Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14708 in DVD

Customer Reviews

Kuch Kuch hota Hey!
Being a big Bollywood fan, I'll watch anything that's made in the Indian sub-continent, and once in a while a truly epic film is flashed upon my screen. I like romance movies anyway, but when they contain Indian song and dance numbers, all the better!

The movie begins with Rahul burning the body of his now deceased wife, Tina, in a traditional Indian/Hindu funeral. Then we're shown scenes of Tina's last few moments with Rahul before she dies. On her death bed she leaves 8 letters to Anjali, the little girl that she has just given birth to, one for each of her first 8 birthdays.

Fast forward 8 years to Anjali's 8th birthday as she opens her final letter. In the letter, and during the rest of this half of the movie, we're shown how Rahul and Tina met and fell in love, but the story is not so much about Tina as it is Anjali, his best friend from college that he gave up in order to be with Tina. Rahul and Anjali are both into sports pretty hardcore and are always playing against eachother and trying to beat the other. However, they are nothing more than friends.

Things are going good until the Principal's daughter, Tina shows up and Rahul falls in love with her. Anjali, realizes she has feelings for Rahul but can't bring herself to tell him. As Rahul and Tina grow increasingly closer, Anjali feels left out and her feelings for Rahul only increase. It's impossible for her to compete with Tina as Tina is beautiful, feminine, and graceful, while she is plain, boisterous, and a tomboy.

Soon the title song is performed and it is truly awesome. "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" roughly translated means: "Something happens in my heart." This is how Rahul explains to Anjali how he will know when he's met the right girl.

tum paas aa'e, yuu.n muskaraa'e
You came near me -
tum ne na jaane kya, sapane dikhaa'e
you had no idea what dreams you revealed to me.
ab to mera dil, jaage na sota hai
Now my heart is neither awake nor asleep.
kya karuu.n haa'e, kuchh kuchh hota hai
What shall I do? Something happens (in my heart).

After dressing up for Rahul fails, Anjali tries one last time to tell him how she feels but Rahul tells her that he loves Tina before she can even say anything. She finally gives up and leaves college, no longer able to face him. This letter from Tina to her daughter, Anjali, ends with a commission: she must get Rahul and adult-Anjali to meet up again and fall in love!

Even though an hour and a half of movie has passed, we're still only half way through this baby, as most Bollywood films are about 3 hours long. Be sure to check out this classic film to see little-Anjali's attempts at making Rahul and adult-Anjali fall in love. At one point Allah himself intervenes on Anajli's behalf. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in love all over again.

Oh, there is this one really great line, later on while Anjali and Rahul are playing charades, Rahul has to act out the phrase, "I love you," but he can't do it. Anjali says to him, "You couldn't do that much? We could have won." I find it really romantic because it's as if she's speaking about the 8 years they've lost.

Should I also tell you that there is a special guest star in the second half? Hint: He was also in Hum Aapke Hain Koun!

FINAL THOUGHT: I like how India still has those arranged marriages. Takes out all the hassle of going to bars and getting girls drunk.

Love, Loss And Restoration ~ A Bollywood Tradition
Note: Hindi with English subtitles.

`Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' is a wildly popular Bollywood film from '98 starring three of the most adored Hindi stars in the business, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukherjee. It also includes a small but important part played by the equally popular Salman Khan.

Synopsis: There carefree college friends; Rahul (SR Khan), Anjali (Kajol) and Tina (Rani) unintentionally find themselves in a highly emotional love triangle. When Rahul and Tina become engaged Anjali leaves school and returns home never telling Rahul about her true feelings. When tragedy strikes in the marriage Rahul is left as a single parent to a young girl. Will fate arrange a chance meeting between Rahul and Anjali and if it does will romance spark where it wasn't before?

This comedy/romance contains almost all of the usually expected Bollywood gimmicks and situations overtly structured to pull on the viewers emotional heartstrings. Also like the majority of Hindi films it has a lot of interspersed silliness and slapstick moments that this genre of cinema has long been known for. While I'm becoming more and more accustomed to this wacky aspect of Indian film, for me it tends to damage the overall emotional affect of the film. That fact is made more clearly in this film than most, especially by the one-on-one basketball sequence between Shah Rukh and Kajol.

However all that aside. The music is infectious, Shah Rukh is at the top of his game, the girls are beautiful and there's no denying the wonderful talent and chemistry between these three superstars. Surprisingly, my favorite part of the film is the wedding dance at the end performed by Salman Khan. It's magnificient and worth the price of the DVD just for that one dance number.

Another Must See From India
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is the saddest, happiest, stupidest, smartest, corniest, most sophisticated movie I have ever seen. It's dull, no wait, it's brilliant! The story lives moment to moment with jumps in time and reflects the best in human spirit. If you have ever been in love with someone so much that it hurts and that love was not returned, this story and its wonderful presentation may very nearly kill you with exquisite sadness. The characters are so well developed you live their pain and their happiness. Adults sometimes act like children and children sometimes act like adults in this astonishing celebration of life (aur death). Not everyone wins in this eternal love triangle but even the loser(s) seem to win while displaying superb character in acceptance of the consequences and the winners are reluctantly driven by powers explicitly greater than themselves.

Despite all this, the film is light hearted. There are a few overly silly spots in the film but the rest of the time "something happens". The silliness seems to inject pain killer at just the right moments. Only slightly diminished at times by western influence, the singing and dancing is for the most part infectious, magnificent and unspoiled - so much art and beauty on one screen. The wedding (engagement) dance sequence IS worth the price of the film and worthy of a separate review.

In the engagement dance, men dance with strength and precision yet seem to barely touch the floor while their loose fitting garments flow with masculine elegance. There is no sight in nature that rivals the beauty of these women dancers (in my mind) flowing like brilliant multi-colored grass in a wind that has meaning provided by the gods of music and the drums of man - and what drums they are! Superimposed on all this beauty and rejoicing is the serious undercurrent imparted by the conflicted bride to be. Oh, what the heck, Just buy this DVD and suffer with the rest of us.