31 thoughts on “Valentine’s Shahrukh Discussion Post: Rank SRK Romances!”

1. Perfect! I’m about to go into a boring staff meeting. I can spend my time ranking this list instead. 🙂

   I kind of think if One 2 Ka 4 isn’t on the list, then Dil Se shouldn’t be either, because both are straight romances but in the context of wider conflicts and social issues (obviously Dil Se a bit more seriously than O2K4). But, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, so I’m fine just ranking the list that’s here.

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   • No no, let’s discuss in detail! My thinking is, the driving force of the One 2 Ka 4 plot, the starting point, is the surprise guardianship of the kids. Which is what brings Juhi into SRK’s life and then it goes on from there. But on the other hand, in Dil Se, it is the romance that is the driving force, Shahrukh’s love is what causes all the plot dominoes to fall. Both films have a similar percentage of love story versus other story, but in One 2 Ka 4 the love story is the secondary part of the narrative while in Dil Se it is primary.

     Now here’s the one I really agonized over, Koyla!!!! It starts with Shahrukh’s childhood flashback and Amrish Puri’s evil, and ends with it too, but the whole rest of the movie is driven by the SRK-Madhuri love story with the Amrish-SRK backstory coming second. So where does that land? If we just carved off the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes, it would be a total romance, but is that allowed?

     On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 11:57 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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     • I think, JHMS is the sole pure romance story because it isn’t embedded in another story…it’s solely about the woman and the man…no surrounding plot.
       Look at all the other movies…romance may be the driving force but the romance almost always isn’t the sole plot.
       Basically in every ShahRukh movie there is romance, even in Don (a weird one but yes, there are feelings of love and a kind of addiction to the other).
       I miss Duplicate and Baadshah and I would put Koyla, too. But I would not title all those movies as romance but as different takes on romantic love.

       Actually, I won’t even put the romantic in the title but simply: SRK’s movies and the different takes on love. Because, for me, he isn’t the King of Romance but someone who enacts Love.

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       • I can’t remember if we have talked about this before or not, but I think that is what makes Dear Zindagi work so well. Shahrukh truly comes across as someone who loves women, not necessarily always romantically. Whether it is with Jaya as his mother in K3G or Alia as his patient in Dear Zindagi, we can believe he is driven by love of them.

         On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 2:42 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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       • oh… and OSO, PBDHH,…

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2. Ok, I think both should be allowed in. Because Juhi is definitely after Shah Rukh in O2K4 from the get go, while Jackie is still around, and Madhuri likes the cut of his jib too, even having a whole fantasy song with him, before she is tricked into marrying Amrish. Soooooo it’s still love driving the plots, but love from the women’s side first. What do you think?

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   • Ok, maybe not the single plot driver, but a co-equal driver with the external (to the couple) bad guys doing bad stuff.

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   • Ooo, interesting! So we could also argue that my patriarchal blinders are allowing in Dil Se but not the other too. Because in Dil Se, SRK is all about love the whole time but Manisha has other stuff going on. In Koyla and One 2 Ka 4, it is the same situation but with the genders reversed.

     On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 1:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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     • Or maybe it’s that I’ve watched O2K4 and Koyla an unhealthy number of times, and happen to really like when women are pursuing Shah Rukh and he’s shy. 🙂

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     • Ha! Yes! The woman as the driving force or loving ‘first’:
       HNY, CE, Chahat, MayaMemsaab, Baazigar, Koyla, KKHH, One2Ka4, Swades, JHMS, Zero.

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3. I’m adding One 2 Ka 4, Koyla, and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani to the list. I’m leaving off Guddu and Zamaana Deewana because I haven’t seen them.

   ESSENTIALS–I’d take these to the desert island. MNIK would be here too–but the first half!
   Devdas
   Chalte Chalte
   Dil Se…
   Jab Harry Met Sejal
   Paheli
   Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman
   Yes Boss

   SECOND TIER–I love them, can watch them endlessly, but would leave them behind if I had to.
   Zero
   Chennai Express
   Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna
   Kal Ho Na Ho
   Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
   Jab Tak Hain Jaan
   Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani
   One 2 Ka 4

   THIRD TIER–I like them but have to be in the right mood for them.
   Pardes
   Veer-Zaara
   Koyla
   Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham
   Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam
   Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa
   Deewana
   Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

   MEH to ACTIVELY DISLIKE
   Dilwale
   Dil To Pagal Hai
   Mohabattein
   Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
   Chaahat
   English Babu Desi Mem

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   • So interesting! So it is definitely the deeper angstier films that are at the top of your list. Not obviously angsty like Kal Ho Na Ho, but the ones with some real subtle character work like Chalte Chalte. The ones where SRK feels like a full-fledged complex human, good and bad. And then Dilwale, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbetain, where he is just boring perfect, that’s at the bottom.

     My list is different than yours, but in general I think I am lined up with you in that the complex characters and roles make for far better romances. I don’t need to see perfect Shahrukh on a mountain top mouthing romantic lines, I want to see him angry and frustrated sometimes, and sometimes just plain making mistakes.

     On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 2:13 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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     • I think so. Except in DTPH, KKHH, and EBDM I just find him irritating. Not angry and bitter in a good way like in KANK, but smug and selfish.

       I was thinking that FAN could be considered a love story, as you said in your reviews. If we included it in the list it would be third tier because it’s too sad for me to want to watch often.

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       • I know what you mean. I think of it as his NRI Hero roles. Which are the ones everyone makes fun of him for now, but really it was limited to just a few movies in the 90s. Most of his hero parts have some damage and pain at the heart of them, they aren’t just one-liner heroes strolling around making woman faint.

         On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 3:03 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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4. First – in my opinion Zero shouldn’t be on this list. It’s not a romance movie at all. I would say Anjaam has more love then Zero.

   This is my Top 5 :
   Paheli
   Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
   Jab Harry Met Sejal
   Veer-Zaara
   Kal Ho Naa Ho

   Worst:
   Jab Tak Hain Jaan (and Zero if it would be a romance but it’s not)

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   • Ooo, your top 5 is all the almost or literally supernaturally good heroes. Ghost, Angel, Sacrificing Soldier, and so on. And all of them doing great services for the heroine’s happiness. Except for Harry. Who is definitely flawed. Why do you think you put him there?

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     • Good question! I think it’s because he made me feel something – his home nostalgia, the pain of losing Sejal (I still have goosebumbs when I see the scene when he calls Sejal’s name at the sea). and even if flawed on the outside, for me he was just like the other good heroes.

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   • I’d put JTHJ way further down toward the bottom, but Shah Rukh is very hot, I like the songs, and I’m shallow, lol!

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     • Shahrukh Hotness By Film ranking challenge, that’s a whole other post! I’ll have to think of a good occasion for it.

       On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 4:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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       • Please, not on a workday, Margaret. I won’t get anything done all day! 😉

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         • I anticipate hot debates based on past posts on similar topics. Some people have a strictly chronological feeling (hotter every year). Others (like me) have more of an up and down feeling depending on external factors like Beard. And then there are the people who believe in a reverse chronology (less hot every year as he ages), but they are WRONG. Just so so wrong.

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5. I appreciate how deep these debates are getting :). I’ll play. My ranking is only movies I’ve seen, and based purely on the love story – is the love story the movie tells a great one, and do the actors sell it, regardless of other plot or film flaws.

   – Jab Harry Met Sejal – I don’t know if I can argue rationally for this being a top pick, it’s just the one that gets to me the most. It’s the rawness, as you’ve said, the realness of the characters and their choices, and the way the tone dances the light dance of denial while they’re “pretending” but keeps dropping suddenly into darker confrontations that they can’t control. It’s the deciding to be together being a simple matter that carries a weight of consequence that you can feel without having to witness it in an epilogue.
   – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – I like that SRK and Kajol start off as good friends who push and provoke each other; I can believe they each had other romantic entanglements that diverted them for years but didn’t diminish the connection they had with one another; choosing each other in the end even when it’s inconvenient and complicated is a great love story.
   – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi – starts with love at first sight, a trope that bothers me, but the way his humble character slowly turns their sad acceptance of a marriage into a union of love and joy is delightful to watch.
   – Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham – kind of can’t stand the young romance, but this was one of the first movies I saw Kajol in and as manic as she is (and as puzzled as I was by why they were suddenly dancing around the pyramids) she sold me on the irresistible attraction; the price they pay for staying together and the fact that they ultimately build a happy household that can withstand being isolated or forcibly reintegrated into the family says it’s real love that can withstand time and trials.
   – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – similar irresistible attraction, but I find SRK’s character more irritating so it brings it down a notch; also a little less equal, he goes to greater lengths for her than she does for him; and shorter time span so we don’t know what it looks like after a decade.
   – Dilwale – I would cut all comic scenes and big chunks of Kriti and Varun out of this movie; left alone, the SRKajol romance is gangster Romeo & Juliet with a later in life sequel and a happy ending; agreed there could be more and the execution is trite in places, but solid concept and their chemistry can carry a lot.
   – Chaahat – another love at first sight, but he really has to work to get to know her and win her over, then defend his love against a fantastically manipulative romantic foe; ending is over the top like whoa but very romantic everyman hero fights for his modest life and partner against the evil rich people who would destroy them and steal his soul.
   – Zero – much like JTHJ, the love stories aim for epic but suffer from similar flaws of forced plot twists and spectacle getting in the way of essential character growth; even so, the early scenes between SRK and Anushka, the SRK character transformation while he’s with Kat, and the reunion scenes with Anushka from the end of his time at the space center for me have an emotional depth that keeps this love story toward the top.
   – Jab Tak Hai Jaan – see above, but lower ranked because Kat is so so much better in Zero, makes for a more balanced emotional triangle, and I found the final third of Zero more satisfying in all its craziness than JTHJ; in terms of love story, what JTHJ has going for it: the concept of the scrappy immigrant version of SRK walking away from everything to court death as a bomb defuser after his love rejects him is high tragic romance.
   – Chennai Express – as much as I like Deepika and SRK separately, none of their movies together work for me as romances; the love story here is nice enough, but the motivations are totally plot-driven and based on cardboard cutout characters – she is beautiful but dangerous, he is clueless but surprisingly strong (why he is that way we don’t know, it makes no sense based on his character development).
   – Chalte Chalte – love at first sight trope is again a no for me, plus the long stretch of marital bickering bothers me. And I think I’m not as much of a Rani fan as some of you. Points for realism and showing the unromantic parts of impractical romance, though.
   – Pardes – not one of my favorites, but the love story gets points for the slow build and how the characters come around to each other almost in spite of themselves.
   – Kal Ho Na Ho – I have a soft spot for this movie because it owns its outrageous soap opera heart; tragic ending but self-sacrificing, and quality friendship and good sense of humor from SRK.
   – Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa – sweet puppy love, fine as far as it goes; I kind of like that he doesn’t get the girl just because he wants her.
   – Dil Se – not sure it belongs on the list; Manisha Koirala is amazing in this movie, and at the same time I never believed her character was really in love with SRK, so that makes it very one-sided and not much of a love story from her side.
   – Paheli – this has any number of things I don’t like: ghosts falling in love with humans, love at first sight, impersonation, and total lack of agency for the woman in how the story ends; creeps me out. (The puppets and weird special effects also creep me out but I’m trying not to count them in this case.)

   Wow, that got super long! Ha!

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   • Happy that it got “super long” 🙂

     I like every take on the movies you chose. Agree with DilSe…I also got the feeling that she may have fallen in love with him having had other experiences in her youth and another upbringing, and without a very clear goal…she was at war outside and inside.
     I second your opinion about the end of Paheli (“lack of agency for the woman”) … still I love the movie for the rest of the story. I like those kind of fanciful stories.
     Strangely, I had the same feeling about OSO, CE and HNY although they clearly loved each other in CE at the end. But in OSO’s second part, there is no love story between them and in HNY it’s not very elaborated.

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   • Okay, ready for a similarly long reply point by point?

     -JHMS and the dark and light tone is so unique, and I think part of what made that film so hard for people to grasp. If you miss the darkness, it looks like the lightest silliest most plotless movie ever. But if you see it, it is an immediately different kind of romance.

     -Oh that ending! If only they had both made a little bit more of an effort, I would have liked it more. Sure, SRK came to her wedding and Kajol wouldn’t go down the stairs, but if Salman hadn’t made his move, they both would have just lived miserable lives. I wanted to see them aggressively reaching for happiness.

     -You know what makes the love at first sight not as bad? Even the hero doesn’t realize that’s what it is. He likes her right away, but he doesn’t acknowledge it to himself, just keeps going along on his little life and doing what seems right.

     -YES! This, so much. The young romance is the love at first sight quick-quick-quick, but then we check in with them 10 years later, and they are joking and sexy and fight sometimes and also have real deep conversations like partners, in a way you don’t usually get to see between couples in movies.

     -I desperately want a DDLJ sequel for this reason. The characters are both so young, I want to see what they grew into together.

     -Their chemistry is so good in this, it just gets stronger with age.

     -I also like that for once it is the woman who is more successful and urban and wealthier, not just evil Ramya but also good Pooja.

     -If Zero had stayed straight romance, I might agree, but the way the plot zigs and zags just ruins it for me

     -Why do you remind me of the final third of JTHJ???? Everything up to then isn’t great but is fine, and then that last third just goes completely of the rails

     -I just figure SRK’s character spent a lot of time at the gym because he didn’t have anything else to do

     -Chalte Chalte is funny, because it does love at first sight, and then backs up and has them spend that one great day together. If they had just adjusted slightly, it could have been “love after one great day together” instead, come up with another reason for her to have to go on a day long truck trip with him.

     -My new theory with Pardes is just to skip to the interval, the love story and the characters and everything is stronger once it goes overseas.

     -It has surprisingly little real romantic interaction between SRK and Preity, now that I think about it. The Saif-Preity bond gets far more time and comes out feeling stronger

     -Yeah, I hardly even think of this as a romance, it’s more a coming of age story with romance as the catalyst

     -Same as above, kind of one-sided

     -Check out the “rank hottest SRK” list! I agree with you about Paheli

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     • OK, you win, I can’t keep the point by point going :). Just a few:

       – RNBDJ he’s struck by her but doesn’t believe she could ever be his, and in fact continues to believe this through the first half of the movie even after they’re married. His humility is so endearing, it’s why you root for Suri to be happy in the end.

       – JTHJ that last third is such a wreck! Every time I think of it I shake my head. Such a nice movie they had, just…why?

       – Dil Se this probably isn’t a very original thought, but they’re kind of in different movies. He is in a romance where love conquers all, and she is in a violent rebellion movie. The stories meet in the ending.

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       • Now that I think about it, RNBDJ is the antithesis of how these plots usually go. Usually it is “I love her, and I have the right to expect she will eventually love me”. In this film, it is “I love her, and I have no expectation she will ever feel the same way back to me, even though we are already married, she can feel whatever she wants to feel”.

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         • Exactly. It’s why I’m so fond of it. He just wants her to be happy again, and he doesn’t assume that he’s the thing that will make her happy.

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6. First of all, Thank you so much for this list! I feel like we all needed a good overview of all of SRK’s actual romances, cause they sometimes can get mixed up within all the other genres hes crossing. I now picked out of your list the 10 romace-movies with SRK that actually worked for me and also explained why – I hope I get no hate for acually NOT including DDLJ..

   1.) Kal ho naa ho – I mean, its obviously my favorite indian movie of all time and I just can never get enough of it. I love how you yourself feel kind of in love while watching it, you experience everything through the characters eyes and totally loose yourself in their stories. Also, to me, the ultimate testimony of Shahrukh’s ”romantic love” is all the pain he endures and all the sacrafices he makes for his loved one. Its terrible but I kind love Shahrukh when hes completly and utterly controlled by his emotions and when its ”all or nothing” for him.

   2.) Kuch Kuch hota hai – This is actually my second favorite movie and the love-triangle in this is (nearly) as intresting to me as in KHNH. I love how all the people involed are not evil people, they simply love the wrong person at the wrong time. I feel Anjalis pain, Tina’s inner conflict by coming ”between” two friends, Aman’s (still) broken heart and Shahrukhs confusion. I love how his character needed some tome to think before he realized his actual feelings for Anjali, he was ”growing into his love for her” when he became a responsible adult.

   3.) Veer-Zaara – I don’t know why you actually don’t like the movie (I literally stalked your page for a review of it but only found your comments on how you loved the soundtrack but hated the ‘old-people-make-up’ haha). But yeah I rewatched the movie yesterday with my mother and it made us quite emotional. I really love the Parkistan/Indian differences and unity, and how it is dealt off in the film as well as the conflict of the story. I totally get that not everyone feels that it made sense but hence I am from a muslim household I totally got what kind of ”honor” Shahrukh actually went to jail for. It’s of course just a stupid concept to keep women small, but if you turn off your brain for a while the ‘acrobatic-logic’ is not going to bother you. I am also a big fan of the SRK/Preity pairing so yeah.

   4.) Devdas – Another movie that you don’t really like haha I heard that you mentioned that youre in general not a fan of the ”style over substance” work that SLB is doing and I would totally agree on every other movie with you on that- except ‘Devdas’ (RamLeela was okay but I don’t get all the hype tbh). Shahrukh’s performance is so heartbreaking and tragic, his eyes are staring right into your soul, his devastation is so present. I loved his stubborness and hot-headedness in this film but also the naivety of his and Aish’s bond. But I loved even MORE his chemistry with Madhuri, simply outstanding! Her devotion to the point of self-destruction seemed so tragically-romantic to me.

   5.) Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham – A movie I actually mostly like for the Hrithik/Kareena dynamic in the second half but Shahrukh and Kajol’s romance is also quite adorable. They just have this amazing chemistry, where they fight in one second and make up in the next. I am never going to get over the ‘Bracelet-scene’ too -amazing! But yeah their romance is so low on my list because (just like you mentioned) theres not enough of it!

   6.) Dil Se.. – Another controversial opinion of mine lol But as I stated somewhere up there, Shahrukh ”the love-crazed-maniac” is apparently also something I live and breath for (good to know). But yeah him and Manisha had so much chemistry and even though he stalked her and she never really confessed her love to him, I still felt their connection. Esspecially in the moment where he put the headphones onto her ears and they just stared into each others eyes, listening to the tape recording while they were mourning all the dreams they are never going to be able to turn into reality. Makes me emo just thinking about it but alas.

   7.) Kabhi Alveda Na Kehna – Well, let’s just get used to my odd choices at this point haha but yeah I actually also really loved Rani and Shahrukh in this. I mean they did awful, awful things to their spouses (who were ultimatley much better people than they were) but they just made an intresting match. I felt like them being such unlikeable characters, made them feel even more real and fleshed out to me. I wasn’t really rooting for them but I liked that they were both ”freaky outsiders” who found together through their unhappy marriages and other ”weird circumstances”.

   8.) Chalte Chalte – Again, Shahrukh and Rani is most of the time a perfect match for me. I loved how they worked through their problems in this movie. I am also happy that Aish didn’t play the role of Rani and got replaced (shes not the strongest actress tbh).

   9.) Jab Harry Met Sejal – Yeess!! This movie is so freaking underrated and (as you said in one of your reviews) so freaking sexy! Shahrukh and Anushka are always a treat, I am just satisfied seeing them in interviews together being playful and all. Anyways, their chemistry is literally DRIPPING off the screen in this movie and even though it’s an over-done concept, I had no problem with the whole ”she might save him from himself” plot-device. They were such a great and hot looking couple but most of all deeply cared for each other.

   10.) Jab Tak Hain Jaan – Okay, so on my last two ranks I have Anushka and Shahrukh romances! They are so, so lovely together! I just feel like hes the most comfortable with her to try out more intimate and different roles and it’s the same for her. But yeah, even though their love was (unfairly) one-sided in this movie I still enjoyed the few moments they shared. Anushka confessing his love to him and being well known of getting her heart broken in the process, was super sad to watch. I like though how Shahrukh wasn’t becoming distant towards her after it, its as if he wanted to treat her softly so that she wouldn’t become damaged like him.

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   • Okay, I am beginning to see that you have a real weakness for the slightly flawed romances. Not flawed like poorly made, but flawed like KANK, they are in love but married to other people. Or JTHJ, Anushka loves Shahrukh but it is not returned. Have you seen Ae Dil Hai Mushkil? It’s only got a little Shahrukh, but I think it is the exact film you want.

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7. Wow you totally see through me haha And yes, I seem to have a weak spot for these dysfunctional/flawed romances. For some reason them being in love but “only” having the parents against it is not enough, I need it even bigger and more dramatic and more tragic. But anyways, yes I have also actually seen ADHM. I must say that I do enjoyed about 95% of the movie (even though I really, really dislike Ranbir Kapoor, he was still pretty convincing in his role though) and the songs were also amazing (I did buy the DVD cause I love most of the other KJo romances that he has done too) but where the problems came in for me was a.) The lack of Fawad Khan (He was SO good in his role and SO hot! But not enough scenes! So sad. I know they cut a lot of scenes out because of the whole Pakistan-ban but STILL) and b.) The last 30 minutes of the movie were just awful. Like I can’t DEAL with the way that Karan decided to end Alizeh’s story and to kill her off. It also seemed like his writing was getting worse and like he was mainly repeating fights and arguments that Ariyan and Alizeh already had in the first half of the film. The “cancer-plot” really dragged the whole movie down for me and made it unable for me to get back into the story, like I couldn’t take it serious anymore before that I was crying and everything. I literally rewatched the film last week and wanted to turn it off after the moment where Ariyan lays on the rooftop, waiting for Alizeh to come back, cause after that it just gets ridiculous and totally laughable. But yeah, I also thought that Shahrukh’s cameo was pretty cute even though it was just for one (but highly important!) scene 🙂

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   • If you ever feel like going black and white, Bombai Ki Babu with Dev Anand would be your ideal movie. Soooooo complicated, and no way to give the romance a happy ending.

     Oh, and with ADHM, my feeling is that Karan wanted the audience to leave knowing that the romance would always be incomplete. Without giving Anushka another love interest. And he wanted to show that their ffriendship-love could survive really tough times. Killing her off ends the romance with it still incomplete, and shows their non-romantic love is still true. Really, after the response to Dear Zindagi of “they are totally in love!”, I am not sure if anything short of death would have kept people from hoping.

     On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 12:32 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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