Plot
Life of a very serious girl Naina, changes on the arrival of her new neighbour, Aman, who teaches her a new way to live.
Release Year: 2003
Rating: 7.7/10 (8,436 voted)
Critic's Score: 54/100
Director:
Nikhil Advani
Stars: Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan, Sushma Seth
Storyline Naina {Preity Zinta} is a young woman, slightly ticked off for reasons more than one. His father committed suicide when she needed him the most, leaving Jennifer{Jaya bachchan}, his wife all alone. Lajjo{Sushma Seth}, Jennifer's mother-in-law blames Jennifer for the same. furthermore, Jennifer is unhappy because Lajjo refuses to accept Gia, a 6-year old girl whom Jennifer adopted. Even the restaurant Jennifer is running is not going great guns. in short, nothing is well on the Kapur family front. the only factors that redeem Naina's existence are his toiling and tolerant mother Jennifer, and her bumbling stumbling MBA classmate Rohit {Saif Ali Khan}. Meanwhile, Aman{Shah Rukh Khan}, a happy-go-lucky guy arrives in Naina's neighbourhood and soon changes everything around, thanks to his contagious joviality and jest for life. He proves to be the messiah for the Kapur family in every sort...
Writers: Karan Johar, Karan Johar
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan
-
Aman Mathur
Preity Zinta
-
Naina Catherine Kapur
Sushma Seth
-
Lajjo Kapur
Reema Lagoo
-
Aman's Mother
Lillete Dubey
-
Jaswinder "Jazz" Kapoor
Delnaaz Paul
-
Jasprit "Sweetu" Kapoor
Rani Mukerji
-
Special Appearance
Sonali Bendre
-
Dr. Priya
Sanjay Kapoor
-
Abhay
Sulabha Arya
-
Kanta Bhen
(as Sulbha Arya)
Athit Naik
-
Shiv Kapur
Princey Shukla
-
Gia Kapur
(as Jhanak Shukla)
Simone Singh
-
Camilla
Satish Shah
-
Kursann bhai Patel
Rajpal Yadav
-
Guru
Taglines:
A Story Of A Lifetime.......In A Heartbeat
Opening Weekend: $758,211
(USA)
(30 November 2003)
(52 Screens)
Gross: $1,787,378
(USA)
(21 December 2003)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Karan Johar had written the script with his friend Kareena Kapoor in mind as the leading lady. But she asked for too high a fee and was replaced by Preity Zinta.
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible:
In the scene where Aman Mathur enters the kitchen to look for Rohit Patel, who has gone for a date with Camilla, he and Kanta Bhen have a conversation in the kitchen, in front of the glass door. The reflection of the boom mic is visible on the glass door.
Quotes: Kurzon bhai Patel:
There is this famous decorater from Paris who is coming and at the same time he will decorate my hole! You know... I have a very big hole! Rohit Patel:
Hall!
User Review
YAY! What a pleasure!
Rating: 9/10
Well, it is always a bit difficult in Western countries to get to see
Bollywood movies with English subtitles, and though I have made a bit of
an
effort to spot them in the last few years I wouldn't call myself a
Bollywood
expert - and of course I've grown up with Western rather than Indian
aesthetic standards ingrained. Although as a fan of Baroque Opera, I don't
really have much difficulty with the basic premises of the Bollywood
style!
Having said that, this was possibly the most interesting Bollywood movie
I've seen to date - especially in its attempt to incorporate elements of
Western pop culture, including several blatant references to American
movies, from Grease and a spoofed James Bond to Brad Silberling's City of
Angels, which evidently contributed a lot to the way Shahruk Khan's
character is handled (including him starting to see things in black and
white when he is near dying - that one goes back all the way to Wim
Wenders!).
The soundtrack is stunning, and again it's great to see the way the New
York
setting gives opportunity to mix in some Western elements in an
intelligent
way. The dance and song numbers are a true joy, and it doesn't hurt that
they are better integrated into the plot than in most Indian movies I've
seen.
Shahruk Khan is nicely parodying himself - at least, I thought he was...
maybe I'm wrong??? :-o - I also particularly enjoyed the running joke
about
Aman and Rohit being a homosexual couple - one could indeed ask oneself
who
is really in love with who here? And why exactly does Aman prefer to love
vicariously rather than going for the girl himself? It's also perhaps
significant that it is Rohit rather than Naina who stays with Aman to the
last. I am sure the filmmakers are intelligent enough to be aware of these
undercurrents, even if perhaps most audiences aren't!
In any case, watching this movie (with a very sympathetic audience at a
foreign film showcase here in Wellington, people who actually laughed in
most of the *right* places!) was a pure joy and it makes me happy to see
how
Indian cinema is finally beginning to be perceived as a legitimate part of
international film culture even by Western audiences, rather than just an
exotic oddity - something that Chinese and Japanese movies, for instance,
have already achieved to a much greater degree!
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