A Brilliant Conflict

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

"Comantic romedies", as I once called them by mistake, are not my favorite sort of movies, but nevertheless I've hit upon instances I like a lot. Well, "Kyun! Ho gaya na..." is definitely not one of those. The story is one of thirteen in a dozen and unfolds itself without any significant surprises. Already at the very start of the film you know how it is going to end, and that the road towards that end will be tortuous. But then, that is inherent to the genre. Whether such a movie is nice or not, depends pretty much on things like humor, acting, chemistry between the actors and the like. Unfortunately, when it comes to these, KHGN turns out to be a major disappointment.The best memories I have about it are the roles of Om Puri and Amitabh Bachchan. With both gentlemen, you are in for a real treat. Most important in romantic comedies, however, is chemistry between the protagonists, in this case Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai, and unfortunately, that is precisely what KHGN completely lacks. I don't think Vivek is to be blamed for that. He does whatever he can, playing the kind of light-hearted, immature joker we've seen him playing before, too, and generally manages well. Aishwarya, on the other hand, is deeply disappointing. I've seen her playing way below her possibilities in other movies as well, but in KHGN her acting is downright embarrassing. If there is anything at all she manages to convey with this role, it must be something like: "God, what evil have I done to Thee to deserve playing in this movie". I'm curious why. Laziness? Arrogance ("I am the Queen of Bollywood, and whatever I do, I am a mega star anyway")? Deep roots in old Bollywood traditions ("Hurry up folks, in twenty minutes I have to be at the next set")? Trouble in her real-life relationship with co-star Vivek Oberoi? Hard to tell. But one thing is for sure: this horrible performance of hers is enough to destroy an entire movie, including the good work of the other actors. A few more of these sub-standard performances, and no director will ever be willing to work with her - queen or no queen. Besides, Aishwarya is not exactly the logical choice for the role of a young girl of less than average beauty, the type of girl boys tend to neglect.I should add that the movie is way too long for such a thin tale. During most of these 170 minutes I found myself bored or almost falling asleep. Not even because the tempo is slow, but because there is constantly too much of the same thing. Of the entire footage, no more than 100, perhaps 120 minutes is usable, and the rest can quietly be removed: it would undoubtedly make the movie more bearable. A great asset of KHGN is the music. In my opinion, the score would have deserved a much better movie than this one.

The songs were certainly better than average. Aishwarya looked more gorgeous than usual--which is saying a lot. My only complaint is that the director cuts away from the women too much/too fast! A good example is the "no no" song at the beginning, where Ash is with two other beauties in a very cute sequence--but they keep cutting away! Come on, guys, give them at least 10 seconds on screen at a time!! And in the "making of" part of the DVD no one comments on the Russian theme--were the composers really unaware of that? They compared it to Broadway, but that only makes sense if it's Broadway Moscow. Not that that's bad, but just curious they didn't mention it.No chemistry? The same could be said for a lot of movies--you look at the guy being a jerk and you think, "What could she see in him?" But if you just accept it as a movie, it's OK. At least in this movie Diya gives up and goes home and makes Arjun chase her--so she has some sense!The Amitabh/orphanage plot seems to drop out of nowhere--it's certainly not clear from the opening scene that Diya lives/works at an orphanage, but you can see that later. Another few seconds at the beginning setting that up would have been a big help. But Amitabh was certainly funny, and the whole practical joke story line is necessary to set up the ending.

The best movie I've ever seen.It was so much over my expectations. Only people of art could appreciate it, only people who love beauty and have eyes to see it. It's not for shallow people. Every scene is perfectly considered. Don't hesitate more, just see it. The music provokes a magic feeling inside, the landscapes. And still Indian traditions are kept. We're all so sick of the same American movies again and again. They're all like the previous and the next. But this one, this is something different. It really made me love the movie art of different countries and it's worthy. This is a professional work that deserves to be appreciated.

The movie is good, not so different from any other Bolly movie, but this time the male (vivek) is a guy who believes in arr-mar. And the girl (Ash) in Pyar (love-marr).Big B comes in the second half of the movie, and even then not much of him is seen.2 special app. by SS and DM (don't want to reveal full names).Great songs and music.Overall its worth watching, little comedy little RONA-DONA (drama).Great cast and acting by many...Watch it at your own risk.... (i do recommend it)