Bollywood in Review: Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (K3G): Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sorrow)

My love of India and its cinema started with this film. K3G, as it is called in the world of celluloid, opened up a whole new world for me. I was whisked away to another country, cinematically of course, with the colors, the dancing, the music and the culture. Words cannot fully describe the emotional roller coaster, which the story takes you on, but until you experience it for yourself, here is my review.

The tagline of the story is: “It’s all about your parents.” The story basically revolves around two families, and the love and respect, which the children have for their parents sets the tone for the decisions they make in their lives. However, when one son {Rahul} and one daughter (Anjali} from each family meet and fall in love, their whole world and that of their families comes crashing down around them.

The Raichand family, headed by Yashovardhan "Yash" is very influential in the community. As culture usually dictates, the children of this type of family, more often than not, marry someone of the same status. When you add to the equation that Yash is still of the belief that the father of the family chooses who his sons will marry, frustration for the sons is sure to occur, especially when one of them has already fallen in love with someone else.

The dilemma for Rahul is whether to marry Naina, the girl of his father’s choosing and make everyone except himself happy or go against all the principles his father has taught him and marry Anjali, the girl from a village town that he loves.

Originally, when his father finds out he wants to marry Anjali, he is outraged. He can’t imagine how anyone who is “ordinary” in his eyes could understand their traditions, values and ethics. Seeing her only as a hurdle, he asks Rahul, “How did you even dare to think that she could be part of our family … my family?”