Subhash K Jha revists the joy of Kareena Kapoor’s Khushi, which released 22 years ago.
Khushi is a celebration of romance and music with two of the most startling lead performances seen in a film of this genre.
The sheer joy of watching Kareena Kapoor give her role the rich, supple hues of aggressive yearnings is joy enough. This time, producer Boney Kapoor has more to offer than an extremely watchable leading lady who simply takes over the frames as though to the camera-born.
Khushi is a film providing multifarious pleasures, all pouring out in a tumble of chic designs and svelte storytelling devices.
But hold on. ‘Storytelling’ isn’t the word to describe where Hindi-debutant S.J. Suryah takes us in this dulcet joyride. If you look for a story in Khushi, you’ll end up scratching your head, and while doing so, you could possibly miss some of the devious give-and-take of bubbling banter between the egoistic couple Karan (Fardeen Khan) and Khushi (Kareena Kapoor).
“What’s this ego?” Khushi’s bucolic father (Amrish Puri) asks when Karan unwittingly offers his future father-in-law a lift.
Good question. Khushi is about the male and female Ego. And since an ego is as undefinable as ….ummm Kareena’s charisma, the film, too, leaves us perplexed for a definition. It’s also a film about a woman’s navel region and what havoc it could create when left exposed to the male gaze.
That the couple could get so worked up about the girl’s navel is part of the film’s innate charm and its exasperating intangibleness. We’ve seen innumerable boy-meets-girl films since Raj Kapoor’s Bobby. But none so urbane, witty, spiky, and saucy.
S.J. Suryah, who has made the same…er story into major blockbusters in Tamil and Telugu, just lets the protagonists’ feelings flow out like unstoppered faucets. He neither forces nor coaxes the chemistry between the couple to hiss and crackle. The tremendous energy that flows out of the belligerent courtship is as intangibly definable as the magic that works between the two principal performers.
Kareena Kapoor once again proves she has no match on screen. There may be other actresses who can do this or that better. But no one can do what she can. As the headstrong, bellicose, and constantly defensive Khushi, she fuses tender seductiveness with a resilience and joie de vivre that quite simply takes over the screen. In some key sequences with her screen dad(Amrish Puri) and with the man destined to be her life-mate, Kareena blends craft with intuition in a way that reminds us of Geeta Bali and Sridevi. If you watch her face closely in the sequence where Fardeen combs her hair in the hospital bed, you wonder what she could’ve done with Paro in Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s Devdas.
But the real surprise of Khushi is Fardeen Khan. After years of lethargic performances, Fardeen suddenly springs with a delightfully bright and contoured performance. In all their scenes together, Fardeen matches his scene-stealing co-star to make a place for himself among the most endearing star actors on the scene. His body language in some places, for instance, when he shuffles to his car after pretending it’s broken down or when he tries to make Kareena say he’s her favourite person (she names Hrithik Roshan and Sachin Tendulkar), is truly a revelation.
Come to think of it, all along, we’ve been looking at Hrithik Roshan as the perfect celluloid partner for Kareena when, in fact, her chemistry with Fardeen is far more exciting. Here’s a partnership that’s pert, precocious, passionate, and captivating.
Director Suryah harnesses the crisp collaborative energy between his lead pair to the optimum. The mating games are cleverly worded and filmed, though some of them (e.g., Fardeen’s drunken sequence in the dorm when he tears Kareena’s poster) overstay their welcome. And Johnny Lever’s takeoff on Asha Bhosle and Altaf Raja set your teeth on edge. There was no need for extraneous humour when so much of that quality oozes out of the film’s prrotagonists aggressively egoistic attitude.
In a film displaying such fine technical skills, Marzin Tavaria’s editing is a wee bit choppy. Scenes that need pruning are allowed to play on indefinitely, the exclamation mark making way for a question mark. At other times, scenes simply end without a punctuation. The film’s other technical aspects are fresh, invigorating, and consistently captivating.
K.V. Guhan’s cinematography and Sabu Cyril’s artwork deserve special mention. They create a world of arcadian joy and beauty without resorting to the Aditya Chopra-Karan Johar formula of aesthetics. The film’s sound design and Anu Malik’s music are outstanding. The songs, dear to the ear from before, come alive through the choreography. Two of the songs, Ayee re Khushi and Do ajnabee, are quite easily the most outstandingly choreographed rock-video-styled picturizations in recent years.
Khushi at first unsettles you. We’ve never before seen a romantic couple doing the things Kareena and Fardeen do, and we’ll never again see a film quite like this. Better ones, worst ones, yes. But none like Khushi ever again.
Speaking on Khushi, Kareena Kapoor said, “I play a very hyper girl, full of nervous energy. The role is very ‘me’. I’ve used a lot of hand gestures in Khushi to make my point. Earlier I never moulded my personality to project a character. This is the first time that I’ve adapted myself so completely. I’ve made the character effusive and yet normal. Any college girl could’ve played Khushi. I play a girl with a huge ego. That wasn’t hard for me to do. I’ve such a large ego myself. Yeah, and for the first time, I’m playing the title role. I’m very excited about the film. It’s a fresh, fun-filled romance. The audience gets to see me and Fardeen together for the first time. Fardeen is the surprise packet of Khushi—I can give you that in writing. As for me, I’m sure the audience will love me in Khushi. I’m very confident about it. The South Indian original ran for a 150 weeks. In Khushi, the director Surya is unbelievably good. I’d love to be part of all his Hindi films. He’s not a typical South Indian director who can’t get the South Indian look and flavour out of a Hindi remake. Surya has updated and transposed the film wonderfully. From the cameraman and sets to the songs, everything has been re-energized and re-packaged. Boneyji(Kapoor) has spent so much on it. He’s really banking on Khushi. I’ve never been so much in character before.”
