More KANK / Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna / Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna Reviews

Update: August 12, 2006

More reviews flowing in - I just started another threat to collect blogger perspectives on Kabhi Alvida. This seems to be a big letdown for Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, SRK and Rani Mukherjee yet.

Karan thinks the movie is shoddy and tedious:

But this film is hell-bent on first, romanticising extra-marital affairs; second, mocking at the whole loyalty and commitment angle of a marriage (yes, SRK’s Dev is seen uttering “After all family is family” with a very distasteful sarcasm everytime he’s parting with Maya), and finally by taking an expedient of time leap it relegates broken marriages and families as non-issues and in its own sick way justifies the extra-marital affairs (so much so that the victimised spouses themselves are ready to move on and egg on the star-crossed lovers meet—the scene where Rhea herself says “tumhara pyaar intezaar kar rahaa hai, use rok lo” was the last straw for me).
where to buy and download music online

Oz at Desitrain believes this is Karan Johar at his self indulgent worst :

If Self Indulgence could be measured on a scale then that scale will have Karan Johar and his passionate product KANK right up on the top.

But in the end it’s Abhishek Bachchan, who musters all the courage and with great bravado, rises far above his role. You can see that after some point, Johar fell in love with the sacrificial lamb and eggs Bachchan up to give all he has got. And Bachchan doesn’t fail, which sadly can’t be said about the film.

Shakil on the other thinks KANK is classic Bollywood magic:

So yes, KANK is classic Bollywood magic. In fact, it’s the best example of Bollywood I’ve seen since KHNH, and in my mind lies with all the modern greats. It manages to provide all the highs the lows we demand from the genre without pretentiously trying to be something its not.

Videshi writes on  the movie in a hilarious way:

But, if you hate Bollywood, you’ll hate this, because it’s Bollywood at its best.
Everyone is hot. Everyone is rich. Everyone ends up more or less happy.
But it was also a really entertaining movie, in which Abhishek Bachchan proved (yet again) that he is a real actor and that he is one of India’s biggest heart-throbs.

Whoisdeep believes its the second half which ruins the movie - I have heard exactly the opposite.
Which means, both suck eh?:

The first half of the movie picked up very well, some of the scenes in the movie were very good, specially the ones in which Amitabh Bachchan was involved.

The second half is exactly opposite of it, yeah, there are few moments which are very good but the most of the part is kind of bad or in simple language, messed up. The second half is too much stretched and they could have cut many things and made it shorter or less stretched

Akshay AT Naachgaana thinks this isn’t Karan Johar’s best, but still worth a dekho:

All up where does that leave KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNAA? Well the combination of the stars, performances, chemistry as well as a number of individual scenes ensure that KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNAA is definetly worth a dekkho once but NO WAY is this an outright classic and despite what Karan Johar has been claiming this is NOT all that different from his previous movies though he has incorporated some new twists to an otherwise old tale!

Filmoholic has written a review which is probably as long as the movie itself. Check it out:

See it or skip it?

It’s not a perfect film, but it’s an important one for the subject it broaches and the position that Karan Johar takes at this time in 21st century popular Hindi movies, and on a more superficial level, it’s beautiful to watch.

Amodini says this is the first Karan Johar movie that was tolerable.

The story, as I’ve implied before, is shaky. One disbelieves the motivation for disagreement between the couples and it tempted to pooh-pooh at the trivial issues the director brings up as reasons for dis-enchantment.

The music is very good ; I especially like “Mitwa” and “Tumhi Dekho Na”. As with all Johar movies, the background score is also effective. Despite all the pros, and the perceived cons, I really liked this movie - the first Johar movie that I have more than tolerated. So, I’d say yeah, see it for sure.

Shrey ki pasand too recommends this movie - finally some blogger reviews who do recommend this one. Good to see some variety:

The another person to see out in this multi starcast is Abhishek and Rani. If you ever thought that Black was the best work till date of Rani than go watch this out. Abhishek is best as he can get and he is improving with time. I found him to be the best in emotional areas where he fights with rani that why she isn’t satisfied with him and at the end when he comes to know the truth.

Overall Rating: THUMBS DOWN!

This movie is heading towards the trash bin quickly I think.

More updates as I get more quality reviews.