Kal Ho Naa Ho - Movie Review
Published: February 16, 2010
Starring Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Jaya Bachchan
The American dream isn’t always everything it’s cracked up to be. There may be lots of opportunities in the U.S., but success and happiness are still hard to come by here. Kal Ho Naa Ho is a story of three Indians living in exciting New York City, struggling personally, and stuck in an impossible love triangle.
Naina (Preity Zinta) is a young woman working on her MBA and dealing with problems at home. She’s depressed over her father’s suicide and worried about her stressed-out mother, Jenny (Jaya Bachchan), who’s trying to raise her much-younger brother, Shiv, and sister, Gia, while working to keep the failing family restaurant afloat. Jenny’s mother-in-law, Dadi, lives with them, and she cruelly blames Jenny for her son’s death and ignores Gia because she’s adopted. Dadi is also pressuring Naina to agree to an arranged marriage, but Naina is incapable of giving her heart to anyone.
Naina has one bright spot in her life—her friend Rohit (Saif Ali Khan), who attends business school with her. Rohit is a nice, good-looking, wealthy guy, who’s constantly hitting on women, and for some inexplicable reason, he keeps striking out. He doesn’t find the drab and doleful Naina attractive—nor is she interested in him—but they enjoy each other’s company.
Things get so bad at Naina’s house that the family prays for an angel to rescue them—and one arrives when Aman (Shahrukh Khan) moves into the neighborhood. He immediately endears himself to everyone he meets—except Naina, who finds his forwardness off-putting—and he starts solving all their problems, including Naina’s, because he loves her. He eventually inspires her to smile again, and she begins to love him back, but they can’t be together, for reasons revealed later in the film. Rohit sees the new, lively Naina differently—as more than a friend.
The film was helmed by debutant director Nikhil Advani (who went on to direct Salaam-E-Ishq in 2007 and Chandni Chowk to China in 2009), but it was co-written and produced by Karan Johar, who’s known for directing romantic dramas set in Western countries, such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), and Johar’s earmarks are all over Kal Ho Naa Ho. His signature themes and style—ranging from parent worship to gay innuendo—make the film sing. And the Naina-Aman-Rohit love triangle gets straightened out in typical Johar fashion—with an emotional bulldozer.
Kal Ho Naa Ho is rated Worth Watching.
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