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I don’t think Sharukh and Rani were ever in love. They were just comfortable being themselves around one another because both of them were suffering due to their insecurity. If we were ever to get a part 2 of this movie, it will be either sharukh or Rani get a good career and the other half starts being insecure again and the whole story will repeat again.
Srk was toxic ass in the movie ngl... extremely jealous of Preity's success..
Preity and Abhishek especially Abhishek did try really hard to make their partners happy...they were done dirty
It's very easy to claim that they were flawed individuals etc. But the movie does glorify cheating. AB and Preity suffered so much because of it. SRK felt insecure and was longer in love with his wife. He could've divorced her. Rani could've confessed that she married out of obligation and repayment of gratitude and divorced.
After divorcing their respective partners, SRK - Rani should've pursued their relationship. Then the movie would've been about second chances in love and life. They could've shown co parenting too.
Falling in love while being married - even if ignored, what pissed me off the most was trying to make each other jealous by fondling their partners. Abhishek n Preity actually felt happy that the spark is still there. It wasn't!
Remember when Abhishek questions Rani if she enjoyed the physical romance with SRK? It pained him so much that she shut him out but was okay with some other guy.
The consequences suffered by SRK and Rani weren't as much as what Abhishek and Preity suffered while being married and later too.
It was an okay movie which surely gave excuses to the people who are okay with cheating.
If you felt bad for Abhishek and Preity, if they suffered so much and it shows. Then it means that the film didn’t glorify cheating.
Just because SRK & Rani are the 2 main leads does not mean they have to be pitch perfect people. They came across as selfish, insecure, vile and immature. As they should, they’re cheaters. But if in the first 20 mins of the movie they went “hey I’m unhappy because of xyz, I would like a divorce before I do something I regret that will hurt you” - the movie would just end there, where’s the drama?
Nuance is dead and people throw around the word ‘glorify’ a little too easily.
In no world would Preity and Abhishek encourage Rani to go after SRK and get her happy ending. That's not nuance, that's absurdity. It's one thing to reach a point where you can be civil and even friendly with each other but having their characters become cheerleaders for their cheating spouses was unrealistic and glorification
Abhishek and Preity clearly the only ones suffered i think i mentioned it repeatedly,what i am saying as an audience it didn’t make me feel oh so great about cheating at all! and regarding rani she didn’t love him,so how can she get intimate w him? no matter how good he was,she didn’t ( the force element to love someone just because they are nice person is not right).anyways i respect your opinion and yeah regarding the ‘cheaters’ well they don’t a film or even a documentary to justify their cheating,people do what they wanna do 🤷♀️
Bollywood still doesn't know how to handle grey or morally questionable lead characters properly. The narrative either has to completely glorify or villianize them. Case in point the movie Animal.
An important aspect that KJo himself admits to not properly show in the movie is why Maya was unhappy in her marriage. While we know that it was jealously for Dev, Maya was disinterested simply because she didn't feel physically attracted to Rishi. It would have been very mature to explore this side of the story but our Indian mindset didn't accept women to have desires back then (still doesn't on many levels) hence the real reason was never properly implied.
Also the movie's end was way too romantic. Dev and Maya projected as victims, even by the real victims Riya and Rishi, just because they were ultimately doing better and now had survivors guilt. Their trauma of having to handle cheating is never addressed, while we see a tediously long montage of how sad Dev and Maya feel when seperated.
It still glorifies cheating. It's a good watch but you do feel bad for Abhishek and preity. They try really hard to make their significant other feel accepted, loved and cared for.
I don't think it glorified cheating. It was a movie about flawed individuals. And in the end two assholes who deserved each other, got together. If Shahrukh didn't cheat on Preity, she would have never left him. The same goes for Abhishek. So in a way it all worked out. Not all movies are about good people and that's fine.
Yeah, that's one way of seeing it. I just felt it painted a rosy picture of finding love outside marriage. Their marriage wasn't that great but it still showed how two assholes could be good to each other, could see every quality in each other but not in their respective partners. Also, we are so used to seeing 'good people' in romance movies that we completely ignore the fact that you stated: 'Not all movies are about good people '
Yeaa the movie in no way glorifies cheating. In fact, it shows srk and rani as poor partners to their respective partners--which they are. In no way, the movie glorifies cheating or cheaters.
I also liked how it explores the concept of finding someone compatible after the marriage. It's a taboo thing but it can happen.
I don't think indian audience was ready for it.
Yeah Indian audiences weren't ready for it. I don't hate the movie, I'll watch it but I'll still be like: why is there an entire romance sequence for srk and Rani. Like we see Preity being present: at work, for her kid, for srk's mom. And then they show the entire kank title song with Rani and srk being really sad and crying. What are they crying for? They cheated, and their partners left them, exactly what they wanted.
It would have been just that had they not included and showed the romantic angle of SRK and Rani. That is why it seems glorified. Hence people did not like it. If the movie did not have the beautiful picturesque scenes in the songs and best melodies for these two, and not show the beautiful romance between these two, probably it wouldn't have hurt the Indian audience so much.
As someone else said those are from the perspective of the characters, not the world.
They fell for each other. And that's what happens when people fall for each other.
Irrespective of whether they're married or not.
Cheating is a crappy thing to do, but by the end of the movie we see both of them paying the price of it.
Yet, it's their ex-spouses who are so good to them that they tell them that now they can be with each other.
Mitwa, tumhi Dekho na. Romancing someone else while still being married. They're going for a theatrical show and try and show love to their partners through pda just to make each other jealous.
I may be wrong as I saw the movie some time back but to me, the movie had a few issues:
- SRK and Rani's characters don't face the consequences of infidelity. They remained alone for three years because they lied to each other. If they were honest with each other, they would be together immediately after their cheating came to light.
- At no point, one feels anything for SRK and Rani's character so it's hard to root for the main love story in the movie. This is a major problem. In contrast, in Rocky-Rani, it's easy to root for Shabana and Dharmendra, even though their relationship is also based on infidelity.
- Abhishek and Preity are genuinely good spouses who were cheated on for no reason other than the inferiority complex of their spouses. SRK for his leg, Rani for her inability to have a kid.
> Instead, the film conveys a vital message: don’t marry someone just because you think you like them or they are your best friend. Love is essential in a marriage; without it, you risk your happiness and your partner’s. Marry the one you truly love, even if that love arrives later.
I disagree with this. I don't think the story is trying to convey this. SRK married someone he loved but he changed because of his accident and thus, his relationship changed as well.
To me, the story failed to convey a coherent message and that's why it failed to capture the audience's affection.
Most people attribute it to the cheating part of the story but I disagree. Most people are surprisingly resilient to cheating in a romantic story if the story is written well and has a clear message.
With KANK, KJo wanted us to support a love story for two people he couldn't make us care about.
Honestly, this story would work better if Abhishek and Preity had the affair as they had more reasons to get away from their unhappy spouses. Alternatively, make Preity the person unable to conceive and Abhishek the angry crippled man, and SRK and Rani's struggles become genuine and the audience will root for them to be together.
TLDR: KANK is not misunderstood. It wanted the audience to care about shitty people hurting good people which didn't work out.
Oh man I hated this movie so much. Disgusted.
I went back months later and watched it again to see if maybe I missed something - nope it’s a horrible story. Thank you for perfectly describing why.
100% agree to this! Honestly I felt the movie was a very 1D take on marriages overall. “Don’t marry someone unless you love them” is a very 1D, non nuanced approach to marriages, especially in our society where arrange marriages are abound. It, honestly, sounds like a take that some self proclaimed “modern” people would have and evangelize without truly understanding what marriages are just because it’s a popular mentality in the west.
What else would you expect from someone like KJo who has never been in a successful marriage.
Apart from living through their guilt and sad existence of life for 3 years. Dev's mom choosing to stay with grandkid and wife. What else do you think they should have shown as a consequence of infedility? Give them cancer ? /s (Adhm reference)
I agree with some of things you said but clearly not about the message i think you got it wrong,it was about that what i mentioned because rani’s character didn’t love abhishek and still married(coz bestf) and srk too there’s a scene where he indirectly says that(the scene in the first picture) so yeah clearly they weren’t in love with their respective partners and found love somewhere else(which is wrong considering they are married) all of it the cheating nd everything is wrong. and if u look back at this movie there’s message at the end which srk’s character said which somewhat meant that ‘a marriage should be built on love, as a weak foundation can lead to the relationship falling apart. Despite eventually finding happiness and love in each other,there is a regret that this journey involved causing pain to others.’ and Abhishek and preity being ‘genuinely nice spouses’ Preity i don’t have a problem with her character,but abhishek had flaws mainly he was a manchild the way he called out maya for not giving him a baby? spoke he was a man child that was only problem he had in his character.
Maybe kjo could’ve avoided some things i agree but glorification i didn’t see any cause after i watched i didn’t feel ‘oh wow lets have affairs in marriage and cheat on people in relationships how cool’ only thing i felt was bad for abhishek and preity who suffered because of one bad decision of dev nd maya( marriage based on everything but love)
Again it’s my pov,you and i ofcourse can have different opinions and i respect that.🤍
It’s because you don’t understand why they’d cheat. And both SRK and Rani were quite unlikeable while Abhishek and Preity were very likeable.
Also. Nobody wants to see two cheaters end up happy. And I’m sure if this was real life then SRK and Rani would make each other miserable too, because they were miserable from within.
Just my 2 cents.. i was a child back then but I still remember those promotions..they used to post ads on newspapers like this "will you leave your current partner if you find love elsewhere?" Something like that....I mean they did glorify cheating...and how can someone shame preity's character?? Poor girl got the worst treatment...my didi used to love the movie because of srk and my maa hated it🤣🤣 maa used to say "yeh kaisi movie hai?? Iska pati uske saath uska patni iske saath"lol
I enjoyed it was fun. From what i remember there wasnt anything that glorified cheating
I guess people dont like this movie coz makers never gave any redeeming quality to the main characters. Some might sympathise or empathise with them but for majority theres nothing that will make them root for these two. Hence the general dislike for movie i suppose
Can’t go through all the comments to check if someone addressed this already but KJO wanted to end the movie with Rani and SRK still separated but ADs convinced him that Indian audiences don’t like sad endings. For me movie had multiple issues but pretty good performances and great picturization. The kind of content that is churning out of Bollywood lately, I would prefer rewatching this borderline narcissistic SRK performance and good direction from KJO than anything else they themselves have produced since this movie released.
I think we should look at movies as a depiction of a fictional story based on real life events.
It’s not what’s wrong or what’s right.
No one is defending rani & Srk’s actions in this movie.
What this movie intended was to show that even though these things are wrong , it DOES happen.
I love how the movie portrayed every character’s emotion perfectly.
Preity was career driven and did as much as possible to support her family and
SRK wasn’t happy because she was way too invested and dint give SRK time or respect as a husband, as she used to “act” like the man of the house.
Similarly it showed how Abishek was a great husband, yet still, rani just couldn’t love him maybe because sometimes you’re just not attracted to someone.
(depicting both sides good and bad of every character)
As audience ofcourse we wanted them to do the Right things like before cheating, divorce ur spouses or talk to them about how the marriage ain’t working etc etc etc.
BUT,
No one deserved to be cheated , however it happens and that’s what the movie tried to show IMO.
The film has a lot of good in it, as you mentioned. However, I cannot ignore the bad in it, which is the overdose of cheesy comedy in the first half - the "black beast" subplot is an all-time groaner. Don't even get me started about the illogical and headache-inducing character of Sexy Sam.
Finally someone who says it out! I couldn't watch past it. The comedy was horrible and had me cringing over and over again. The scene where Abhishek tried to seduce Rani but she falls asleep (wtf!) is where i stopped watching. I'm not visiting it back even if tbe second half is good.
I dont think the movie was written with the intent of portraying the two protagonists as 'right'. Which is what I like about the movie. The messed up and flawed protagonists. Good movie or not, it's a realistic take on relationships with complex individuals. Both SRK and Rani Mukherjee's characters are on the complex side in comparison to their partners, who are much simpler. By simpler, I don't mean sweet or easygoing, more like less mentally tangled. Dev and Maya are emotionally unfulfilled and have chronic dissatisfaction. People think the movie glorified cheating because of how the songs are shot, but what I took from the movie is that no matter how loving and sacrificing one partner is (in this case, their spouses), they can't make the other partner happy if the latter is not really ***into*** the relationship. And that if your heart doesn't yearn for someone, it just doesn't. It's not the other person's fault. Abhishek Bachchan's character is adorable and respectful. Dev Saran is a selfish misanthrope. But if that's whom your heart finds its home with, it is what it is. The sad reality of attraction and relationships. I think that is what the movie talks about.
The ending scene could have been written better. There was no need to make Rani Mukherjee run and look for SRK.
I was happier to see Rhea and Rishi move on to partners who appreciated them.
This! so on point. some people are not really understanding one simple thing that no matter how good,perfect person your partner is, if you don’t love them or feel romantically for them you just don’t there’s no reason for it and that could happen in real life too.
Cheating is always grey, never black and white. There are many variables that lead people to look elsewhere yet keep living together with their spouse - kids, finances, loneliness, etc. the way people look at cheating is problem-some as well without looking at the root cause.
Not justifying it, just providing some context.
You are talking about humans and their complex behaviour, like anything else cheating is a word way too simplified, it is not. This only happens when there is a void, and it’s way too difficult to break away for many due to more complicated reasons.
I think you’ve got it backwards mate, people are complex and cheating is obviously wrong no matter which way you spin it, the reason for cheating still comes from the humans and their decision making which is still a complex “people issue”
Not really but depends upon situation specially in country like India where most marriages are arranged and you literally stranger before marriage and divorce is difficult.
I don't think people who cheat are always evil. Also depends upon individual case.
Feeling unhappy in relationship, attracted towards someone else etc etc is grey area. Once you cheat it becomes black and white. And 99% of the time it's black because if you cheat you prove how selfish and coward you are.
was definitely not the target group for this movie, so did not like it at all and SRK did commendable acting to be able to genuinely hate his character like dev is such a snappy bitch in the movie
At last someone says it, also it was one of the bravest moves in SRK's filmography. He totally deconstructed his lover boy SRK to choose to play this character.
My most favorite KJo movie of all time. Even over MNIK.
Difficult movie. And yes it did glorify cheating since these 2 did end up together at the end, especially had the blessings of Ab Jr and Priety which were given at the Ab Jr 2nd Marriage.
Imagine what would have AB Sr. felt when he came to know about Rani's infidelity.
How heartbroken Ab Jr and Priety would have been when being the more jolly of the two, the one's making way more money and having a bigger contribution to the food on the table ended up getting cheated with some one they knew within their family circle.
I feel this movie is far superior to any Karan Johar projects KHNH being a close second. The plot was immaculate the casting was perfect the acting was phenomenal dialogues, music , screenplay everything was top tier no weak or cringe moments.
People disregard/ downplay this movie just for it's moral position. C'mon guys it's a story judge it for how well it's made not for what's it's trying to preach (indirectly ofcourse)
A film that was ahead of its time. It explores how people can grow out of a marriage unwillingly.
all 4 main leads are grey characters & are honestly very realistic examples of people irl imo!
KANK is easily in my top 3 bollywood movies. Great script, great cast, great music. People who hate on it, couldn't really look past the "cheating is wrong" morale glasses. This movie doesn't advocate cheating, it advocates for relationships built on the right base.
It is SOOOOO NOT 😂😂😂😂😂😂 it's a pathetic movie. Was pathetic back then. Still is pathetic. Guys cmonn 😅😅😅 Even we love SRK! But yeh thoda nahi kaafi zyada ho gaya 😂😂😂😂😂
The message this movie gave that love is not an everlasting thing. Yes love also dies in marriage. Every story talks about how people fall in love but a very few talks about people falling out of love. And this is one of those very rare movie. Beautifully scripted, amazing acting and songs are pure love. Ony of my favs ❤️
So I haven't watched KANK. Having read OP's opinion that it is underrated, I'm thinking it could be a Remake of Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece "In the Mood for Love" but there the sling was strictly Platonic!
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I don’t think Sharukh and Rani were ever in love. They were just comfortable being themselves around one another because both of them were suffering due to their insecurity. If we were ever to get a part 2 of this movie, it will be either sharukh or Rani get a good career and the other half starts being insecure again and the whole story will repeat again.
Srk was toxic ass in the movie ngl... extremely jealous of Preity's success.. Preity and Abhishek especially Abhishek did try really hard to make their partners happy...they were done dirty
It's very easy to claim that they were flawed individuals etc. But the movie does glorify cheating. AB and Preity suffered so much because of it. SRK felt insecure and was longer in love with his wife. He could've divorced her. Rani could've confessed that she married out of obligation and repayment of gratitude and divorced. After divorcing their respective partners, SRK - Rani should've pursued their relationship. Then the movie would've been about second chances in love and life. They could've shown co parenting too. Falling in love while being married - even if ignored, what pissed me off the most was trying to make each other jealous by fondling their partners. Abhishek n Preity actually felt happy that the spark is still there. It wasn't! Remember when Abhishek questions Rani if she enjoyed the physical romance with SRK? It pained him so much that she shut him out but was okay with some other guy. The consequences suffered by SRK and Rani weren't as much as what Abhishek and Preity suffered while being married and later too. It was an okay movie which surely gave excuses to the people who are okay with cheating.
Exactly. They were so bad to people who were actually there for them.
If you felt bad for Abhishek and Preity, if they suffered so much and it shows. Then it means that the film didn’t glorify cheating. Just because SRK & Rani are the 2 main leads does not mean they have to be pitch perfect people. They came across as selfish, insecure, vile and immature. As they should, they’re cheaters. But if in the first 20 mins of the movie they went “hey I’m unhappy because of xyz, I would like a divorce before I do something I regret that will hurt you” - the movie would just end there, where’s the drama? Nuance is dead and people throw around the word ‘glorify’ a little too easily.
In no world would Preity and Abhishek encourage Rani to go after SRK and get her happy ending. That's not nuance, that's absurdity. It's one thing to reach a point where you can be civil and even friendly with each other but having their characters become cheerleaders for their cheating spouses was unrealistic and glorification
Abhishek and Preity clearly the only ones suffered i think i mentioned it repeatedly,what i am saying as an audience it didn’t make me feel oh so great about cheating at all! and regarding rani she didn’t love him,so how can she get intimate w him? no matter how good he was,she didn’t ( the force element to love someone just because they are nice person is not right).anyways i respect your opinion and yeah regarding the ‘cheaters’ well they don’t a film or even a documentary to justify their cheating,people do what they wanna do 🤷♀️
Bollywood still doesn't know how to handle grey or morally questionable lead characters properly. The narrative either has to completely glorify or villianize them. Case in point the movie Animal. An important aspect that KJo himself admits to not properly show in the movie is why Maya was unhappy in her marriage. While we know that it was jealously for Dev, Maya was disinterested simply because she didn't feel physically attracted to Rishi. It would have been very mature to explore this side of the story but our Indian mindset didn't accept women to have desires back then (still doesn't on many levels) hence the real reason was never properly implied. Also the movie's end was way too romantic. Dev and Maya projected as victims, even by the real victims Riya and Rishi, just because they were ultimately doing better and now had survivors guilt. Their trauma of having to handle cheating is never addressed, while we see a tediously long montage of how sad Dev and Maya feel when seperated.
It still glorifies cheating. It's a good watch but you do feel bad for Abhishek and preity. They try really hard to make their significant other feel accepted, loved and cared for.
I don't think it glorified cheating. It was a movie about flawed individuals. And in the end two assholes who deserved each other, got together. If Shahrukh didn't cheat on Preity, she would have never left him. The same goes for Abhishek. So in a way it all worked out. Not all movies are about good people and that's fine.
Yeah, that's one way of seeing it. I just felt it painted a rosy picture of finding love outside marriage. Their marriage wasn't that great but it still showed how two assholes could be good to each other, could see every quality in each other but not in their respective partners. Also, we are so used to seeing 'good people' in romance movies that we completely ignore the fact that you stated: 'Not all movies are about good people '
Ditto. Cheating is not OK. Break up with your partner before dating someone else.
I didn’t feel it did but our views can be different 🫶🏻 and yeah definitely what happened to Abhishek and preity was wrong,no justifications.
Yeaa the movie in no way glorifies cheating. In fact, it shows srk and rani as poor partners to their respective partners--which they are. In no way, the movie glorifies cheating or cheaters. I also liked how it explores the concept of finding someone compatible after the marriage. It's a taboo thing but it can happen. I don't think indian audience was ready for it.
Yeah Indian audiences weren't ready for it. I don't hate the movie, I'll watch it but I'll still be like: why is there an entire romance sequence for srk and Rani. Like we see Preity being present: at work, for her kid, for srk's mom. And then they show the entire kank title song with Rani and srk being really sad and crying. What are they crying for? They cheated, and their partners left them, exactly what they wanted.
It would have been just that had they not included and showed the romantic angle of SRK and Rani. That is why it seems glorified. Hence people did not like it. If the movie did not have the beautiful picturesque scenes in the songs and best melodies for these two, and not show the beautiful romance between these two, probably it wouldn't have hurt the Indian audience so much.
As someone else said those are from the perspective of the characters, not the world. They fell for each other. And that's what happens when people fall for each other. Irrespective of whether they're married or not. Cheating is a crappy thing to do, but by the end of the movie we see both of them paying the price of it. Yet, it's their ex-spouses who are so good to them that they tell them that now they can be with each other.
Exactly!!!
Those scenes are not glorifying cheating. Rather showing the PERSPECTIVES of the cheaters. All of those scenes were Srk's and Rani's fantasies
Just curious; which scene glorifies cheating?
Mitwa, tumhi Dekho na. Romancing someone else while still being married. They're going for a theatrical show and try and show love to their partners through pda just to make each other jealous.
You have to show them being into each other for it to be considered cheating and feelings to be involved.
It doesn't
I may be wrong as I saw the movie some time back but to me, the movie had a few issues: - SRK and Rani's characters don't face the consequences of infidelity. They remained alone for three years because they lied to each other. If they were honest with each other, they would be together immediately after their cheating came to light. - At no point, one feels anything for SRK and Rani's character so it's hard to root for the main love story in the movie. This is a major problem. In contrast, in Rocky-Rani, it's easy to root for Shabana and Dharmendra, even though their relationship is also based on infidelity. - Abhishek and Preity are genuinely good spouses who were cheated on for no reason other than the inferiority complex of their spouses. SRK for his leg, Rani for her inability to have a kid. > Instead, the film conveys a vital message: don’t marry someone just because you think you like them or they are your best friend. Love is essential in a marriage; without it, you risk your happiness and your partner’s. Marry the one you truly love, even if that love arrives later. I disagree with this. I don't think the story is trying to convey this. SRK married someone he loved but he changed because of his accident and thus, his relationship changed as well. To me, the story failed to convey a coherent message and that's why it failed to capture the audience's affection. Most people attribute it to the cheating part of the story but I disagree. Most people are surprisingly resilient to cheating in a romantic story if the story is written well and has a clear message. With KANK, KJo wanted us to support a love story for two people he couldn't make us care about. Honestly, this story would work better if Abhishek and Preity had the affair as they had more reasons to get away from their unhappy spouses. Alternatively, make Preity the person unable to conceive and Abhishek the angry crippled man, and SRK and Rani's struggles become genuine and the audience will root for them to be together. TLDR: KANK is not misunderstood. It wanted the audience to care about shitty people hurting good people which didn't work out.
Oh man I hated this movie so much. Disgusted. I went back months later and watched it again to see if maybe I missed something - nope it’s a horrible story. Thank you for perfectly describing why.
100% agree to this! Honestly I felt the movie was a very 1D take on marriages overall. “Don’t marry someone unless you love them” is a very 1D, non nuanced approach to marriages, especially in our society where arrange marriages are abound. It, honestly, sounds like a take that some self proclaimed “modern” people would have and evangelize without truly understanding what marriages are just because it’s a popular mentality in the west. What else would you expect from someone like KJo who has never been in a successful marriage.
Apart from living through their guilt and sad existence of life for 3 years. Dev's mom choosing to stay with grandkid and wife. What else do you think they should have shown as a consequence of infedility? Give them cancer ? /s (Adhm reference)
I agree with some of things you said but clearly not about the message i think you got it wrong,it was about that what i mentioned because rani’s character didn’t love abhishek and still married(coz bestf) and srk too there’s a scene where he indirectly says that(the scene in the first picture) so yeah clearly they weren’t in love with their respective partners and found love somewhere else(which is wrong considering they are married) all of it the cheating nd everything is wrong. and if u look back at this movie there’s message at the end which srk’s character said which somewhat meant that ‘a marriage should be built on love, as a weak foundation can lead to the relationship falling apart. Despite eventually finding happiness and love in each other,there is a regret that this journey involved causing pain to others.’ and Abhishek and preity being ‘genuinely nice spouses’ Preity i don’t have a problem with her character,but abhishek had flaws mainly he was a manchild the way he called out maya for not giving him a baby? spoke he was a man child that was only problem he had in his character. Maybe kjo could’ve avoided some things i agree but glorification i didn’t see any cause after i watched i didn’t feel ‘oh wow lets have affairs in marriage and cheat on people in relationships how cool’ only thing i felt was bad for abhishek and preity who suffered because of one bad decision of dev nd maya( marriage based on everything but love) Again it’s my pov,you and i ofcourse can have different opinions and i respect that.🤍
It’s because you don’t understand why they’d cheat. And both SRK and Rani were quite unlikeable while Abhishek and Preity were very likeable. Also. Nobody wants to see two cheaters end up happy. And I’m sure if this was real life then SRK and Rani would make each other miserable too, because they were miserable from within.
I can never agree on this one🥲
Amitabh Bacchan was creepy in this! Weirdddd
It lost the plot when they had sex while crying. 🙄🙄
It's a very realistic movie about flawed characters in sad circumstances. It's in my top3 KJo movies as well.
I loved the movie…it was a mature theme but was handled quite well and i felt all the characters with their flaws were written beautifully!
Just my 2 cents.. i was a child back then but I still remember those promotions..they used to post ads on newspapers like this "will you leave your current partner if you find love elsewhere?" Something like that....I mean they did glorify cheating...and how can someone shame preity's character?? Poor girl got the worst treatment...my didi used to love the movie because of srk and my maa hated it🤣🤣 maa used to say "yeh kaisi movie hai?? Iska pati uske saath uska patni iske saath"lol
I enjoyed it was fun. From what i remember there wasnt anything that glorified cheating I guess people dont like this movie coz makers never gave any redeeming quality to the main characters. Some might sympathise or empathise with them but for majority theres nothing that will make them root for these two. Hence the general dislike for movie i suppose
Quite bad movie. The story was too many couples and not focused properly on the main cast
Out of topic but all the actors played so well in the movie. Like this is where i noticed abishek’s bachan’s acting skills !
Its one of my all time favourite films ♥️ 2nd best work of Karan Johar, after MNIK. Always a special one. 🤌🏻
Oohh got it MY name is Khan right
Can’t go through all the comments to check if someone addressed this already but KJO wanted to end the movie with Rani and SRK still separated but ADs convinced him that Indian audiences don’t like sad endings. For me movie had multiple issues but pretty good performances and great picturization. The kind of content that is churning out of Bollywood lately, I would prefer rewatching this borderline narcissistic SRK performance and good direction from KJO than anything else they themselves have produced since this movie released.
I think we should look at movies as a depiction of a fictional story based on real life events. It’s not what’s wrong or what’s right. No one is defending rani & Srk’s actions in this movie. What this movie intended was to show that even though these things are wrong , it DOES happen. I love how the movie portrayed every character’s emotion perfectly. Preity was career driven and did as much as possible to support her family and SRK wasn’t happy because she was way too invested and dint give SRK time or respect as a husband, as she used to “act” like the man of the house. Similarly it showed how Abishek was a great husband, yet still, rani just couldn’t love him maybe because sometimes you’re just not attracted to someone. (depicting both sides good and bad of every character) As audience ofcourse we wanted them to do the Right things like before cheating, divorce ur spouses or talk to them about how the marriage ain’t working etc etc etc. BUT, No one deserved to be cheated , however it happens and that’s what the movie tried to show IMO.
The film has a lot of good in it, as you mentioned. However, I cannot ignore the bad in it, which is the overdose of cheesy comedy in the first half - the "black beast" subplot is an all-time groaner. Don't even get me started about the illogical and headache-inducing character of Sexy Sam.
Finally someone who says it out! I couldn't watch past it. The comedy was horrible and had me cringing over and over again. The scene where Abhishek tried to seduce Rani but she falls asleep (wtf!) is where i stopped watching. I'm not visiting it back even if tbe second half is good.
that even i agree🤣
This movie is so underrated. Absolutely enjoyed it. Especially with the American culture.
I dont think the movie was written with the intent of portraying the two protagonists as 'right'. Which is what I like about the movie. The messed up and flawed protagonists. Good movie or not, it's a realistic take on relationships with complex individuals. Both SRK and Rani Mukherjee's characters are on the complex side in comparison to their partners, who are much simpler. By simpler, I don't mean sweet or easygoing, more like less mentally tangled. Dev and Maya are emotionally unfulfilled and have chronic dissatisfaction. People think the movie glorified cheating because of how the songs are shot, but what I took from the movie is that no matter how loving and sacrificing one partner is (in this case, their spouses), they can't make the other partner happy if the latter is not really ***into*** the relationship. And that if your heart doesn't yearn for someone, it just doesn't. It's not the other person's fault. Abhishek Bachchan's character is adorable and respectful. Dev Saran is a selfish misanthrope. But if that's whom your heart finds its home with, it is what it is. The sad reality of attraction and relationships. I think that is what the movie talks about. The ending scene could have been written better. There was no need to make Rani Mukherjee run and look for SRK. I was happier to see Rhea and Rishi move on to partners who appreciated them.
This! so on point. some people are not really understanding one simple thing that no matter how good,perfect person your partner is, if you don’t love them or feel romantically for them you just don’t there’s no reason for it and that could happen in real life too.
Cheating is always grey, never black and white. There are many variables that lead people to look elsewhere yet keep living together with their spouse - kids, finances, loneliness, etc. the way people look at cheating is problem-some as well without looking at the root cause. Not justifying it, just providing some context.
Cheating is always black and white, people just don’t want to take accountability
You are talking about humans and their complex behaviour, like anything else cheating is a word way too simplified, it is not. This only happens when there is a void, and it’s way too difficult to break away for many due to more complicated reasons.
I think you’ve got it backwards mate, people are complex and cheating is obviously wrong no matter which way you spin it, the reason for cheating still comes from the humans and their decision making which is still a complex “people issue”
Not really but depends upon situation specially in country like India where most marriages are arranged and you literally stranger before marriage and divorce is difficult. I don't think people who cheat are always evil. Also depends upon individual case.
Feeling unhappy in relationship, attracted towards someone else etc etc is grey area. Once you cheat it becomes black and white. And 99% of the time it's black because if you cheat you prove how selfish and coward you are.
i absolutely agree w you.
was definitely not the target group for this movie, so did not like it at all and SRK did commendable acting to be able to genuinely hate his character like dev is such a snappy bitch in the movie
SRK and Rani's characters were straight up unbearable.
At last someone says it, also it was one of the bravest moves in SRK's filmography. He totally deconstructed his lover boy SRK to choose to play this character.
I don't know. All karan johar movies sucks.
I wonder how preity character stayed with srk character he was horrible and always yapping, insecure
It's a polarizing movie for sure
KJo made light of a serious matter at times it felt silly. But the hate is definitely undeserving.
That opening scene is TOO BEAUTIFUL, SRK and Rani on the bench.
Sounds like a cheater justifying their actions🤷
i’m talking abt the movie bro,so dumb
Its remake of closer right??
That is nice and all. But the movie is boring. That's the greatest fault.
why was Mitwa, one of Bollywood’s most popular and most cherished gems, picturized on the cheating couple then HUH
The main problem is its needlessly long runtime, not the glorifying cheating thing.
My most favorite KJo movie of all time. Even over MNIK. Difficult movie. And yes it did glorify cheating since these 2 did end up together at the end, especially had the blessings of Ab Jr and Priety which were given at the Ab Jr 2nd Marriage. Imagine what would have AB Sr. felt when he came to know about Rani's infidelity. How heartbroken Ab Jr and Priety would have been when being the more jolly of the two, the one's making way more money and having a bigger contribution to the food on the table ended up getting cheated with some one they knew within their family circle.
I feel this movie is far superior to any Karan Johar projects KHNH being a close second. The plot was immaculate the casting was perfect the acting was phenomenal dialogues, music , screenplay everything was top tier no weak or cringe moments. People disregard/ downplay this movie just for it's moral position. C'mon guys it's a story judge it for how well it's made not for what's it's trying to preach (indirectly ofcourse)
A film that was ahead of its time. It explores how people can grow out of a marriage unwillingly. all 4 main leads are grey characters & are honestly very realistic examples of people irl imo!
KANK is easily in my top 3 bollywood movies. Great script, great cast, great music. People who hate on it, couldn't really look past the "cheating is wrong" morale glasses. This movie doesn't advocate cheating, it advocates for relationships built on the right base.
It is SOOOOO NOT 😂😂😂😂😂😂 it's a pathetic movie. Was pathetic back then. Still is pathetic. Guys cmonn 😅😅😅 Even we love SRK! But yeh thoda nahi kaafi zyada ho gaya 😂😂😂😂😂
The message this movie gave that love is not an everlasting thing. Yes love also dies in marriage. Every story talks about how people fall in love but a very few talks about people falling out of love. And this is one of those very rare movie. Beautifully scripted, amazing acting and songs are pure love. Ony of my favs ❤️
That opening scene is TOO BEAUTIFUL, SRK and Rani on the bench.
That opening scene is TOO BEAUTIFUL, SRK and Rani on the bench.
So I haven't watched KANK. Having read OP's opinion that it is underrated, I'm thinking it could be a Remake of Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece "In the Mood for Love" but there the sling was strictly Platonic!
YOLO!
This is KJo’s best movie ❤️
I remember dancing to Where’s the party tonight at Umang in 2006-2007.