''Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'' () is a 1993

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Kundan Shah, starring

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

and

Deepak Tijori Deepak Tijori (born 28 August 1961) is an Indian film director and actor who works in Bollywood and Gujarati cinema, Gujarati films and is well known for his supporting roles in ''Aashiqui'' (1990), ''Khiladi (1992 film), Khiladi'' (1992), ''J ...

. It also featured Suchitra Krishnamurthy (in her Hindi film debut) and

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

. With a budget of , the film received positive reviews and grossed , equivalent to adjusted for inflation . At the 39th Filmfare Awards, it won 2 awards – Best Film (Critics) and Best Actor (Critics) for Khan, who also won Best Actor for '' Baazigar'' at the same ceremony. It is widely considered to be one of Khan's best performances, and he has said that it is his favorite film. It was premiered at the Indian Panorama section of the 24th International Film Festival of India. Shah Rukh Khan has bought the rights to the film under his banner, Red Chillies Entertainment. The film was remade in Telugu as '' Swapnalokam'' (1999), with

Jagapathi Babu Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Chowdary (born 12 February 1962), professionally known as Jagapathi Babu (), is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Kannada cinema, Kannada, Malayalam cine ...

and Raasi in the cast.

Plot

Sunil is woken up from his dream of marrying the girl he loves, Anna, by his sister. Sunil is a happy-go-lucky scamp who loves music and is not interested in studies, which bothers his father, Vinayak. Everyone has given up on Sunil and thinks he is good for nothing except for Father Braganza, who believes Sunil is pure at heart. Sunil, Anna, and Chris are 3 members of a 6-person music band, who are looking to make it big. Anna rejoins the group after being away for a while, which makes Chris happy as he loves Anna. After Anna reenters his life, Sunil begins to try and change his ways to get Anna to fall in love with him. During a performance at a friend's wedding, Sunil notices the closeness between Anna and Chris. Devastated, he decides to create a rift between them. Sunil eventually gets caught in his web of lies. A furious Anna slaps him and decides to never talk to him again. Sunil is thrown out of the band. However, fortune favors Sunil as he saves the band from being heckled at a local club by putting on a stellar show; the entire band forgives and forgets. At the same time, Sunil fails his exams again, having done so three times already. While Vinayak is upset and no longer wishes to associate with his son anymore, upon Father Briganza and everyone's advice and support, he eventually forgives his son and accepts his passion and talent for music, upon realizing he is gaining success as a musician. Sunil thinks he has won Anna back but finds out that Anna and Chris love each other and want to be married. Crushed to pieces, Sunil accepts he has lost in love. Meanwhile, Anna's father decides that Chris is worthy of marrying her. He makes his intentions known but Chris' parents have other ideas and fix Chris' marriage to their friend's daughter. Anna and her family are dejected. Sunil consoles Anna and the tide slowly turns in his favor. Anna's father believes that Sunil will love and take care of her and convinces Anna to marry Sunil. Sunil is overjoyed until he realizes Anna still loves Chris. Sunil decides to reunite the two and get them married. On their wedding day, as Chris and Anna are about to exchange rings, Chris drops his ring and it rolls out of sight. Sunil spots the ring but feigns ignorance, even as his younger sister gazes at him with a heavy heart. Eventually, Chris locates the ring, and the couple gets married. Just after the wedding, Sunil is seen sitting on the sidewalk, dejected and heartbroken. By chance, a random girl, who is lost and seeking directions, approaches Sunil. Sometime later, Sunil and the girl are seen walking in the moonlight and talking merrily. Anthony and Vasco, two criminals who are a part of the story, see Sunil with the new girl and break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

, saying that Sunil will be alright. The criminals hear the police siren and immediately scamper away as the credits roll.

Cast

Music

The music was composed by

Jatin–Lalit Jatin–Lalit is a renowned Indian music director duo consisting of brothers Jatin Pandit and Lalit Pandit. They are celebrated for their contribution to Bollywood music during the 1990s and early 2000s. The duo is known for their melodious com ...

, while the lyrics were penned by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

. The song "Sachhi Ye Kahaani Hai" derives from two songs: Boney M.'s "

Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final ye ...

" (1978), and Johnny Wakelin's "In Zaire". ''Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'' sold over 800,000

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

s in India.

Reception

In a retrospective review, Sampada Sharma of

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

wrote, "SRK played everything from a lost lover to man dealing with mental health issues. Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa was also a unique film in that respect. If made traditionally, it could have been a love story of Chris and Anna where Sunil is the villain of their life. But Kundan Shah decided to tell this story from the point of view of this lost guy who doesn’t drown himself in alcohol, and isn’t out to burn the world just because he got stuck in an unsuccessful love story. He moves on with his broken heart hoping that it will heal over time."

Awards

; 39th Filmfare Awards: * Best Film (Critics) * Best Actor (Critics) –

References

External links

* {{FilmfareCriticsAwardBestMovie 1990s Hindi-language films Films scored by Jatin–Lalit 1994 films Hindi films remade in other languages Films shot in Goa Films directed by Kundan Shah Indian coming-of-age films Films set in Goa