What is it?
“Pyaar dosti he, Love is friendship.” This is Rahul Khanna’s philosophy on love. He thinks that if one can’t be his best friend then he can’t be in love with her. He says, “Without friendship there’s no love.”
Those were some lines taken from the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH). I was enchanted by this movie since the first time I saw it. Since then, I’ve seen the movie for like 20 times, and I just saw it again tonight. The movie was a best hit in 1998 in India and grabbed 8 awards in Filmfare Festival, some of which are best movie, best actor, and best actress. It made Rs. 500,000,000 (US$ 12,600,000) in India alone.
What is so interesting about this movie? I think the movie has a deep philosophical exploration on what love is all about. I was deeply moved by the movie. At first I thought I was just being crazy about those silly Bollywood movies who have typical characteristics. First, they always say their important words in english, like: “I love you”, “go away”, “i dont think so”, “will you marry me”, “you’re beautiful”, etc. Second, in a single movie, you will get views of other cities in Europe, such as London, Geneva, Brussel, etc. Third, no matter how remote they went, they always have other singers and dancers in matching clothes with them singing out of nowhere. Oh, and one more thing, there will always trees in a Bollywood movie, followed by either crying or singing.
However, KKHH is different. Its a movie of love, wide range of emotions, music, dancing, family, and life. It even has a good example of how God is the same for Hindus and Moslem. Little Anjali was praying in Hindu and Moslem way. And God answers her prayer. Isn’t it interesting?
The Synopsis
Kuch kuch hota hai means there’s something going on in my heart. It is a comedy romance story of a true love between the famous college star Rahul and the tomboy Anjali Sharma. They were best friends in College. One day Tina Malhotra came along from England. She is beautiful, feminine, and smart. Rahul feels kuch kuch hota hai when he sees Tina. He wanted to impress Tina by saying love is friendship, and Anjali overheard that. Anjali then realised that she has feelings for Rahul, but Rahul already loves Tina. When Anjali knew, she was brokenhearted and decided to went back to her hometown and never contacted Rahul anymore. Tina realized this when seeing the departure of Anjali.
Rahul was married with Tina and have a child whom Tina named Anjali. Tina died in childbirth. Tina wrote a series of letters for little Anjali. On the eight year, Tina wrote to little Anjali about the story of her name. Tina said that Rahul’s real friend and love is Anjali. Tina encouraged little Anjali to find real Anjali and make her back together with Rahul. Little Anjali tried to find out about Anjali and got helped by her grandmother.
Rahul and Anjali finally met again at a summer camp where Anjali was volunteering and little Anjali had enrolled. Sad but true, Anjali was already engaged with Aman Mehra. She doesn’t love him, but Aman was working so hard to get her love. Rahul then realized that he loves Anjali, but it was too late, she was going to marry Aman. The conflict reaches its peak when Rahul came to Anjali and Aman’s wedding ceremony. Rahul, Anjali, and little Anjali cried because of the fact that they were not going to be together. In the end… well, see it yourself!
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Philosophy of Love
Now let me give you my analysis on the movie’s love philosophy. I will analyze each main character in the movie based on their view on love. Rahul Khanna is a loyal and focused person. He also thinks that love should be started with friendship. Rahul is a family guy, comes to temple to pray every Tuesday, works hard for her daughter and mother. He said, “we live once, die once, get married once, and love once. ” This was the reason that he didn’t try to find a new love even after 8 years of Tina’s passing. His dad taught him that he should only bow to three women, to Goddes Durga, to one’s mother, and to one’s love. So, this view makes Rahul respects and loves his wife very much. When little Anjali cannot describe what her mother means to her during her school’s speech competition because she was very emotional, Rahul says, “A mother is someone who loves us so much, that we sometimes can’t understand it. A mother is someone who makes us realize how good we are, there is no one better than us. Her happiness is in our laughter, and sorrow in our sorrow. She is someone we can’t live without. She is everything. Only we don’t have her… But we have papa, and he is quite nice too.” He was trying to give little Anjali as much as love he can possibly gives. When he finally realizes that he too loves Anjali, he has a dilemma because his ‘one love’ principle. In the end he admits to Anjali that he loves her. His heart beats his own principle. It means Rahul is a person who makes his moral judgment based on what’s good and bad and not by the rule. This is actually the highest moral value in Lawrence Kohlberg’s moral development theory.
Tina loves Rahul so much that she always puts Rahul’s needs above her own life. Because she knew that Rahul really wanted their child, Tina didn’t tell Rahul about her complicated health condition if she wanted to give birth. She was also hesitated when she knew that she had feelings for him because she knew Anjali and Rahul were best friends and she didn’t want to come between them. Therefore, her last wish is for little Anjali to find Anjali for her father.
Anjali is the kind of person who is afraid and not sure about her own feelings. She is the kind of person who would sacrificed her own needs for other. She was afraid that she might ruin her friendship with Rahul if she tells him about her feelings. Just when she was about to tell him her feelings, she found out that Rahul was in love with Tina. She decided to leave Rahul and Tina alone. When Anjali and Rahul meet again, Anjali was about to told Rahul about her feelings, she accidentally told Aman that she loves him when she meant to say it to Rahul. Then she decided to leave with Aman instead of Rahul and little Anjali. She prefers to please her family instead of following her own heart.
Aman is a good person who loves Anjali so much. He was willing to wait and work hard for her love. Anjali appreciates his effort and finally agrees to have an engagement with him. Aman loves Anjali so much that he is willing to let her go to Rahul to pursue her happiness. In their very wedding day, in front of the guests, Aman looks at Anjali’s sad eye while walking towards him. He pulls her arm and drags her towards the wedding master and says, “You know, I always wanted to see that love in your eyes that I have in mine. Today, I’ve seen it, but it’s not for me. You’re mad Anjali. You’ve always loved him…. Rahul is your first love and no one understands first love as I do. And you were going to give all this up for me? You’re stupid.” And the final words he says are, “How can I come between this love that was never mine in the first place?” He lets Anjali choose Rahul. Aman is the type of lover who would sacrifice his own heart to see the woman that he loves happy. This is an unconditional love.
So?
As we have seen, the movie has a very rich philosophy on love. Each character has their twist and turn. In the end, I’m not sure about Aman’s happiness, but Rahul is surely a very lucky guy. He gets to marry the two women he loves although he has to experienced loosing one in a very painful way. Tina must be very happy with what little Anjali had done in bringing Rahul and Anjali back together. Anjali ends up with her first true love. I think we can see ourselves in those characters. This made me fell in love with the movie.
Love is friendship. I think this is true, but it is not the whole truth about love. There are sacrifices, laughs, tears, efforts, disappointments, loyalty, and much more. The movie shows them all. In the end, everyone is happy. This is also one of the things that I love from this movie, I just love happy ending. Therefore, my suggestion is you should see the movie. It’s really worth your 3 hours time!
PS: My favorite Bollywood actress is Rani Mukherji.
Oh, and this is the lyric of the soundtrack of
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye
Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye
Tumne na jaane kya sapne dikhaaye
Ab to mera dil, jaage na sota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye
Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye
Tumne na jaane kya sapne dikhaaye
Ab to mera dil, jaage na sota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Na jaane kaisa ehsaas hai
Bujhti nahi hai kya pyaas hai
Kya nasha is pyar ka
Mujhpe sanam chhane laga
Koi na jaane kyun chain khota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya rang laayee meri dua
Ye ishq jaane kaise hua
Bechainiyon mein chain
Na jaane kyoon aane laga
Tanhaayee me dil, yaaden sanjota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye
Tumane na jaane kya sapne dikhaaye
Ab to mera dil, jaage na sota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
Kya karoon haye kuch kuch hota hai
