Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna


Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, also abbreviated as KANK, is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film, directed by Karan Johar and produced under the Dharma Productions banner. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Kirron Kher in prominent roles. Set and mostly taking place in New York City, the film explores themes of adultery. The title was promoted with the tag-line "A Love... That Broke All Relationships".
The film released worldwide on 11 August 2006. It was a success internationally, especially in the United States. It became the highest grossing Indian film of all time overseas at the time of its release. The film was screened in over 1,200 cinemas worldwide, grossing a worldwide total of . It was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Plot

Maya is an orphan who is to marry her closest childhood friend Rishi Talwar. The two have been raised by Rishi's fun-loving millionaire father Samarjit. Dev is a successful football player who lives in New York City with his wife Rhea, his son Arjun and his mother Kamaljit. Maya meets Dev moments before she is to marry Rishi. Although the two are strangers, they connect instantly. Right after they part, Dev is hit by a car and permanently injures his leg. As a result, he can no longer play football ever again.
Four years later, Dev, who now walks with a limp, is extremely short-tempered and embittered because of his inability to play football; Rhea's successful career makes him feel inferior to her. Meanwhile, Maya is infertile and does not love Rishi, seeing him as childish. Dev and Maya meet again and Rhea and Rishi strike a professional relationship. Sam and Kamal, having lost their spouses, become friends to help one another through their loneliness. Dev and Maya decide to do the same; they become friends and try to give each other ideas to salvage their marriages, all of which comically fail.
Dev and Maya realise they have feelings for one another and not toward their partners. Rhea mentions that she has received a promotion and Dev goes into a rant, sneering that she is trying to show off. Rhea accuses Dev of being jealous of her professional success and makes him realise his failure of being a good husband and a good father because he cannot come out of his bitterness. At the same time, Rishi expresses his frustration at Maya's lack of affection and his resentment toward her infertility. Feeling worthless, Maya meets a disheartened Dev and the two confess that they have fallen in love with each other.
Dev and Maya begin an affair but feel guilty for playing with their spouses' feelings, as both Rhea and Rishi try their best to make their marriages work. Nevertheless, Dev and Maya give in and make love. They are later caught in an embrace by Sam and Kamal, who are shocked and upset that they have cheated despite both Rhea and Rishi trying to make it work. That night, Sam has a heart attack. On his deathbed, he advises Maya to leave Rishi as she is depriving both Rishi and herself of happiness in life. After Sam's death, Dev and Maya decide they must end their relationship and go back to their spouses, but first, they must tell them the truth about their extramarital affair because neither of them will be able to move on in the shadow of lies. Shocked, Rhea and Rishi divorce their spouses. Dev and Maya lie to each other and say that everything is fine, believing they'll never meet again.
Three years later, Dev and Maya have been living alone, both miserable. Rishi visits Maya and says that he has fallen in love again and is remarrying. He invites Maya and Rhea to his wedding. Rhea attends with her boss Jay, whom she is now dating. Rhea confronts Maya about the affair and reveals that she left Dev. However, as Rhea and Rishi have both moved on, they encourage Maya to as well, revealing that Dev is about to leave for Toronto by train. At the train station, Dev sees Maya but avoids her, believing she is still with Rishi. However, as the train pulls away, the two make eye contact. Seeing her tears, Dev pulls the emergency brake and comes back; the two reunite and start a new life together.

Cast

Main

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was directed and written by Karan Johar who collaborated with Shibani Bathija to write the screenplay, and Niranjan Iyengar produced the dialogue. Produced by Dharma Productions, the soundtrack was performed by the musical trio, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. Farah Khan was brought in to organize the choreographical aspects of the film, with costume designer Manish Malhotra, production designer Sharmishta Roy and MAC cosmetics all playing a major role in production.
Kajol was initially offered the role of Maya Talwar. When she refused, due to her prior commitments with Yash Raj Films's Fanaa, the role was passed on to her cousin Rani Mukerji, who was supposed to play Preity Zinta's part. However, Kajol made a guest appearance in the song "Rock 'N' Roll Soniye".
Riteish Deshmukh also had a guest appearance, but his scene was cut during the editing process.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna is set in New York City, while many of the scenes were filmed in East Hartford and New Haven in Connecticut. The soccer game scene was filmed at Rentschler Field, the home of the UConn Huskies football team. In several scenes, a light 'UConn' can be seen on the field. The majority of the Grand Central Station scenes were filmed at New Haven's Union Station and Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.
In an interview, Karan Johar stated that the filming for the song "Tumhi Dekho Naa" was done at multiple locations and ended up being extremely time-consuming. The "blue section" of the song was shot at Columbia University in Upper West Side, the "yellow section" was shot at Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, the "orange section" at Bear Mountain, the "red section" at the Pier A Park in Hoboken, and the "green section" at the Union Station in New Haven. The red section was initially designed to take place in the rain. However, due to the low temperatures, the raindrops produced by the rain machines started freezing in mid-air. This posed a risk of physical harm to the actors. Consequently, the filmmakers decided to do away with the rain. However, they still wanted to make use of the 200 red umbrellas they had purchased. Eventually, they decided to shoot the red section on a sunny day where the actors used the umbrellas to block out the sun. The shooting for the green section also ran into problems. Two hundred extras were hired for the section but only fifteen showed up. Consequently, crew members present on the set wore the green costumes to take their place. Ayan Mukerji who was an Assistant Director of the film can be seen in a green sweater carrying a box in one of the frames.
The movie was filmed over a 90-day shooting period in the USA but a few scenes were shot on four large sets in Mumbai studios.
Mukerji suffered from a severe skin allergy during the filming in the US.
Like previous Karan Johar movies , Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna has a four-word title that starts with a "K''".

Music

The music and background score of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, while the lyrics were penned by Javed Akhtar. This is the second time that lyricist Javed Akhtar and the composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have teamed up for a Dharma production. The trio also replaces Johar's usual collaborators Jatin–Lalit, who had composed for his previous films. The audio rights were acquired by Sony Music India, under Sony BMG, teaming up with Karan Johar, for the fourth time after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... and Kal Ho Naa Ho.
The title song "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" rendered by Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik is a tearjerker. "Mitwa", an evocative sufi rock ballad, marked the introduction of Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali into the Bollywood scene. "Where's The Party Tonight?" by Shaan, Vasundhara Das, Loy and Shankar Mahadevan is the club song picturized on Abhishek and Preity. Then follows "Tumhi Dekho Naa", a soft and romantic ballad, which again is sung by the Sonu Nigam - Alka Yagnik duo is picturized on Shah Rukh and Rani. "Rock 'N' Roll Soniye", picturized on Amitabh, Abhishek and Preity is a 60's Rock 'N' Roll track, sung by Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan and Mahalakshmi Iyer. "Farewell Trance" is the trance version of the title track, which is a rarity in Bollywood. The album also has a remix - "Mitwa - Revisted". The soundtrack ends with a sad version of the title track, "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Sad Version" which speaks of destiny, meeting again in life and never saying goodbye. The trio took care to not make the album sound repetitive, especially since the overall genre of the soundtrack is similar to that of their previous chartbuster Kal Ho Naa Ho.
The music of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was launched in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2006 and was officially released in India on 16 June 2006 along with a grand music launch at the IIFA Awards function in Dubai.

Track listing

Critical reception

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama dismissed those initial negative reaction, saying "Much before the official release of the music album of KANK, rumour brigade has been having a field day in pulling down the album. Well, that's not something new as with every biggie comes its share of detractors. But on hearing the songs for yourself, you realize that is it NOTHING, but a rumour! The album is yet another fine product from the team that delivers the kind of path-breaking music expected from it." Sukanya Verma of Rediff called the album "a treat for the melody-starved."
The album opened at #1 and retained the top position in the music charts for ten straight weeks, despite facing tough competition from musical hits like Fanaa, Krrish and Gangster. According to the figures from BoxOffice India, the album sold over 1,900,000 copies in India making it the second best selling album of the year, marginally behind Dhoom 2.

Release

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, with a multi-star cast, premiered on 11 August 2006 and was screened in over 1,200 cinemas worldwide.
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Motion Picture Association of America originally gave the film an R rating because of language and some sexual content. It was re-rated PG-13 on appeal.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was one of India's possible nominations for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, with films such as Rang De Basanti, Krrish, Omkara and Lage Raho Munna Bhai also in the running. However, the country ultimately chose Rang De Basanti as its pick.

Reception

Critical reception

Critic Taran Adarsh described the subject matter as a delicate one which could have easily been disastrous and praised the way in which director Karan Johar boldly constructed the film, citing it as his finest work to date. Adarsh approved in particular of the script and the devices the director incorporated to contrast emotions between scenes, remarking that, "the screenplay balances the two extremes; light moments and dollops of emotions with amazing ease". The individual cast performances were also praised by Adarsh, who commented on the effectiveness of the casting and the interaction of the actors.
Rajeev Masand gave the film 4 out of 5 stars praising the screenplay and Johar's direction, saying "Few writers have such solid control over their screenplay as Karan Johar does. Few understand the intricacies of narrative as well as he does. Johar goes from highs to lows, from plateaus to peaks with the ease of a pro. He knows exactly how to turn a seemingly ordinary scene into something special with just that one line of dialogue, or that hint of background music."
Derek Elley of Variety also praised the diversity of emotions displayed by the cast, remarking that, "Scripter Shibani Bathija never lets her characters inhabit a secure emotional place for very long, and impediments to happiness come from their own weaknesses rather than social constraints or plot-generated misunderstandings". Elley noted Amitabh Bachchan's performance as an ageing lothario and praised Preity Zinta as "stepping far beyond her makeup".
Raja Sen of rediff.com was particularly critical of the film, also expressing dissatisfaction with its length. He remarked, "I feel older. A showing of Karan Johar's mammoth 22-reel Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna has left me unbelievably exhausted. I walked out of the hall feeling my cheeks for stubble, wondering if my clothes are suddenly dated and my hair's turned grey. I've lost a sizeable chunk of my life, and you will too". Unlike other critics, he identified flaws in the script and criticized the strength of characters saying "The characters are cardboard, the setting is glitzy, the songs are tiresome, and the story oscillates between high melodrama and slapstick hilarity, going nowhere. Rarely has a weak script relied so completely on pretty people with big names to carry every line through".
In the United States, the film received a number of positive reviews.
Critics such as Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times emphasized the larger-than-life nature of the film, remarking that, "It is full of big Bollywood stars and out-sized everything: the rainstorms are a little rainier than real life; the wind machines are cranked up an extra notch; the close-ups get closer and linger longer than usual; the coincidences that drive the plot are a little more numerous and unlikely than normal screenwriting allows". He praised the humor in the script and the director's comic timing in certain scenes such as the children's soccer match, the bed store, and at the ballet show.

Box office

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna saw a record opening at many cities in India and generated in the first week itself, although it is currently Johar's lowest-grossing film according to net collections, even if unadjusted for inflation. It emerged the highest grosser worldwide for an Indian film, surpassing Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'s five-year-old record. With a total overseas gross of, the film was the third highest overseas grosser as of 2013.
It opened strongly in the United States and the United Kingdom with first weekend grosses of $1.3 million in the U.S and $1.4 million in the UK
In total Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna collected US$3,275,444 in the United States while in UK it netted over £5,079,688.00. In the US, one factor contributing to its success was the fact it debuted in 64 theatres, unusually high for a Bollywood film in cities with lower Indian populations such as Miami, Tampa, and Raleigh as well.
The film's total worldwide gross was between 1.12–1.20 billion.

Accolades