19 years of Kal Ho Naa Ho: For once, Shah Rukh Khan was not Shah Rukh Khan but Aman Mathur, the character he essayed

When Karan Johar and his team were shooting Kal Ho Naa Ho in New York and Toronto, Shah Rukh Khan had just undergone a complicated back surgery and the  thought of him dying on screen didn’t not appeal to anyone associated with the film.

To set all doubts to rest right at the beginning, Kal Ho Naa Ho (KHNH) is most definitely  inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee‘s Anand. The weeping, wailing and the tissue-based tearjerker (which put off the detractors of Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham) are kept to a minimum. And the credit for that can safely be given to debutant director Nikkhil Advani who did a commendable job for a first timer.

That the film belongs to Advani and not Johar is clear from the fact that the film is more funny than sad. In addition, not only does Advani have his characters exactly where he wants them, he also contains their  tendency to  overdo it.  Shah Rukh Khan, for once, probably after a Yes Boss and a Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa is not Shah Rukh Khan but Aman Mathur, the character he essays. For once you truly forget that SRK is here to play himself. Preity Zinta as Naina Catherine Kapur, her mother Jennifer (Jaya Bachchan) and her ‘friend’ Rohit (Saif Ali Khan) are the perfect foils for SRK’s histrionics, which don’t go overboard.

The tenor and tone of the film rest  on the dialogues and screenplay, the former penned by Niranjan Iyengar and the latter by Karan Johar. Quite often reminiscent of Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai, in terms of its candid, urbane humour, KHNH‘s fresh, cheeky attitude comes from its lead characters. Funny for most part, the film makes a transition to tragedy in the end with ease. Even better rather than find the weepy scenes funny and unbelievable, one finds oneself empathizing with the characters’ plight.

What definitely comes through is the fact Dil Chahta Hai set the tone for future Bollywood romances/comedies. No longer did the melodrama overshadow intelligent, believable humour and trendy wholesome  truthful love  relationships.

Dil Chahta Hai showed the way .KHNH took  the hint. The irreverence for hallowed Hindi cinema and its protected formulae is much in evidence .So is the  homophobia . The ‘Kantabehn’ jokes wherein the  househelp sees Shah Rukh and Saif Ali Khan lying together (honestly!) in the same bed are indicative of the way Hindi cinema dealt with homosexuality.

Kareena Kapoor Khan’s best friend in the entertainment industry and her go-to person for all the gossip she wants and  all the heartaches she gets, is indisputably Karan Johar. They are  inseparably close. But there came a phase in their kinship when they stopped talking to each other completely. This was when Karan was planning Kal Ho Naa Ho with his favourite Shah Rukh Khan and second-favourite Bollywood diva Kareena (after Kajol).

Kareena shocked Karan and his father Yash Johar by quoting a price that sent the father-son staggering out  of the Kapoors’ residence. Karan gently asked his Bebo darling to reconsider the price. But she wouldn’t budge. This, rightly, hurt Karan. He stopped all communication with Kareena. For almost a year, they  looked  through each  other at every social gathering that  they attended.  And since they had  plenty  of  common friends  they  kept bumping  into  and ignoring each other, much to the  shock of mutual friends.

It was Karisma who put an end to the Kjo-Bebo cold war. She made them both sit down and  open up the wound which was festering in their relationship. Karisma reminded her sister that Karan was the brother they never had, and she reminded Karan that Bebo and Lolo were the sisters he never had. That was it. In no time, Karan and Kareena were sobbing and hugging one another. Kareena went on to act in many Dharma Productions. She insisted she won’t charge money after what happened regarding Kal Ho Naa Hao. But Karan insisted on paying her.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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