Why Did Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna Fail? Mohar Basu Explores In New Book

As a superstar who lives his life in the glare of cameras and headlines, much has been written about Shah Rukh Khan - his passion, his craft, his humility and the love he spreads around. But beyond the films, the news and the star persona, is a man who has come to mean many different things to his ever-growing legion of fans.

As much a paean to Shah Rukh's career as a tribute to the actor himself, this book is a dream compendium of intimate stories, fan accounts and never-before-seen photographs of the man who rules the hearts of more than half the world's people-the star, the icon, the legend, SHAH RUKH KHAN. 

Here's an extract from Mohar Basu's Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star

Karan Johar was exasperated, frustrated and furious at the reception of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK). He spoke about how the film became a topic of heated discussions at dining tables across the country. Viewers questioned Shah Rukh’s actions in the film and couldn’t understand why Rani Mukerji’s character left Abhishek Bachchan’s, who was the seemingly perfect husband. Karan was irritated by this mass judgement and found himself repeatedly trying to explain the film, saying that perhaps the reason lay in sexual chemistry—or the lack thereof. Despite Rishi being a good man, Maya simply wasn’t attracted to him and, instead, found herself drawn to a crabby and irritable Dev.

Matters of the heart, you see, he tried to explain. Karan in several interviews over the years has called out the hypocrisy of society, noting that people are quick to judge others without realizing that ‘textbook morality’ doesn’t always apply to real-life situations. He was frustrated, knowing that similar dynamics often played out in people’s personal lives, and yet they were quick to criticize the film. 

Shah Rukh himself wasn’t very convinced about whether he could play Dev. It was incredibly difficult for him to make sense of the character. Karan talked about how the character’s motivations—in this case a man having an extramarital affair—were incomprehensible to Shah Rukh. He wrote in his memoir how, after a scene, he had to literally explain it to Shah Rukh: ‘Shah Rukh, you are not having an affair. The character is having an affair. Can you not understand this?’ Perhaps, for Shah Rukh, Dev was an antithesis of the image he had of himself as an actor, and as a man. 

It was incredibly difficult for Shah Rukh to make sense of Dev. The fact that he was the antithesis of his own image played upon his mind. Shah Rukh, in an interview, said, ‘In 3 hours you can’t convey a message; in fact no movie can. The maximum that you can do is convey a point of view. If you look at my character, he is someone who limps while walking, has a failed career, doesn’t have a very happy marriage and finds love outside it. Now KANK tells his point of view based on the circumstances impacting him.’ But is it for real, he was asked. He said, ‘Okay, so you may not think that this is something from your own life. It may not even be a story about someone whom you know or lives next to your house. But then there are good chances of someone down the street in a remote corner who may have gone through similar circumstances. KANK is a story from that person’s point of view!’

Karan was brutally vilified for doing this to Shah Rukh. ‘And here I was breaking every conceivable norm. It was as if by making Shah Rukh Khan cheat on his wife on celluloid, I was doing the biggest injustice to cinema,’ wrote Karan in An Unsuitable Boy. 

In the film, Shah Rukh wasn’t the typical romantic hero, chaste in his choices and moralities. He wasn’t noble and was doing some pretty dishonourable things that came as a rude shock to his female fans. Gone was the charming, self-assured persona. Instead, they met a guy who was disillusioned, trapped in a loveless marriage and teetering on the edge of a mid-life crisis. In a relationship devoid of passion, living with a wife consumed by her career and far more successful, he perfectly captured Dev’s rage that stemmed from empty day-to-day affairs and his inability to pursue football. Once a successful player, an accident abruptly ended his career, leaving him unable to live the life he loved. This loss fuelled much of his bitterness, rage and insecurity, especially towards his wife’s career achievements. But this is never enough to redeem his character in the eyes of the audience, as it was overshadowed by the narrative of adultery.

Shah Rukh plays Dev to perfection with his caustic sarcasm, passive-aggressive behaviour towards his wife and crushing cynicism at the world at large. He bowled over his fans with the sincerity of his performance, even though they didn’t like him as Dev. As opposed as they were to seeing him cheating on screen, it was a performance that got the nod of approval from fans and critics alike. They, however, unanimously agreed that Dev Saran would never be their choice of man in real life. They wanted Raj Malhotra over and over again. 

While most women are sceptical of Shah Rukh dissociating himself from the idea of monogamy even in films, I spoke to Deeksha Mehta, a researcher in New York who gave me an alternative perspective. She was incidentally watching KANK the evening I called her for the interview. ‘I absolutely love that Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna dares to explore the nuances of love that society often chooses to ignore or outright reject. It’s so disheartening how we live in a world that judges and marginalizes people just because their love doesn’t fit the conventional mould, where love is seen as legitimate only if it is within the bounds of marriage. So extramarital affairs are pure lust? That’s what you’d like to believe, because in most cultures the idea of marriage is sacrosanct. But KANK showed marriages that are flawed and people who are exhausted from fixing it.

I think of myself as Rhea. I was married to a Dev and he had a Maya. And that last scene, where Rhea tells Maya, “Reh ke dekho, pataa chalega [Stay with him, and then you’ll understand]”, is something I have said as well. The film is so real, so personal … even the dialogues have definitely been used in real life by some. If anyone loves in a way that challenges societal norms, they are often met with scorn rather than understanding.

The film’s portrayal of Dev and Maya’s relationship is a beautiful rebellion against this narrow-mindedness. Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar and Rani Mukerji created something truly special by showing a love story that doesn’t conform to traditional expectations but still finds its own sense of resolution and happiness. What makes it even more powerful is how the film gives them a happy ending, which people feel they didn’t deserve—they’d rather seen them punished for cheating. Isn’t it better if people who love each other stay together instead of making the world around them unhappy? 

KANK allows the couple to find a sense of peace. It’s so refreshing to see a film that says, “Love is complicated, and that’s okay.” It’s not about promoting adultery, but about acknowledging that love isn’t always black-and-white. The happy ending for Dev and Maya feels like a triumph, not just for them but for anyone who’s ever felt judged for their own unconventional love story. It’s a reminder that love, in all its forms, deserves to be honoured.’

Extracted with permission from Mohar Basu's Shah Rukh Khan: Legend, Icon, Star; published by HarperCollins India