Research Paper: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai's hidden message

Nilsa La Cunza

Professor Castronova

HSS 403 – Multiculturalism in Cinema

April 14, 2014

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai's hidden message

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) directed and written by Karan Johar in 1998 is a Hindi film that revolutionized Bollywood cinema.  He accomplished this by including modern characters with dreams and struggles that resonated with worldwide audiences rather than lower income families. My goal in this paper is to discuss how Johar's unique story structure, music and dance choice, and costumes and design contributed to the film's success and popularity. 

The word "Bollywood" according to film scholar, Ronald Bergan derived from combining Bombay (the old name for Mumbai, the capital of India) and Hollywood (174). Before the 1990s, Hindi films focused on raising awareness of family problems and emphasizing on the diversity of Indian culture and religion (Malhotra 21). These films were able to keep record of Indian tradition while targeting and teaching audiences about common family problems. In contrast, films of the 1990s, focused on improving the story’s plot, especially those that involved a love story. They shifted the focus from family problems and tradition to artificial problems that would attract high income and overseas audiences. Therefore, instead of relating to the masses by portraying love stories of common folk, they focused on the relationships between wealthy families. Johar’s novel approach in KKHH was to focus on common life struggles that audiences could relate to while keeping it entertaining and comical. As Laura Dooley explains in her blog, “by watching a Johar film [like KKHH], you … experience an emotional roller-coaster ride, yet you are always eager to take the ride again" (1). Indeed, Karan Johar's choice of events makes KKHH seem like a roller coaster ride filled with surprises, funny dance numbers and romance. KKHH is about a love triangle between friends that includes a personal loss and a rekindling first love.   

Johar starts the film off with a glimpse of happiness from the two main characters, Rahul Khanna and Tina Malhotra as they get married and have a child. He quickly grasps the attention of his audience by introducing Rahul's personal loss, as Tina dies after childbirth. This is the start of the roller coaster ride, and I believe Johar succeeds in captivating the audience by starting with a death of close family member which audiences worldwide can relate to. Next, we are introduced to their daughter, Anjali Khanna and her energetic and bright personality brightens the story. From here on, little Anjali is on a journey to grant her mother's wish of reuniting her father, Rahul with his old best friend Anjali. Johar introduces Anjali through a flashback technique that takes the audience to the moment when the triangle love began, college. The college scenes display the American influence that Johar hoped would help make his film internationally friendly. Johar was also able to show a mixture of Indian culture by the variety of colors used in the film and the American culture by the Hinglish spoken (combination of Hindi and English). Johar increased the chances of producing a successful film by choosing the appropriate cast. The new popular actor, Shah Rukh Khan, plays Rahul and Kajol Devgan plays Anjali. By casting this popular duo, the roles and the relationship between Rahul and Anjali are better portrayed since they have such chemistry from previous films they worked in. The friendship between Rahul, Anjali and Tina evolve, especially in the scene called “Koi Mil Gaya” which translates to “I found someone.” This is when the love triangle between the three main characters is shown, and Rahul shows his preference to Tina. This scene was beautifully planned out by Johar, because he first has Rahul and Anjali working together to help their school without Tina's help since their plan is to lip-synching to a recorded performance in front of the entire student body. Then when their plan goes downhill, Johar has Tina enter the stage to save the day by singing the words "Koi Mil Gaya." This shows that Tina has found somebody, like Rahul, that she is willing to help in any way possible. 

The next few scenes include the three characters trying to determine their feelings for each other, which leads to Rahul choosing Tina. Then “Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aayee” is the song of when Rahul tells Anjali that he loves Tina, and Anjali experiences her first heartbreak. Johar expresses Anjali’s feelings though this song that is translated to “you did not remember me” as Anjali cries and makes the decision to give up on her love. This scene is able to resonate with audiences worldwide because everybody experiences heartbreak and unfulfilled loves. Unlike Deshpande’s review of the film’s songs, I felt that the every song, including the title song, were not “mediocre" (1).  Instead they harmonized with the plot's themes and characters. It is when Anjali leaves that Tina discerns Anjali’s true feelings for Rahul. This is the end of the flashback, and we return to little Anjali's journey of reuniting past friends. This is when we are re-introduced to the transformed and fashionable Anjali Sharma, who is engaged to Aman, played by Salman Khan. However, we learn that Anjali is only marrying Aman because she it is a compromise rather than love, since her only love was Rahul. This is how Johar brilliantly gives the audience hope of Anjali and Rahul reuniting and rekindling their feelings. 

Throughout this film, Johar shows us small clips of Hinduism and Muslim culture. The aim of many Hindi films is “to include all ‘Indians’ into a pluralist secular society" (Malhotra 22). Instead Johar attempts to convince the audience that we all follow the same god, when little Anjali wears a hijab while praying that big Anjali delays her wedding date with Aman, which was granted. A few scenes after, little Anjali discovers that big Anjali is teaching dancing and singing at a summer camp in Simla and this is how she gets her father to reunite with Anjali. A Christian director runs the summer camp. This is when and where according to Sheena Malhotra and Tavishi Alagh, Johar makes fun of Christianity and the West while portraying Hinduism as the only religion that a true Indian should follow (Malhotra 22). As Rahul is heading to the summer camp, his mother and little Anjali are enjoying their time in Simla. The director has let his Christian influence affect the camp from having a painting of Queen Elizabeth and a British flag. Rahul’s mother forces the director to change how he runs the camp by first replacing the painting with a portrait of Durga, a Hindu goddess. They begin to sing a favorite prayer of Mahatma Gandhi called “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram.” While a hippie group travelling with Rahul sing a more Westernized version of the prayer. In these scenes, according to Malhotra, Johar is trying to show that “in Christianity in India is portrayed as praying to a false deity” (23). I agree with their conclusion because the director of the camp is portrayed as a ridiculous character for his belief in Christianity. Also, when Rahul constantly crosses paths with the hippie group singing the prayer, Johar is supposedly showing how Hinduism is being considered in the West as a hip, cool religion. Therefore, I agree with Malhotra and Alagh’s interpretation of KKHH’s religious scenes since around 80 % of India’s population follows Hinduism thus Johar had to use these scenes to comply with his audience. In the end, Rahul is not able to stop Anjali from continuing with the wedding. However, when Aman sees how Anjali’s love is not towards him but Rahul, he calls off the wedding. Overall, Johar’s KKHH impressed audiences worldwide because its storyline focuses on relatable life issues and the integration of two cultures. 

Johar beautifully directed the choreography and song selection of KKHH. Bollywood films are known for their unique song and dance sequences but this does not mean they should be considered musicals like the Sound of Music. Instead song and dance sequences are involved in different genres in Hindi cinema; therefore one cannot consider it to be its own genre (Gopal 2). Shooting a song sequence in a Bollywood film involves characters lip-synching to a song as they perform elaborate dance moves (Ganti 9). Like most Bollywood films, the three main characters do an excellent job of lip-synching to the songs written by Jatin-Lalit and sang by Kavita Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. I enjoyed all the songs and dance numbers because they were able to vividly depict how the characters were feeling without suppressing their emotions. According to Ronald Bergan, the reason why Bollywood films became popular in the West was due to their “kitsch qualities.” Perhaps it is due to their outbursts of emotion while dancing and singing in sync that grabbed my attention. Hindi film songs are “India’s pop music [and] like all pop culture, it derives its energies from diverse sources and contexts, both folk and classical" (Gopal 6). This is true because whenever I listen to Indian or World radio stations, I recognize various songs from Bollywood films I have watched. The evolution of Bollywood dances has shifted from classical and folk dances to a more Westernized version that while originating from India, still have a cross-cultural aspect (Rhythm India 1). In KKHH, songs like “Yeh Ladka Hai Deewana”, Johar accomplished to portray the strong friendship between Rahul and Anjali. According to planet Deshpande, “[This is] a peppy number where the hero and the heroine are having a confrontation" (1). Through this song, the audience is able to understand that the relationship between the two characters is deep which provided Johar an opportunity to break it by introducing Tina. The audience is allowed to assess the relationship between them in the next song, “Koi Mil Gaya” which translates to “I met somebody,” and it is about how Tina has entered Rahul’s heart. This is when the plot complicates as the audience and Anjali discover that she has feelings for Rahul. Then in “Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aayee”, Johar brilliantly portrays the Indian culture and Anjali’s heartbreak through an emotional song that is one of the most powerful Hindi songs in the film. The “shaadi” song, which is related to Indian weddings, called “Saajanji Ghar Aaye” that translates to “Your beloved has come to your home,” shows Anjali’s engagement and it is my favorite song in the film. It starts by having the girls in the family showing Anjali the path to his fiancé by making a trail of flower petals. Then Anjali dances with the young women while Aman, her fiancé dances with the men of the family. From my experience that comes from watching Bollywood films and Indian wedding videos, it is common for the groom’s male friends and family members to enter a so-called dance battle with the bride and her friends. Therefore, the songs and dance numbers from KKHH were successful in depicting the characters’ feelings and life struggles.

Through Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, audiences are thrown into a world full of color and energetic characters. From the beginning, when we meet little Anjali and Rahul, Johar shows us their relationship by following a simple color-coordinating rule. Both characters are shown wearing lime green accessories from Anjali’s top and headband to Rahul’s scarf. During the flashback of Rahul’s college years, the university shown is vibrant and filled with students wearing bright and fun colors. The school and the students are an example of how Western culture has affected Indian culture. Through the student’s attire with American brands and their language being half English and half Hindi, Johar made this film more Western-friendly and globally accepted. Even in Indonesia, KKHH’s popularity “created a flurry in the consumption of Bollywood films [and] revival of Indian films’ market among the Indonesian upper class" (Tambunan 1). Johar’s KKHH became a global success because of his usage of Western culture, having more relatable character conflicts and by focusing on the relationships of people in high social statuses.  For instance, in songs like  “Yeh Ladka Hai Deewana” and “Koi Mil Gaya,” we are shown how American brand clothing and electric guitars mix with Hindi dancing and singing. 

Clothing also played the role of symbols in the film. First of all, we had Anjali’s red scarf that was handed down to Tina when Anjali decided to give up on her love for Rahul. Therefore, the scarf represented Anjali’s love for Rahul and when she gave it away, it was her way of giving up on her unfilled love. Another symbol is the hijab, which is normally worn in Muslim culture. Throughout the film, Johar introduces the Muslim culture, but it is in the scene with little Anjali where she tries to plead to God to give her a chance to get her father to reunite with big Anjali, that we see how strong belief is and how all religions worship the same God.

            While Deshpande believes “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is not a film with a message,” I think otherwise, because accepting to love again is a decent lesson to discover (1). At first, KKHH which translates to “somethings happen,” represents Rahul’s interest in Tina. But as they became close and Anjali also discovers her feelings for Rahul. However, it was this unprecedented feeling that tore their friendship. And thanks to little Anjali's perseverance  she reunites her father with Anjali. Then Rahul falls in love again while Anjali decides to listen to her heart and experience love again as they both feel something happening between them. In the end, I believe that KKHH is a coming of age story that focuses on the obscure line that separates friendship and love and how it can be crossed.

Works Cited

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Dooley, Laura L. "Falling in Love with Bollywood." 'Falling in Love with Bollywood' N.p., n.d. Web.  

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Gopal, Sangita, and Sujata Moorti. Introduction. Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and    

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