Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...
Directed by Karan Johar
Produced by Yash Johar
Story by Karan Johar
Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan
Shahrukh Khan
Kajol
Hrithik Roshan
Kareena Kapoor
Music by Jatin-Lalit
Sandesh Shandilya
Aadesh Shrivastava
Cinematography Kiran Deohans
Editing by Sanjay Sankla
Distributed by Dharma Productions
Release date(s) December 14, 2001
Running time 211 mins
Country India
Language Hindi
English
Budget 42 crore (US$7.98 million)[1]
Box office 117.29 crore (US$22.29 million)[2]

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (Hindi: कभी ख़ुशी कभी ग़म... translation: Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness) is a Bollywood film released in India and countries with large NRI populations on 14 December 2001.

It features Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji in a guest appearance. It is director Karan Johar's second movie (after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai).

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... was the highest grossing Indian film in the overseas market until 2006, when its record was broken by Johar's third film, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. It climbed up to 3rd place in the British box office within two weeks of release, and maintained its place for over 3 weeks. It got to 32nd place at the American box office, opening there 4 January 2002.[3] The film was the first Bollywood feature to see a theatrical release in Germany (with German subtitles, a dubbed version was produced too).

Contents

Plot

Rahul is the adopted son of Yashvardhan "Yash" Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Nandini (Jaya Bachchan). Their biological son, Rohan, is younger than Rahul by nine years. Yash is a rich and famous business man in India. He is very proud of his family's status and traditions, and instills in his sons a great respect for their elders. When Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) returns home from university in England, he meets and falls deeply in love with a poor girl from the Chandni Chowk region of Delhi named Anjali (Kajol), who lives with her father and her little sister Pooja.

Yash decides to arrange Rahul's marriage to his affluent friend's daughter, Naina (Rani Mukerji). Rahul, however, breaks the engagement and admits that he wants to marry Anjali; this angers Yash, who berates Rahul for not considering Anjali's social status and for disobeying his father. Rahul, horrified that he has hurt his father, apologizes to Yash and promises to do whatever is asked of him. He goes to tell Anjali that he cannot marry her, only to find that her father has died suddenly. Unable to bear the thought of Anjali and Pooja alone and unsupported in the world, Rahul marries Anjali on the spot. When he brings her home, his enraged father disowns him, and blames Rahul's actions on the fact that he is not of Raichand blood. Rahul, believing that Yash no longer loves him, shares an emotional goodbye with his mother and disappears with Anjali and Pooja. Nandini asks Rahul and Rohan's nanny, Sayeeda (Farida Jalal), to accompany Rahul wherever he goes so that he will always have a mother's love and care. Before he leaves, Rahul makes Rohan promise never to ask why he left or where he went.

Ten years later, on his way home from university for Diwali, Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) stops to meet his maternal and paternal grandmothers and overhears them discussing the split; upon confrontation, they tell him the whole story. When he goes to his parents' home, some of Anjali's old friends tell him that Rahul has settled his family in London. Vowing to bring Rahul and Anjali home and repair everyone's broken relationships, Rohan tells his parents that he wants to go to London to study; Yash reluctantly agrees. In London, Rahul has started his own business and lives comfortably with Anjali, their nine-year-old son Krish, Pooja, and Sayeeda, hiding great grief behind a happy facade. Upon arrival, Rohan finds that Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) is also a student at the university he attends. He tells her who he is and asks her to help him bring the family back together.

Pooja tells Rahul that Rohan is her friend's brother, and convinces him to allows Rohan to stay with them until the university gives him accommodations. Under the alias "Yash," Rohan soon becomes a part of the family. He reminds Rahul and Anjali of how much they miss India and their parents, drawing pangs of guilt in Rahul. Slowly, the truth comes out and he tries to convince Rahul to go back to India. He even goes so far as to trick Yash and Nandini into coming to London with the hope that Yash will reconcile with Rahul. His plan fails, but Rahul and Nandini share a joyful reunion. At this point Anjali, too, attempts to persuade Rahul to go back to India and make up with his father. Rahul, convinced that his father does not love him and wants nothing to do with him, remains adamant until they learn that Yash's mother has died, and that her last wish was for Rahul, Yash, and Rohan to light her funeral pyre together. Rahul, Anjali, Krish, Pooja, and Sayeeda go back to India to participate in the funeral, but they do not speak to Yash.

Nandini confronts Yash and tells him, for the first time in ten years, that he was wrong in cutting ties with Rahul, whom he had brought into their home with such love and care. This leaves Yash stunned, and at odds with himself. Rohan finally manages to convince Rahul to visit their parents' house for Nandini's sake. They go with Anjali and Pooja, and find Yash humbled and sad. Yash asks for Rahul to forgive him and berates him for believing that his father did not love him, and for not returning home sooner. Things end happily, with Rohan and Pooja's wedding and a belated celebration of Rahul and Anjali's marriage.

Cast

Production

The film brings back the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai star cast consisting of Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji.

The second half of the film is set principally in London, and many scenes were filmed there. The film was also shot in places like Egypt, Bicester Village Shopping Centre (on DVD's deleted scenes), Blenheim Palace (King's College in the film), Bluewater Shopping Centre (the mall), Bond St., Kingsway Rd., Covent Garden, British Museum, Butler's Wharf, Heathrow Airport, Leicester Square, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Piccadilly Circus, Stowe School, The Strand and Waddesdon Manor.

The "e" added to the second Kabhi in the title was mainly because the director, Karan Johar believes in numerology. Shahrukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan plays the young Rahul in the opening credits of the movie.

Abhishek Bachchan initially had a cameo in this movie but it was later cut out. Karan Johar mentioned in the Deleted Scenes DVD that the legendary actress Waheeda Rahman was to play Amitabh Bachchan's mother in the film. A few scenes were shot but her husband died and Waheeda Rahman was forced to opt out. In 2005 the movie was released on DVD in Poland as Czasem słońce, czasem deszcz (Sometimes sun, sometimes rain).

Box Office

Upon release, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham smashed all opening records. The film opened to around 6 crore nett collections on its first weekend in India with the week finishing around 13 crore nett. The domestic opening week collections were 70% higher than the previous record and never before had opening records been smashed by such big margins. It also set new records for second and third week business by grossing 10.50 crore nett and 8 crore nett respectively. It went on to be amongst the top five domestic grossers of all time and the second biggest grosser in 2001.[4] The film released on around 125 prints n the Overseas, grossing around $8 million at th end of its theatrical run.[4]

This film is the sixth highest grosser worldwide, when adjusted for inflation its total gross is Rs 224,53,00,000.[5] Box Office India called it "one of the true Worldwide blockbusters of Hindi cinema".[4]

Soundtrack

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...
Soundtrack album by Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya, Aadesh Shrivastava
Released
Genre Hindi Film Soundtrack
Length 56:01
Label
Producer Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya, Aadesh Shrivastava
Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya, Aadesh Shrivastava chronology
Censor
(2001)
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
(2001)
Aankhen
(2002)

The music of the film was done by Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya and Aadesh Shrivastava. Lyrics were provided by Sameer, except for "Suraj Hua Maddham" which was penned by Anil Pandey. There are total 11 tracks in the album. Singers such as Lata Mangeshkar, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Amit Kumar, Sudesh Bhonsle, Sunidhi Chauhan and Usha Uthup were selected for singing. Sonu Nigam won 2 playback singing awards for the song "Suraj Hua Maddham", though the soundtrack itself won no major awards. SonyBMG released an album called Klub K3G featuring remixes by young Indian electronic music producer Akshai Sarin, London-based Partners in Rhyme and more.

Track # Song Singer(s) Duration
1 "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" Lata Mangeshkar 7:55
2 "Bole Chudiyan" Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Amit Kumar 6:50
3 "You Are My Soniya" Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik 5:45
4 "Suraj Hua Maddham" Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik 7:08
5 "Say Shava Shava" Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sudesh Bhonsle, Aadesh Shrivastava, Sunidhi Chauhan, Amitabh Bachchan 6:50
6 "Yeh Ladka Hai Allah" Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik 5:28
7 "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Sad (Part 1)" Sonu Nigam 1:53
8 "Deewana Hai Dekho" Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Kareena Kapoor 5:46
9 "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Sad (Part 2)" Lata Mangeshkar 1:53
10 "Soul Of K3G" Instrumental 2:18
11 "Vande Mataram" Usha Uthup, Kavita Krishnamurthy 4:15

Awards

Filmfare Awards

The film received fifteen nominations at the Filmfare Awards and ultimately won five awards. The awards it won are highlighted in bold.

Zee Cine Awards

The awards won are highlighed in bold.

IIFA

The awards won are highlighed in bold.

See also

References

Further reading

  • Iyengar, Niranjan (2002), The Making of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Dharma Productions [in association with] India Book House, India, ISBN 8175083387 

External links