Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The White Hindu

Home
Hindu
Movie Club: Kal Ho Naa Ho

Movie Club: Kal Ho Naa Ho

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:31 pm by Ambaa Choate

Movie Club: Kal Ho Naa Ho 2015-03-13T22:31:39-04:00 Ambaa Choate

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I enjoyed this movie a lot. It’s not displacing my favorites, but it was really nice.

The title basically means what if there’s no tomorrow. As in, live for today.

Here are my thoughts as I was watching (there will be spoilers):

It’s so funny. The grandmother and her friends singing is hilarious and there’s a lot of great moments of comedic timing.

There are lots of aspects of this movie to draw me in. Such as the interfaith family with the Sikh grandmother and Catholic mother (I assume Catholic because that’s the form of Christianity most common in India). And the adopted sister and disabled brother. All things that are relevant to my life!

As soon as the mom starts talking about angels and praying for an angel, who do we see? Shah Rukh Khan, of course. SRK is an angel. Of course he is.

Interesting vision of America. It felt pretty believable as a movie version of New York City. I liked that they showed a lot of the diversity of America.

Someone get that brother into wheelchair basketball, for God’s sake. He’d love it!

It annoys me when people, in real life or movies, assume that someone can’t do something because of a disability. It would have to be an enormously severe disability to stop them and even then there’s usually a work around. There’s always a way. It takes creativity and determination, but I have yet to see anything that can’t be done.

Aman is really weird. I like that he brings people together and helps his new friends, but I don’t really understand him at all.

There are a lot of mostly naked women in that club. I guess I can’t say that’s inaccurate to America. Yes, some do dress this way and others don’t. I personally dislike clubs like this and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve ever been to one. I don’t drink at all and the crowds and noise triggers anxiety for me. So again, it’s important to remember that there is a lot of diversity in America and people in this club don’t represent all of Americans!

I thought Jenny was Catholic, and she did call the pastor “father” and crosses herself like a Catholic, but the gospel choir at the church is something you’d find at a Baptist service. Weird.

I don’t think they need to be fighting with the Chinese food place. There are plenty of people in NY and when they have different things to offer, why should they be angry with the Chinese? It’s very unflattering to Aman’s character to see him talking about the Chinese in a way that the movie actually bleeps!

This is one of the few times I’ve seen a love triangle where I’m not sure who I want to win out in the end.

Oh right, Aman is married. Why is he never with his wife? Is she a patient somewhere, hospital or institution, that he has to go visit her? No, they meet for lunch.

I was just thinking about how the songs aren’t really grabbing me, they’re nice and all, but nothing special, when suddenly the title song comes on and it’s lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOOe2_2UMEQ

Of course taking off Naina’s glasses is the cue that she’s now ready for romantic relationships. She looks super cute in them and I’m a little sad she never wears them again!

Rohit is growing on me. I’m skeptical of stories where someone who is a huge player, always chasing different women, settles down suddenly and is devoted to one woman. Romeo and Juliet brings out the same skepticality in me!

As funny as the scenes with Kantaben catching Aman and Rohit looking like they are lovers, it’s weird to me that Rohit would have a servant in NYC. I guess that shows how rich he is? I don’t know about New York, but I haven’t met an Indian family here who brought a servant with them. Still, it’s certainly possible. Reminds me of that strange court case about the woman who was arrested for not paying her servant minimum wage.

Ah, Aman is sick. But wait, if Priya is his doctor, why does he have a wedding photo of them? Oh, I guess he was a guest at her wedding?

I don’t know if Aman really knows that much about women. But his methods do seem to be working on Naina. I like the Cyrano de Bergerac aspect of it, him giving Rohit the words to express his love.

Rohit’s family are so funny. In a lot of movies you see Sikhs and Punjabis in general being the butt of the joke. They often kind of play the fools, but in this movie that’s done with the Gujaratis.

It’s nice to see the interfaith family coming together and praying together.

Public confrontation is really interesting when you think about how none of the people around can understand a word. They just see Naina yelling at Aman and Rohit but don’t know at all what they are saying.

Okay, now that Naina knows the truth, she’s crying constantly. The whole rest of the movie she’s non-stop in tears. It’s getting a little grating. The whole tone of the movie shifts really dramatically.

Why didn’t Aman just tell her? It’s really not fair to just die on her with no preparation. When someone you love dies unexpectedly, you want so much to have been able to know it was coming, to talk with them about it, to emotionally prepare. But you can’t. They’re just gone and all you can do is talk to them about it in your dreams.

I am skeptical that Aman can leave the hospital and run around NYC with a heart condition and not drop dead. I’m also skeptical that he could find Naina where she ran off to. It’s not that easy to just bump into someone in a city like New York!

Was it right for Aman to “step aside” and not marry Naina? I think she should have had all the information and been able to make that choice herself. (As much as I really like her and Rohit together…and he is remarkably understanding).

“You got her in this birth, but in the next she’ll be mine.” That’s nice. I like that sentiment. A good solution! (Of course, I’m lucky that there is no one other than my husband in my heart and I want to spend every lifetime I have with him).

I like that we get to see an epilogue 20 years later. Rohit and Naina are really great together.

The message of the movie is to live for today and that’s a message I can support!

***

For next week, we’ll watch Kahaani because it keeps showing up in my Netflix list and the description has me intrigued!

Previous Post

May 23, 2014

Indian Buzzfeed

Next Post

May 26, 2014 Thank You To The Kshatriya

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Club Hindu Holiday How Am I Being a Hindu This Week? Inside the Life Meet a God Meet a Guru Movie Club Philosophy Corner Resources Scripture Uncategorized Wild Card

Select a Month February 2020 September 2019 May 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Israelites Egyptians Chaldeans People of Babel