Aditya Chopra made Dilwale Dulhania Le Jeyenge in 1995. Then daddy Yash came up with Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997. Karan from the Johar family, son of producer Yash Johar then came up with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai the following year. And then the media-shy, reclusive Chopra Jr. came up with Mohabbatein in the millenium. The creative, sensitive Karan Johar then made Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam in 2001. Yahsraj Films then started franchising their super-successful brand of cinema through different directors like Sanjay Gadhvi (who made Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai) and Kunal Kohli (who made Mujhse Dosti Karoge) last year. And now, here come Dharma Productions with Kal Ho Naa Ho.
No, I am not trying to display my cinematic knowledge and nor am I writing a biography on the Chopra and Johar families - arguably the two most successful and popular film families and production houses in Bollywood today. The common link between all these films is that they total about Rs 200 crores ($40 million USD) spent on creating about 25 hours of pretension.
And the latest in this brand of super-superficial and super-superfluous cinema is Karan Johar's - oops! Sorry, Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho. There is tremendous detail in creating new looks for the protagonists, great costumes, technical slickness in terms of photography and production design; the music and choreography are extremely elaborate; even the script is detailed and bound from start to finish.
But the goal of the film is to entertain by poking fun at the obese, the Gujarati - and no, I am neither - the middle-aged single woman, the gay ( or to be more politically incorrect homo), the american - and I am none of these either - Jaya Bachan, Sushma Seth and Satish Shah's intelligence, Preity Zinta , Saif and pretty much everything else that is not Shahrukh. The melodrama reeks of glycerine and manipulation, the romance is so plot-oriented and pre-meditated that it is totally devoid of any chemistry (except for that between Shahrukh and Saif - now there's a film!).
Karan Johar and co. are extrememly talented, professional film-makers. But they fail to understand that cinema is a medium where the imagination is excited to translate that which is human, empathetic, universal, courageous, inspiring, etc on celluloid - and not merely a commercial venture.
But then why fix that which ain't broke. Six of the above eight films have gone on to become blockbusters. And in any case, if the Chopra-Johar brand of filmmaking fails to ring the cash registers in future, they can always use their business acumen and franchising abilities to open a chain of McShahrukh's. 5/10.
No, I am not trying to display my cinematic knowledge and nor am I writing a biography on the Chopra and Johar families - arguably the two most successful and popular film families and production houses in Bollywood today. The common link between all these films is that they total about Rs 200 crores ($40 million USD) spent on creating about 25 hours of pretension.
And the latest in this brand of super-superficial and super-superfluous cinema is Karan Johar's - oops! Sorry, Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho. There is tremendous detail in creating new looks for the protagonists, great costumes, technical slickness in terms of photography and production design; the music and choreography are extremely elaborate; even the script is detailed and bound from start to finish.
But the goal of the film is to entertain by poking fun at the obese, the Gujarati - and no, I am neither - the middle-aged single woman, the gay ( or to be more politically incorrect homo), the american - and I am none of these either - Jaya Bachan, Sushma Seth and Satish Shah's intelligence, Preity Zinta , Saif and pretty much everything else that is not Shahrukh. The melodrama reeks of glycerine and manipulation, the romance is so plot-oriented and pre-meditated that it is totally devoid of any chemistry (except for that between Shahrukh and Saif - now there's a film!).
Karan Johar and co. are extrememly talented, professional film-makers. But they fail to understand that cinema is a medium where the imagination is excited to translate that which is human, empathetic, universal, courageous, inspiring, etc on celluloid - and not merely a commercial venture.
But then why fix that which ain't broke. Six of the above eight films have gone on to become blockbusters. And in any case, if the Chopra-Johar brand of filmmaking fails to ring the cash registers in future, they can always use their business acumen and franchising abilities to open a chain of McShahrukh's. 5/10.