I'm probably also late to the party when it comes to the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but hey maybe others have already given their two cents, but I haven't yet, so nothing wrong in doing so now 😅.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai came out in October 1998 and was one of the very first Bollywood films I can remember watching and the actors (Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol) playing the lead, still remain my favorite Indian actors to date. There's been a lot of debate surrounding the plot, especially around my peers. Some have had the same opinion early on and are still standing by it, while others have changed their stance after gaining some "wisdom". But let's talk about the storyline first, before I'll delve into what my thoughts are on this topic.
The movie's about a boy (Rahul) and a girl (Anjali), who are best friends in college and who are spending a lot of time together on the basketball court, until another girl named Tina enrolls at the same university, who catches the eyes of all the boys and especially Rahul. Tina's beautiful, feminine and "out worldly" (she's studied abroad), while Anjali is tomboyish, has a huge heart and is opinionated. Both women are beauties in their own rights and strong in their own way, so they shouldn't be penalized for their attributes and yet Rahul ultimately had "chosen" Tina as his life partner.
This wasn't for long though, as Tina died after giving birth to their daughter, whom they named after Anjali; the friend who left during the semester and didn't keep in contact. Tina left eight long letters for her daughter Anjali, for every birthday and in the last letter she told Anjali the story of her namesake and asked her daughter to reconnect and eventually reunite Rahul with his best friend. Little Anjali found the whereabouts of Anjali - who has just gotten engaged to Aman - and then a lot of exciting and funny things happened and Rahul reconnected with Anjali.
Although Rahul eventually realized his love for Anjali, he seemed to be too late as Anjali had promised her hand in marriage to another, who was madly in love with her and who was upfront about it from the get go. And then some drama and tears followed, but ultimately Anjali and Rahul ended up together and gotten married to each other.
And now the fun part: Remember that I said that Rahul "chose" Tina as his partner? What if Anjali had stayed? Would they have then ultimately ended up together? And yes, Anjali and Tina shouldn't have been vying for Rahul's attention and during their college years it seemed like Rahul wanted it all; the woman he was attracted to and he wanted his best friend - who truly knew his heart and accepted all of his vices - close. Some of my peers were/are angry that he didn't choose Anjali and didn't see her worth from the start, while Aman did and Anjali should've chosen Aman instead.
I do see the point my peers are making, but Kuch Kuch Hota Hai still remains one of my favorite Bollywood films, because I realize that I'm still a sucker for romantic movies and believe in best friends becoming real life partners. Of course, life is not a movie and love should be drama free as much as possible and we shouldn't create false expectations, because it did pan out in this movie. As long as you/I realize the difference between movie and real life and are/am aware of the flaws of the story, then there's no harm in enjoying the movie. But who knows, I might change my mind in the future and that's ok 🙃 too.
