Your favourite KJO film? - Page 5

Originally posted by: mintyblue

Haven't seen it. Is it worth a watch?

Come on. How could you miss My Name Is Khan? Please watch it whenever you get a chance.

~14 years later, it holds up really well.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

Absolutely agreed.

Regarding Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, I really don't understand the who fiasco about its gender politics, that people keep going on and on about. I think Rani and Kajol correctly reprimanded KJo recently on KWK, and told him to stop being so apologetic about something that they did 25 years ago.

I mean can list at least 20 "successful" Bollywood films from the 90s that were problematic, yet no one calls them about or writes essays on them. I am in full support of modern day ideas of feminism and equality, but targeting films KKHH that were made with good intentions and were not even that problem....is not going to result in anything.

I can understand people calling out Kal Ho Na Ho for its homophobic Kanta Bai jokes. Although it is not a KJo directorial venture.... I think I read it somewhere that it was ghost directed or almost co-directed by him because the story was written by him. I mean I vaguely remember that the film was promoted as a KJo film, back in early 2000s unlike his other ventures later like Kaal , Dostana etc where he distanced himself from the films and only got involved as a producer.

KANK was definetly had a dream star cast at that time, but K3G had a whole different vibe and way bigger canvas, which I do not think KJo or Bollywood will ever able to match.

Btw Dostana is a monster product of Dharma. I find it laughable when KJo takes pride in making homosexuality "a drawing room conversation" in India through Dostana, when in reality, the film resulted in more homophobia and rather made homophhobic jokes mainstream. Kal Ho Na Ho tames in comparision. If anything, Dostana film did more damage to homosexuals in India (which was criminalized in India at the time of its release) as they became a laughing stock, in an already homphobic country. No amount of Bombay Talkies or Kapoor or Sons is going to undo the damage done by Dostana, I hope KJo realizes that one day.

MNIK is really an outlier in KJo's filmography, and it stands out. Sadly he followed it with SOTY.

I hate SOTY because it turned Kjo into the monster he is today i.e, a nepo kid launchpad. Up until, MNIK he had some kind of credibility. It sucks that GenZ remember him more for SOTY than MNIK.

I disliked Ae Dil Hai Mushkil because the film Ranbir in Ultra Pro Max ManChild role, which was painful to watch. Anushka was trivial. Aishwarya looked like a dream and her role had substance. I don't think I will ever rewatch KJo's work from 2010s,

Finally, Rocky and Rani is finally a step in the right direction, and makes me hopeful for his next films.

I feel like Karan is always apologizing now for KKHH and it's gotten annoying real fast. Maybe he's just pretending he thinks the film is problematic so he can use that as an excuse to remake the film with Ranveer, Alia, and Janhvi as he always says he wants to do. I'm glad Rani and Kajol put him in his place. They don't seem the types who would pander to nonsense that the film is problematic especially Rani based on her past comments and own mentality about gender dynamics.

The only thing Karan didn't do with Kal Ho Naa Ho was direct it. He was originally supposed to direct but at the last minute he couldn't (I don't remember if it was because of his father's health or not). This was the last film Yash Johar had involvement with. Even if Karan didn't direct it, he was the writer and producer and on-set everyday and like you said, he more or less ghost directed/co-directed it so most people consider it his film. Other films like Dostana and Kalank were just produced by him and didn't have more direct involvement like Kal Ho Naa Ho which has his fingertips all over it. He did say that he regrets not directing it now but Kal Ho Naa Ho feels way more similar to the rest of Karan's films than it does to Nikhil Advani's next film, Salaam-e-Ishq.

Yes, I agree with your thoughts on the differences between K3G and KANK. Part of the importance of the film was that it reunited Amitabh and Jaya onscreen, had superstar SRK playing their son and reunited for the second time on screen with Amitabh, reunited the #1 jodi SRK and Kajol, and had new superstar Hrithik share screen with these other legends including rival SRK.

I'm actually not a fan of Dostana either. I like the songs but I felt the storyline was very crude. If I'm correct, this movie went through a lot of cast changes as well. Aishwarya was originally meant to play the female lead since Karan had always wanted her in one of his films but once Abhishek was signed on, it was decided it would be strange to have both of them onscreen and not romantically linked. The humor is very regressive and just makes gay people out to be a punchline with the OTT performances especially by Abhishek. John Abraham was at least eye candy for the gay audience but no one was asking for Abhishek. I find it odd that Karan continues to bemoan how outdated KKHH is but he never says anything about Dostana.

MNIK was also the last time one of his films involved SRK (and Kajol) in a lead role. I can't help but feel the quality of his films dropped in part because of cast changes and him not working with SRK anymore.

Both SOTY and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil I've only seen once each and have desire to revisit. Rocky aur Rani, in comparison, I would be fine rewatching because it was just that much better and felt like a return to his films of old. I think the presence of Jaya, Dharmendra, and Shabana helped with that. SOTY was definitely the start of Kjo's focus on the nepo gang and only promoting them. I feel BW would have been very different had he not used this film to launch those three and probably for the better.

I didn't like Ranbir's character at all in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Very unlikable and dreary and I did not buy the romance that he was so madly in love with Anushka. Ranbir/Anushka never made a very great pairing in the first place. I think even Karan realized that hence why he moved onto Ranveer/Alia. I saw in his recent interview after Rocky aur Rani that he said that he had been so busy with producing and other projects that he had given up film directing and it wasn't until Rocky aur Rani that he realized how much he missed directing. How now he wants to keep making films rather than let others make them. So I think the creative dry spell that consisted of SOTY and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was partly because he had a lack of focus and you could see the disinterest in those movies as it permeated through. With Rocky aur Rani, you could feel he was reinvigorated so I am glad even he's realized that his attention should be focused on movies again and I have hopes for his next movies.

Just as important a question is which is the best club/disco song from Kjo's films.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and My Name is Khan

K3G is level above the rest

second would be KKHH

My favourite is kal ho naa ho followed by k3g

These stats are a better fit for this thread If you look at KJo's directed/written films, you can see the categories that won acting awards below.

Best Actor (2x wins): SRK in KKHH, SRK in MNIK

Best Actress (4x wins): Kajol in KKHH, Kajol in K3G, Preity in KHNH, Kajol in MNIK

Best Supporting Actor (3x wins): Salman in KKHH, Saif in KHNH, Abhishek in KANK

Best Supporting Actress (3x wins): Rani in KKHH, Jaya in K3G, Jaya in KHNH

KKHH did the best winning every award that year it was nominated for, including all four acting awards.

KHNH did the second best, winning 3/4 of the acting awards.

K3G> KKHH> RRKPK> SOTY> ADHM

Haven't seen MNIK, KANK

Everyone saying MNIK is an outlier in Karan's filmography is so on point. My brain cannot even comprehend now that the director who made MNIK made SOTY too and that too just after MNIK.

Karan, I feel like, is one of the few directors who knows how to make a simple drama theatrical. If only MNIK was more successful I feel like he would have gone on a different trajectory and made more meaningful (or atleast more memorable) movies

My name is Khan is the only somewhat watchable film from this lot.