Since the whole world seemed to have watched the movie, I decided that it was high time that I had a look at what Karan Johar’s lat­est offer­ing was all about. I never got to see KKKG on screen. I caught it much later when they screened it on tele­vi­sion. Walk­ing around MG Road on Tues­day, I wan­dered into Plaza. They had advance tick­ets for the next day. I quickly called Pallavi and she read­ily agreed to accom­pany me (with her hubby refus­ing to watch the movie, I guess she didn’t have much of a choice!).

The title track of Kal Ho Na Ho is one of those songs that stays with you long after you’ve walked out of the hall. The other two num­bers I really liked are It’s the time to disco and Mahi ve for their verve and energy. Look­ing at Shahrukh on the floor, show­ing off his danc­ing skills, you are but left won­der­ing if it’s the same guy who recently suf­fered from a back problem.

After a host of dis­mal, hor­rific and night­mar­ish movies I’ve seen this year, I think this one is def­i­nitely one of the bet­ter offer­ings so far. The best part is the inter­ac­tions between the Khans (have they acted together before?). I thought they did a good job with their light hearted cama­raderie and the ‘gay’ exchanges they have for the ben­e­fit of Kaanta bai.

Saif’s role is like a con­tin­u­a­tion from Dil Chahta Hai and after a crop of mediocre roles and movies, he seems to have found a niche at last. I’m not a huge fan of Shahrukh’s, but this movie only proves why he’s such a big name.

While the first half deals mainly with the inter­ac­tion between the three pro­tag­o­nists, the sec­ond half is Shahrukh all the way. And with his ‘very flex­i­ble’ face and eyes, the senior Khan puts in all he’s got into the per­for­mance. You just can’t help but feel for him and what he’s los­ing out on — the love of his life. The end is stretched quite a bit. And Shahrukh, who seems to be in the pink of health pre-interval, sud­denly looks pale, stricken and sick. The change is too sudden.

Pre­ity is great. She tends to take you along wher­ever she goes — whether it’s to her happy or sad place. And I loved see­ing Jaya all casu­ally dressed and quite oppo­site her role in KKKG. All of the cast — Jaya, Pre­ity, Saif and Shahrukh — share excel­lent chem­istry and it reflects on screen.

But then this is not a review, so I’ll stop right here just say that it was a rea­son­ably good movie. It would have been a great one if they had made it a lit­tle shorter. I can only sus­tain my sym­pa­thies for a char­ac­ter for that long, not the whole of post interval.

I guess after watch­ing two hour Eng­lish flicks, three and half hours does really seem tax­ing on the nerves, how­ever good the film.

Pallavi and I laughed a lot dur­ing the first part though, which is not sur­pris­ing since it doesn’t take much to get either of us laughing.

So if you haven’t watched it yet, catch some­one and go. Be pre­pared for your hubby/fiance/partner refus­ing to go with you though. Men find ‘emo­tional’ flicks quite dif­fi­cult to digest, poor things.

What I liked most about the movie was its premise. Why go about life you’re car­ry­ing the weight of the world on your shoul­ders? Did any­one force the bur­den on you? Why not live every moment? Live life like you’re really alive. Don’t waste too much time regret­ting, get­ting upset over silly things, get­ting angry over things you have no con­trol over (like your part­ners, for exam­ple!). Live today like there’s no tomor­row. For who knows — Kal ho na ho…