Friday, July 22, 2011

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

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. The film was the first Bollywood feature to see a theatrical release in Germany (with German subtitles, a dubbed version was produced too).

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.

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