Mumbai: Moving away from candyfloss romances and happily-ever-after tales, Karan Johar returns to the marquee on Friday after four years with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - a story that begins where most stories end - what happens after the couple ties the knot?
Karan Johar's new film as director is a departure from his earlier pictures and takes a good hard look at the modern Indian marriage, complete with warts and all.
Starring Bollywood's A-list faces including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna is about two couples whose marriages are falling apart.
It's also about an extra marital affair that threatens to break up both marriages. It addresses such issues as incompatibility and infidelity, and shatters age-old cliches about marriage and love, that have been perpetuated over the years by Bollywood, and also by Johar's own previous movies - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Karan Johar, now 34, has said that marriage is an over-rated institution. He has revealed that the idea of this story came to him as he saw the marriages of many friends collapsing before his eyes.
And the director is not unaware that this is his riskiest film till date but says that all previous attempts by Indian movies at examining marriage and its shortcomings have been made by art-house filmmakers and by pictures with little mass appeal. But Karan Johar does it with all the Bollywood trappings - big stars, songs and dance, and a budget of approximately Rs 47 crore.
The stakes may be high, but history suggests that Karan Johar understands the pulse of his audience. Bollywood's crown prince has grown up. And he thinks it's time the audience does too.
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