Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

( Original Source : The Wikipedia Encyclopedia & Google Images )

Hindi : कभी अलविदा न कहना, Urdu: کبھی الوداع نہ کہنا, English: Never Say Goodbye

Dev Saran (Shahrukh Khan), a formerly successful, now injured footballer, is unhappily married to Rhea (Preity Zinta), who has a high-flying job with a fashion mag. They have a son named Arjun. Maya (Rani Mukerji) is about to unhappily marry her childhood friend Rishi Talwar (Abhishek Bachchan). Samarjit a.k.a "Sexy Sam" (Amitabh Bachchan) is Rishi's dad, and Kamaljit (Kiron Kher) plays the peppy mom to Dev.


Dev happens to meet Maya before her wedding and despite being strangers, they connect instantly. It could be that the two are unhappy with their partners, it could be that Dev was only too happy to talk of his uncomfortable marriage or it could be that Maya just could not love Rishi and so, found Dev attractive. Whatever the case, the connection between the two remains a glowing spark that re-ignites when they meet four years later.

During those four years, Maya has married Rishi and Dev has met with an accident that leaves him crippled and ends his football career. So when Maya meets Dev the next time, he is bitter - his failed career and failing marriage are festering wounds to which his wife Rhea's professional success is salt. In the Talwar home, things are no better - Maya still does not feel any love for Rishi and feels guilty for her inability to have children.

Dev and Maya realise that their situations are similar and decide to help each other repair their breaking marriages. Things don't work quite as expected however, and they become more and more drawn to each other. At the same time, Rishi and Rhea are working to keep their marriages afloat and are willing to see hope in even the smallest, most innocuous signs from their partners. However, their efforts are insignificant in the face of Maya and Dev's intense unhappiness in their marriages and their growing love for each other.


Dev and Maya give in to a dreamy, coffee-drenched romance and realise they have fallen in love. However, when Dev is about to give flowers to Maya, he sees Rhea and gives them to her so she dosent see Maya. He saves one rose for Maya. She takes the rose home and Rishi sees it and Maya gives it to him. Rhea and Rishi now think that their partners really love them and are happy. But after an incident at the ballet that makes Dev intensely jealous, they realize they now feel like they are cheating on each other with their own spouses. This realization brings them to a dramatic point of no return. Shortly afterward, they are caught in an embrace outside the train station by Sam and Kamaljeet.


Sam, having lived the good life for a long, long time ultimately has to bear the punishment of all his excesses - he has a fatal heart attack and as he lies on his death bed, he gives Maya some unconventional advice: he tells her to leave his son Rishi since neither of them are happy in their marriage.

Things come to a head and Dev and Maya decide to leave each other and return to their partners. But this re-union will not be without honesty, so they come clean and confess their extra-marital affair. Rishi and Rhea decide that enough is enough and end their marriages - this doesn't mean that Maya and Dev come together however. They only speak to each other on the phone, and lie to each other, saying that all is well in their marriages.

Three years later, Rishi goes to meet Maya and invites her to his wedding. There Rhea sees Maya for the first time in three years and realises that she and Rishi weren't together as she thought. The news that Dev is still alone, combined with some prodding from Rishi and Rhea convinces Maya to run after Dev. Dev is about to catch a train to Canada when he sees Maya. He hides from her because he has told Maya earlier than he was happy with Rhea and he thinks that she is happily married to Rishi. However, Maya finds him in his seat a few seconds before his train leaves the station. He uses the emergency brakes to get out to meet her. Dev finds out that Maya has been living alone all of that time too and feels very bad. Then they finally get together.

Directed by : Karan Johar
Produced by : Dharma Productions
Written by : Karan Johar
Starring : Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan & Kirron Kher.
Music by : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Cinematography : Anil Mehta
Editing by : Sanjay Sankla
Distributed by : Dharma Productions
Running time : 193 Min.
Language : Hindi
Budget : $ 11 million [Rs 50 Crore]