Customer Reviews
a breath-taking rollarcoaster of love - By: Ms. F. I. Macdonald, 09 Dec 2008 
What a fantastic film. I stayed up diligently until four am to watch this on tv & then decided I liked it so much that I bought it the next day! There is so much energy & passion linked to this story, the plot being two people who fallin love with each other even though they are both married already & the pain & happiness they go through. Add beautiful costumes, great music & some comic moments & you have a brilliant & heart-breaking film which everyone should experience.
best bollywood film ever with a modern script that boldly goes where no classic bollywood film has ever gone before!!! - By: ladyevenstar22, 22 Oct 2008 this one was an eye opener, i got it as part of a dvd set with 6 sharukh khan films, & loved it ,i have seen a few Bfilms maybe 30 tops & had settled into thinking & accepting the no kiss, hardly touching policy,so this one was venturing on new territories but takes nothing away from this beautiful love story,very realistic sometimes the end of a relationship can be the beginning of somtg new & better...
Another Great Film, Well done Bollywood - By: Mrs. L. S. Stevenage, 19 Oct 2008 I was on the edge of my seat with this one from the very beginning. I thought Sexy Sam was absolutely hillarious, Shahrukh Khan again sex on legs, Rani brilliant, Preity I can not abide, she is a rubbish actress & Abhishek, this is the first film I have seen himin & I thought he was extremely good. This is a love story that starts rightin the sole & takes your breath away.
wow................................... - By: Mr. B. Mohanan, 08 Sep 2008 i loved it, one of the best films i'en seenin a while made me want to watch it all over again
a really good film to watch with your loved ones & also to show each other the real/true meaning of a relationship.........
bimal
Boldy goes where no mainstream Bollywood film has gone before... - By: S Sage, 28 Apr 2008 I really enjoyed this film, following two wounded people on their journey to healing & redemption. The setting is not classic Bollywood, dealing as it does with the angst & preoccupations of contemporary, affluent youngish peoplein a glossy New York setting, more Hollywoodin flavour (although being Bollywood there IS melodrama & of course fabulous music numbers!). Once I got over that & realised that it was not going to deliver the classic Bollywood wish fulfilment within the traditional social framework of `punishment' for the transgressors & 'happy ever after' for the morally upright, I was able to enjoy itin its own right.
I know a lot of people have got hung up on the infidelity, but for me the film was about different kinds of love, trying to be authenticin how that love is expressed, & how the pain of unhealed wounds prevents people from being true to themselves. The two leads have each made an errorin choosing to marry for 'the wrong type of love'. Dev (SRK) & Rhea (Preity) were essentially college sweethearts, each with their own driven ambitions. From their opening conversation, it is clear that it is a childish, fun-times type of love & they should have remained as old college buddies. Thus, when tragedy strikes at the height of Dev's career, there is not enoughin the relationship to sustain him & support his healing.
Maya (Rani) has more of a sibling type of love for Rishi (Abishek), since Rishi's father, Sam(Amitabh) raised them both. She also has wounds (orphaned herself & unable to have children) which together with gratitude & perhaps loneliness have led her to marry but again her wounds are not being healed within her marriage either.
The initial mistake of marrying these partners put fault lines through the foundations of their respective marriages, which over time have become cracks. The more Dev & Maya try to 'conform' & pretend,in order to patch up these cracks the more their pain intensifies & these cracks grow into ever widening chasms. The big difference when they meet each other is that from the very beginning, even before their emotions are involved, their interaction is honest. They can be themselves, making an authentic, intimate connection at last, & their healing begins. This process is brought out furtherin the deleted scenes, explicitly exploring Maya's obsessive compulsive cleanliness issues for example.
Interestingly, when things finally come to a head, the 'authentic' characters, Rishi & Rhea, have an honest reaction, end their marriages, heal & move on most quickly. Maya & Dev have a final lesson to learn & are, at this critical juncture not able to be honest with each other, both pretending to have patched up their marriages & THIS is the reason why they suffer a further 3 yearsin the wilderness, not because they have been `unfaithful'. I think Karan Johar is trying to say the real act of unfaithfulness isin marrying & tying up another person to you when you knowin your heart of hearts that you can not give them real authentic love from the heart & soul. It is obvious that Amitabh's character totally 'gets' this & whilst his behaviour is supposedly scandalous, he never waversin his honesty & the joie de vivre that this has liberated.
This is a bold message for a Bollywood movie, but since divorce is on the rise & arranged marriages are being increasingly supplanted by love marriages among the movie-going audience, the classic Bollywood themes of Duty & Honour need to also make room for dialogue about emotional maturity & authenticityin choosing your life-partner. For this alone, I applaud this film. When this is put together with all the Karan Johar hallmarks -superb cinematography, lavish production & costume design, exquisite music, beautiful A-list cast, genuine comedy & deep emotion it earns every one of its 5 stars.
