Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham – Film Review
Summary: ‘Environment makes a man’ – this movie defied this observation.
The following points are to be observed :
A very rich couple played by Amitabh Bacchan and Jaya Bacchan are issuless (childless).
In India it is a belief that if a woman who is unable to conceive adopts some child – there are chances that she will get pregnant (something like in the previous life – if a Lady has been harsh to a child – she is punished in the next life by being made barren !)
Well they do so exactly – adopt shah Rukh Khan (small)- and lo behold – she delivers her own child ! But they continue loving their adopted son (very difficult to maintain so in real life… but still in this movie it has been shown that they managed to love them both equally)
Shah Rukh now grows up and happens to visit his Maid servant’s (Governess’s – for making it sound better and elegant) house and falls in love with a girl (played by Kajol) who was his maid’s neighbor !! She could not speak a word of English – she was illiterate and uncouth and loud mouthed…in spite of all this Shah Rukh falls for her – maybe deep in his psychology it was buried that his actual parents never needed him – so some inferiority complex must have been left in him…his actual roots were not known to him and basically such gory truth kills a person like a slow poison .
In the meanwhile rich father had already seen a girl for him who belonged to a rich family and the father must have convinced the girl’s father that since he would give away part of some riches as inheritance to their adopted son – so his daughter will never go unfed. But Shah Rukh puts his foot down – he wanted to marry someone inferior to him – whom he could dominate and thereby feed his ego! The rich girl, his father had chosen for him would not have been as recessive as the illiterate dame – and hell would have broken loose after marriage!
He throws Shah rukh out of his house. Shah rukh leaves but since he was an MBA – manages to get himself a decent job abroad (London) and settles down there with wife and sister-in-law. Now this sis-in-law – who suddenly got to see money and became rich – started wearing attires that semi – nude models wear esp. during hosiery (undergarments) rounds – she went wearing such dresses to college !! Now the younger son happens to see her and falls in love. This time, the rich father had to accept his son’s choice – coz’ after all he was blood relation.
Conclusion: So the rich and famous Raichand had 2 slum dwellers as his daughter – in law !- Never adopt without doing a thorough check up of family history !!
Therefore what we observe here is that – in spite of all the riches, luxuries – basically a rich environment and best of education – that was given to adopted child shah rukh – all this hardly made a difference to him – he went ahead to choose some illiterate, uncouth slum dweller ….!!
Reminds me of a childhood story – about a saint who found a she-mouse and turned her into a girl and when she grew up, she got the proposal of marrying men with mighty powers…but eventually she chose a mouse! So the saint had to again turn her back to her original form!
Old habits die hard…so how can original self be forgotten?!
Repercussion in society:
Such films raise the expectations of the poor 4th class workers or people who belong to lower or lower middle strata of the society. After watching such films, they begin to try their luck by seducing the sons of the household where they go to work. Some debauch males may use them for sex, some turn them down…some do not even know of their existence! In a Savdhaan India episode, a similar concept was shown. The son sleeps with the maid servant and the maid then wanted to take over the entire house – she had got the taste of luxury after all. Father comes to know…caught them red-handed so they kill him! Later they even kill the mother and attack the sister to kill her as well!! The cops come and they spend the rest on their lives behind the bars!
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