that if he tries his hand at different roles, and if he has a good director (other than the usual Chopras and Johars) he can provide good performances. In this movie he makes the audience relate to the character, does not go over the top, and though he makes them aware of his faults, he endears himself and makes you root for him even though he does wrong, and repents. Truly a landmark performance, the naturalness of which seems to have disappeared after the monumental and career making Dilwale?. The rest of the cast, such as Anjan Shrivastava, Ravi Baswani, Goga Kapoor, Satish Shah etc all do extremely well with the footage given to him, with special mention to Goga Kapoor and his sidekick, they were quite funny and touching at other times. Cons: None really, except for the standard placement of songs and such, and over sentimentalism in places such as when Sunil?s father finds out about his marks, and the sequence thereafter. I used to love soft romantic movies then ( thought I would never show it to my friends of course ) and to a lesser degree don?t mind the odd one even today, and the biggest advantage that this movie had was its simplicity in the story and the believability that it projected since almost everyone has experienced their first crush, and the sadness of not getting the girl, yet moving on after a certain amount of time. To a great extent this to me showed the underdog getting his due again, and showing that sometimes its just better to let go. Another movie which lets me hark back to simpler times and lets me reminisce about the more fun days and experiences which on hindsight though embarrassing at times, still are memorable, and things which one would usually not forget. And now before I leave you to reminisce over your own simpler times, I would ask you to not cause disappointment and kindly rate and comment on the review, so that I may improve in areas that require it. Till next time Have fun -Faraz