Will Salman save Kyon Ki?

Patcy N | November 02, 2005 18:40 IST


I loved Priyadarshan's Malayalam film, Thalavattam. It was tragic, and depressed me, but I loved it. In a recent interview with rediff.com, the director told me that Salman Khan was brilliant in the Hindi remake, Kyon Ki. In fact, according to Priyan, he was better than the original hero Mohanlal in certain scenes. Naturally, when I went to watch Kyon Ki, I was curious about whether it did justice to the original.

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Kyon Ki begins with Anand (Khan) being admitted to a mental asylum. Dr Sunil (Jackie Shroff) is in charge of his case. Sunil learns from Anand's diary that he had loved a girl called Maya (Rimii Sen), who died. Since then, Anand had lost his mental balance.

Dr Tanvi (Kareena Kapoor) does not like Anand at first, but gradually falls in love. She learns of his sad past and decides to help him out. When he is cured, he returns her love. But Tanvi is already engaged and her father Dr Khurana (who also owns the hospital, played by Om Puri) does not want Tanvi and Anand to marry.

Priyadarshan had said that if one didn't like Salman in the film, he was to be blamed, not Salman. So my question goes to the director. What did you do to the script? None of the characters enjoy any sympathy from the audience.

People who have not seen the original may appreciate it. But Salman's comic sequences are not as good as they were in No Entry or his other recent comedies.

In Kyon Ki, Salman is just about bearable. He was good in Tere Naam, but that quality did not come across here. He is probably one of the most inconsistant actors in the industry today. Only one thing remains -- he still looks stunning.

The heroines, Kareena and Rimii, have little to do, but they excel, especially Rimii. Om Puri's performance is lame. Jackie Shroff, who was so good in the recent Antarmahal, is just about average and even loud at times. The romance between Salman and Kareena seems unconvincing. One does not even realise when the two actually fall in love.

There are too many songs in the movie, and the pace is much too slow. In the original, the flashback is told in a single song. In Kyon Ki, it drags on unendingly.

Whatever my reservations against the film though, Kyon Ki may just go on to become a hit. After all, you can always count on Salman's winning streak at the box office to save it.



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My 2 cents worth:

Kyon Ki, ---- copied One Flew over Cuckoo Nest but couldn't bring out the ambience or seriousness of Nut House. Add 20 min of flashback with Rimi Sen why SK ended up there. Kareena is a Doc (her father is incharge of the institution) there and experiments treating Salman with romance, on behest of encouragement from Doc Jackie Shroff (not in Ccukoo's Nest).

BTW, Kyon Ki will be of interest to Canadians and North Americans as most of the shooting is Canadian Outdoors (Fall Colors) and Canadian Homes turned sets (Office, Institute etc).

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

All right, I just watched Kyon Ki. Ahem...it was GARBAGE. GARBAGE. Roughly the first half was strongly "inspired by" One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest, whereas the second was about as trite, obligatory, contrived "Bollywood" as you can imagine. Salman Khan was...Salman Khan. Thus, in the film, he was pretty bad. He didn't "act" (he never does, right? Isn't that his "thing"?); he was just sometimes-loud, sometimes-sad Salman Khan. The supporting cast had no scope; these weren't the believably insane characters of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: they were there to fill space. Jackie Shroff hammed it up, and his character was typical and weak. Salman's characterization was slipshod: all over the place. At the start, he's totally OK, from where he slips into more and more insipid "nutty behavior" (which doesn't make sense in the story). About halfway through, Rimi Sen shows up, and we get a little while of "playboy, romantic Salman." Hell, a lot of it is just a Salman-showcase. The song at the hospital, even, manages to get him into some "club" clothing, and get all "jiggy." The songs, per se, aren't bad, but they're not what should be the selling-point of the movie, either. Kareena Kapoor does a good job, but her character isn't terribly engaging. Om Puri's character is just idiotically thought up. He's like a cross between Munnabhai M.B.B.S.'s Boman Irani, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's "Nurse Ratchett." (Suniel Shetty's in it, in what may be considered a true "guest appearance": I think he has a total screen-time of about ninety seconds [literally]). The ending is RETARDED. It made sense in Jack Nicholson's film, but, here, it's a pitiable attempt to impose some sort of sick, twisted "tragedy." Also, the "tragedy" anything but goes with the film's obvious predilection for te light-hearted, in place of the "subtle." When you have jackass, fruitcake security guards running around, pissing up a scenes, a "serious" conclusion doesn't really work. The film seems to have no idea what audience it wished to target, being too stupid to appeal to people looking for a "good film," and too "Shah Rukh [or Salman] Khan," for those who settle for just having fun for a few hours. Altogether, Kyon Ki is an utter shit-fest, beginning to dumb-ass end.