In defense of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: Karan Johar’s directorial debut is still popular | Bollywood

Did you know that Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar called up Karan Johar after the release of their 1998 directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? But for different reasons. Shabana scolded Karan for his anti-feminist look on Anjali’s (Kajol) footprints. And Javed admitted that he made a mistake in turning down the film because of its sexually suggestive title.

(Also read: Karan Johar unveils new version of Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aayee with B Praak)

But that’s what Karan Johar and his filmography represent, extreme polarization even from two like-minded individuals. This dichotomy stems from the hearts and minds of evolving filmmakers who are both reluctant to criticize mainstream Hindi cinema and fans of it at the same time. He is a cheerleader for Balenciaga as well as a dancer for Dahri Wale. And he is as much a closet traditionalist as he is an awakener in progress.

That’s precisely why, 25 years after his first film, Curran feels compelled to examine the woke discourse surrounding it. He not only nods at every regressive stroke, he actually points at them himself and laughs heartily with the naysayers. He may attribute his awakening to a midlife crisis, but he’s actually a self-aware filmmaker who knows how to take a joke.

Anjali’s transformation

The most common issue he plead guilty to in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is Shabana’s dissatisfaction with the film. Why does Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), the cool guy next door, have feelings for Anjali only when she’s wearing a sari and not when she’s tomboyish in college? But haven’t we all worked hard on ourselves in search of validation?

Compare Anjali and Poo (Kareena Kapoor) from Karan’s 2001 family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum. Pooja, a girl from Chandni Chowk, was humiliated and bullied in her childhood by children from wealthy families, but squeezed out the fuel, distance, and opportunity to work hard on herself. , becomes the object of her admiration at a university in London.

Indeed, Anjali, on the contrary, has dropped out of college and doesn’t even have an ambitious land to start anew. But if Aayan (Ranbir Kapoor) can put his unrequited love to music in Karan’s 2016 romantic musical Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, why does Anjali channel it into self-care and sing Aman (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)? Will she not be able to win over marriage prospects like Salman Khan? ?

More than that, Anjali is an autobiographical symbol of Karan’s own struggles to fit in. He admits that he took classes to improve his personality and even practiced his baritone so as not to be seen as effeminate. For him, reuniting Anjali with Rahul is not about tolerating Rahul’s regressive gaze, but about anointing himself with a glimmer of hope through her fiction.

Aman > Rahul?

The second question, which Kajol recently agreed to, is why didn’t Anjali choose Aman, whom she described as a “cool guy”? Well, women always want a man who makes them happy. Not because I want to, but because I want a man who makes me happy. Find out what happiness means to them.

Let’s go back to the conversation between Naina (Preity Zinta) and her mother Jennifer (Jaya Bachchan) in the film Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), written by Karan and directed by Nikkhil Advani. Jennifer learns that unlike her father, Rohit (Saif Ali Khan), who weakened Jennifer’s strength and ended her life because he fell in love with another man, she loves other men. She says she has the strength to love women. The Amans of the world (Shah Rukh Khan) may sacrifice her love as death looms, but the Rohits of the world know when to stand back, when to lend a shoulder, and when to lend themselves. They have the emotional intelligence to know when to take a leap of faith. Partner.

Or take a look at Karan’s 2006 film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Maya (Rani Mukerji) does not love her overtly romantic husband Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan), but she is attracted to another man, Dev (Shah Rukh Khan), who is bitter and reckless. She feels marginal repulsion from Rishi. Why not? He doesn’t take no for an answer. Meanwhile, Dev shows her a mirror but she leaves it alone.

“Pyaar ek hai ba hota hai…”

Another argument that often comes up is that Rahul always preached, “Hum ek bar jeete hain, ek bar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek bar hoti hai, aur pyaar bhi ek hai bar hota hai.” Karan jokes that Rahul didn’t take the last part that seriously. But the important thing is to make Rahul eat his words. He had no intention of remarrying, but when Anjali comes into his life again, he is forced to do so. Years after he befriended her, she is the one who turned him into her hypocrite. Shall we sing “Rahul is a fraud” in that annoying tone of hers?

Karan has a little bit of both Rahul and Anjali. For him, his growth means both changing physically and in his clothes, and breaking through his own stubborn beliefs. As far as the most obvious loophole in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is concerned, how did Anjali, who was one or two years old, read the first two of the nine letters left behind by his mother? Let’s slide in the ‘Tum nahi samjoge, kuchi kuch hota hai’ that Karan kept repeating.

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