What’s love got to do with marriage?

Hindi film viewers has been exposed to several perspectives of marriage. Some filmmakers delved into the disillusionment where the couple were able to resolve their differences, like Deepti Naval and Farooque Shaikh in Saath Saath or Rani Mukerji and Viveik Oberoi in Saathiya. Some exposed the cruelty in marriage like Basu Bhattacharya’s black-and-white classic, Aavishkar. Govind Nihalani’s Drishti questioned gender discrimination with reference to morality in marriage.

Films have described the anguish of the ‘Other Man’ — B.R. Chopra’s Gumraah, Amit Saxena’s Jism and Anurag Basu’s Murder. Some spoke of the heartbreak of the ‘Other Woman’ ranging from the melodramatic Maang Bharo Sajna to the eternal reference point on infidelity, Arth.

Some addressed the complex circumstances when virtuous wives faltered for unworthy love like Shabana Azmi in Ek Pal and Hema Malini in Rihaee and in some films the husbands regretted their fatal attractions like Jeetendra in Judaai and Salman Khan in Biwi No.1. Interestingly, only a handful of Hindi films portrayed both the husband and wife indulging in an extra-marital relationship.

My generation remembers Yash Chopra’s Kabhi Kabhie where lovers Amitabh and Raakhee married to different partners bury their past and get on with their lives. Old feelings linger and surface but do not pose a threat to either of the marriages. In Silsila, however, the same filmmaker takes a leap and lets his protagonists follow their dreams. Passion overrules morality and they come close to fulfilling their unrequited love — well, almost.

And now Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. The film seems to propagate that marriage means never having to say you are settled.

After first claiming that love is friendship in Kuch Kuch Hota Hain (1998), the director emphasised that love is commitment in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and responsibility in Kal Ho Na Ho. In Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, he seems to say that love is like-mindedness.

The lead characters, like in Johar’s previous films, are a bundle of idiosyncrasies and intuition. So if Kajol (Kuch Kuch…) did not know how to dress in a feminine way and the character Laddoo could not figure out his shoe-laces (Kabhi Khushi…), Rani Mukerji displays a penchant for cleanliness and Shah Rukh Khan blames the world for his injured foot.

The bench in a public park is a recurring motif in Karan Johar films — Kajol, Hrithik, Shah Rukh, Preity and Jaya have all cried and been consoled on different benches in Dharma Productions’ films. This time Shah Rukh and Rani fight and make up there. It makes one wonder if the bench represents an unresolved memory for Johar.

Call it the mundaneness of marriage or some deeper absence, the characters are disenchanted. Two of the four partners meet at cafeterias and discover love. It takes a while to admit to the attraction. Refreshingly, they harbour no guilt.

The cheating partners who indulged in embarrassing games to seek their beloved’s attention depict amazing restraint when finally spurned by their spouses, the message being that you are most distant when most intimate. The older ones and the singles, on the other hand, mingle freely. Their bonding has compassion. There is a possibility that with time, friendship could blossom into love.

Does it mean that love, after all, is friendship as Johar stated in his debut film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?

Or, is love the rainbow Dev and Rhea chase in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and may or may not find?

The writer is the editor of ‘Screen,’ a publication of the Express Group