Purely Joyful Movie!

Absolutely brilliant

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Set aside the silliness of Rani Mukherjee with a whip - everything else about the movie is absolutely realistic. Most people who have panned the movie have not experienced divorce and incompatibility issues that this movie brings about lucidly. Since I have myself experienced divorce I can testify that beyond a certain degree, incompatibility in marriage is impossible to sustain and when you find someone outside your marriage who is PERFECTLY compatible with you, then you find that even a few moments with than person is worth far more than a life with the person you might be stuck with. Often the incompatibility is due to the fact that we are hard-wired by our upbringing. The incompatibility due to our upbringing is not evident at the time of marriage but eventually it surfaces and it is impossible to ignore it. Comparing this movie to Kabhi Khushi KAbhi Gham and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, I found this to be far more thoughtful and insightful and I was glued to my seat till the very end. My hats off to KJ, SRK and RM - they are all very very good in this movie. This movie is more of an international caliber than most other Bollywood movies that I have seen.

Most Overrated,Unrealistic And Worst Film i ever saw in my life.first what or where is the story,sorry i never frustrated watching any films,but this one really irritated me.is this Indian culture,having child after marriage leave his wife for love-affair? come to unrealistic characters uff the all characters do one thing properly crying especially Maya crying crying which is most irritated me.dev who even didn't understand or adjust his wife at least for his son when he found again his old love-affair he simply go her.for me it is a little problem between husband and wife (dev and rhea problem as same as like rishi and Maya) but karan created like it was a biggest mistake in a life,yes karan tried to justified dev and Maya characters like they tried and wanted to understanding their respective spouses or make them understood.but karan failed in this point because whenever dev and Maya met they only developed or recreated their love for each other.i feel they didn't really wanted to understand their spouses they only wanted their happiness which is i found selfishness.totally hated the characters of dev and Maya.i really really sorry for poor rhea and rishi does not mean i loved them,because how can they forgave dev and Maya who are betrayed them.finally this film thought us story is the real hero or success of the film,not the big stars and even the good costumes and good locations dragged me to like this film.this is karan worst directional film how can he thought Indian people or cultured people like this film which has extra-love affair as a theme,which has the characters like dev (who has small innocent child,dev didn't thing his decision will affect his child or make his child suffer or change his child character in future he only thing his happiness what a selfish soul) and Maya (who acted her whole life like she wanted to save her married life but her behaving told me she just wanted to her happiness like dev and every time she betrayed rishi and always fighting with him instead of make him understand she is overacted and selfish).i extremely regretted watched this film it made me lost my money and my valuable time.

It was certainly a very risky experiment completely apart from the mainstream. Extra Marital affair has always been very overrated in our country. Maybe that is why, people in our country not only did not like the movie but also criticized it very badly. But I am sure, while making the movie, Johor might not have had any expectations of good reviews from Indian public and critics. Nevertheless, the movie did a fantastic performance in the overseas market. It was also received positively there. Even today, after 8 years of its release, it is still the 7th Highest grossing movie in the overseas market. I personally loved the movie very much. Though it was too high on drama. I have always admired KJO's movies. But KANK is very much close to my heart. I know this is too late to write this review. But I watched the movie yesterday on TV. Not that this was the first time I watched it. My dad had shown me the movie on the first day first show of its release in 2006. But as I was too small then, I couldn't understand the movie. But now, when I am 18, I understood how intelligent the movie is. Hats off to Karan!

Here I will comment on the content rather than the filmmaking techniques or acting: I'm not of Indian decent and don't understand any Hindi, except what I have learned from watching subtitled Bollywood... Yes, I'm a big fan. I used to like Shahrukh Khan and watched KANK just because he was in it. I assumed it would be a great film. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED :( Talking to many Indian friends, they seemed to share my feeling that Shahrukh lost many fans after this movie.I just read some of the positive reviews and to me it seems as though many people consider anything unconventional or defiant as "artsy" and therefore valuable. Especially in Europe, many so-called educated people still confuse "immoral" with "open-minded". According to these people, if you cheat on your spouse, you are no longer bound by the traditional, maybe even religion-based, institution of marriage. For many Indians who have felt the pressures of culture, religion and society, this film may feel like a whiff of fresh air just because it seems to break free from those strings... and indeed it does. This reminds me of those repressed youngsters whose parents force religion on them, only to see them revolting with sometimes becoming delinquent once they become independent.To break free from the negative aspects of tradition (i.e. even arranged or forced marriage), one doesn't need to lie and cheat or to do the opposite of ALL that's traditional or religious. One can question tradition and religion and take what's valuable and throw away what's not fair (sexism, homophobia, etc.) I am personally not affiliated with any religion. Nevertheless, I believe that morality is needed to make the wheels of a society run. Otherwise, there would be total anarchy. Trust is needed so people can get along peacefully. Everyone has the right to the truth, especially when it involves someone that they have trusted their life, love, emotions and body with. A person with a good social understanding realizes that if everyone acts selfishly, the society falls apart and there won't be anything anymore to hang on to.Cheating on someone, deceiving, lying to, hiding from someone, especially a spouse, is not being progressive, open-minded and modern. A successful modern society survives on basic human values such as empathy, trust and a sense of morality in its laws as well as among its people. Deceit is simply immoral and unfair. Do onto others what you like done to you. Problems arise in almost every marriage, but should first be solved by good communication. If both parties reach a solution where it seems the only way out is a divorce (so sad), so be it. At least it gives both people the respect of their time and knowing the truth and having the freedom to live their life however they want without deceiving someone else to do it.KANK may have wanted to hint at some things that may cause marital problems... or maybe not. It doesn't even vilify the spouses that were cheated on and doesn't make the viewer hate them (even if it did, I'd still stick to what I said above about cheating).KANK pretends to be a "realistic" film about things that can happen in everyday life. Well, do they? No, unless your average Joe is a sociopath. Someone who can carry on an affair must be a sociopath, someone with no feelings, no guilt, no remorse, no empathy, no respect for other people's rights and no sense of fairness.Then there are those who claim that one should not be offended as this is just a (realistic) story. It's not. Then why glorify an extra-marital relationship? Even if this happened with a couple, this film could have turned it on its head and use it as a teachable moment... show that actually people who cheat once, are capable on cheating again (no empathy, remember?!!), so they are very likely to cheat on that new person with someone else, and again, and again, and again...Instead, the ending romanticises this extra-marital affair and gives it a seemingly happy ending (that may have been the intention but I felt reallky appalled). Have the makers of this film not looked at any statistics? Don't they know that "once a cheater, always a cheater" is true (because someone with no soul, empathy or morality doesn't suddenly achieve them!)? Have they no values, no respect for integrity? Maybe one of them had an affair and this film was made to justify it, to no avail. In any case, this huge mistake was made at the expense of millions of Bollywood viewers. I found the ending disgusting and not at all romantic. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the duped spouses and thinking they deserved better than having been married to such low scums. The filmmaker's attempt to make these two cheaters likable totally fails... miserably.I'm happily married and I met my spouse myself. Even if I had had an arranged marriage like some traditional Indian people, I would still treat that spouse with respect and honesty and would either try to work things out or separate with dignity.p.s. As for being someone's soul mate, if you give yourself the right and the permission to look outside your marriage, you would find a potential soul mate with many people, as you will have things in common with many people. What makes you think the next person will be any different? THE IMPORTANT CHALLENGE IS TO KEEP THE ONE SOULMATE THAT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE.