Before you continue reading my review on Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK), keep in mind I am not making any professional statements here. This movie affected me, since approx 5 years ago I went through a bad marriage and clearly this one came too close to comfort and I knew it was coming and yet wanted to see it enacted on the screen, cause in a way, it was also bringing a final closure to a chapter and an opening of a new phase and whenever a movie gets this close, of course I will become emotionally involved and of course my review will be skewed and of course I loved every minute of it and more........

Almost 99.99% of Indian and Indian American movies end with "and they got married." The question that needs to be asked, if life has to be observed in the real India and the real India America is "then what?" Let's not forget that we tom-tom to the whole world about how our family system is one of the best and most stable, yet a look at the REAL life in the metros of India and the NRI world suggests something totally different. Our marriages are breaking, more and more folks are questioning the need and appropriateness of the institution and this is a far cry from we proclaiming to be the final frontier in this most universal of customs.

KANK dwells into that territory and more power to Karan for that. Kuch Kuch Hota Hain was ground breaking and perhaps his best film till date. Yes it was bubble gum, but it was ground breaking cause it dealt with the emotion of love at different stages of one's life. School love and adult love, even when enacted by the same lovers can be very different. His next two were entertaining films, but hardly challenged any established norms. For all the Karan bashers (including RGV and a whole lot of wannabe small time failed filmmakers), Karan does challenge an established system one more time...that of marriage as a thing to be done (almost like brushing your teeth) than one which has passion. And don't give me that about passion going away after a while, I have seen it last an eternity in some, just the form changes.

KANK may or may not make us shed a tear, it will certainly make us look deep inside into who or what we really are. Living in Silicon Valley, one would think we are all about "my marriage, my child's first birthday, my house warming, options, start up," etc, etc. Similar environmental driven, emotions would be felt in New York/Los Angeles/Dallas/Toronto, etc wherever it is that you live. This one, against the beautiful backdrop of New York and New Jersey, asks that basic question, leave all those emotions behind, what about the most basic emotion of love and care and feelings? what about them? are they not the most fundamental reasons one marries or is in a relationship and if they are missing then is it even worth going through the motions? and what are the consequences of not going through the motions? fortunately or unfortunately the world does not stop rotating.

KANK, rather uncomfortably for some, takes us into our most grey emotion of selfishness. We are not God and should not try any pretence to be one. We are human, almost like the instruction given by the cabin crew before a plane takes off "please ensure that your own oxygen mask is fully secure before you help others," and what if it is not? isn't the need to love and be loved any less of an oxygen, then if it is missing, should one not try and secure it?

KANK is more real I would think than Silsila. That was in it's era, today, despite the discomfort around us life has to go on and this one takes an uncomfortable set of characters and puts a fair share of humor around them, not to belittle the fallacy of a failed or failing marriage, but more to give it a practicality which the 21st century forces on us.

KANK is how people in the real world, the present world, the imperfect world react. It is not a New York film, it is an Indian film, the current India, which is spread in all four corners of this globe.

Yes it is long, but then when layers of human emotions are being enacted, there is a need to look at all the underlying layers and uncovering them is not a time bound exercise.

See it for New York, see it for one of the most outstanding performances by Amitab Bachchan. When he was angry with the world, he did an outstanding job being the angry young man, when he is at ease with the world, almost happy, he does even better as the funny old Sam. But he also shows classical emoting when Sam gives way to Samarjit and only a man who is inherently a class act could pull of that, appearing to some as cheesy, role.................I can't go on much more, as I said, the film came too close to comfort for me and now I have to leave my comfort zone.