Kal Ho Naa Ho

I like Shah Rukh. I like his presence, his charisma, his bank balance and everything that he's good at, off-screen. And before the fans nuke me to hell, let me quickly say that I like his movies too. Mostly because the halls are full of women. 'Mostly' because sometimes I like his movies for other reasons. Just like this one.

Preity (as perhaps one of the best dressed characters ever, Naina) is this dopey little professional shouldering the responsibility of a volatile family. The turbulence in the family is due to the frequent duels between her mom (Jaya Bachchan) and her grandma. Having lost her father, Preity's only hope in life is finding a man who would make all the hurt go away. Enter Saif Ali Khan (as Rohit, a mature Sameer from DCH) as Preity's best friend and the guy whose laughter is irresistibly contagious.

The entire story is set against the backdrop of a desi New York neighbourhood. It looks like the work of someone who knows his way around. There's this nice urban feel, that too without going overboard. A perfect match for a typical modern Indian. And then, of course, there's Shah Rukh. He's so… wait a minute - I didn't bring him into the story yet, did I?

Shah Rukh (as Aman; I can say he's cute but his wife would get upset) moves into the neighbourhood, bringing along bundles of energy, vibrant colors and the first official filmi English song remix-Pretty woman. His whirlpool of joie de vivre sucks everyone into it, including Preity herself. The starry-eyed Preity loses her glasses for, and her heart to, him. Someone will finally fill up that void in her life.

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh and Saif get pretty pally. They hit off big-time doing all the stuff grown up men do. Like sleep with each other in their arms, kiss and say 'I love you' etc. For all the men and women who think that it's a little too provocative for Indian audiences, you're wrong! It's a whole lot of laughs and a gala time for us. The combo of Saif and SRK single-handedly is going to make you love the flick.

Anyway, the deal is that Saif loves Preity, Preity loves Shah Rukh… and Shah Rukh also loves Preity, but cannot reciprocate. He's terminally ill. No, the illness is not called Hammywayout-amia. So he's hell bent on getting Preity and Saif hooked and, in the process, makes them discover each other. He helps Saif selflessly and eventually succeeds.

The movie loses big time in its sense of originality - plotwise and performancewise. We have all seen love triangles before. We have all seen Saif and Preity give terrific performances before and we have definitely seen Shah Rukh make the audience weep and smile with him before. But what makes the movie click is the sleek direction.

This new guy seems to be a cross between Farhan Akhtar and Karan Johar. Larger than life yet somehow identifiable. The music, the setup, the characters, the dialogues, the performances, the guest appearances, they're all fairly happening. But somehow SRK manages to remain un-happening. But don't trust me, I said that about DDLJ too!

P.S: They don't show SRK dying. You can cancel that order of a Boeing full of tissues.