Kuch Kuch Nahin Hotha Hain!

 'Kuch Kuch Hotha Hain' released in October 1998. I got married the first week of February 1999. I was a huge Salman Khan fan at that time (please don't judge me based on his persona today, just look at those years' Salman Khan and if your heart doesn't melt, well, you must be a hard nut to crack). SRK lead the cast but at that time, I could not stand him (again please don't judge me, just watch him in the movies around that time, he hams big time and is always saying - please pity me, please, please! ugh!). This movie was a disaster from start to finish. The posters are also cringer where he is hugging Kaajol and at the same time holding Rani's hand. The music is of course the life save and I truly think the movie was a hit because everyone went to see Salman Khan in a Black suit dancing to 'Tere ghar aaya main aaya tujhko lene!' It was a rage at that time and my choice for inclusion in my wedding video :-)

Somehow that movie always stayed with me for how inept it was. How the women were reduced to mere caricatures. Kaajol's role especially was such a drag - like she leaves this man who dances with her mom on sagai day to make the mom not feel bad that her daughter would be leaving soon and lavishes all the love in the world for Kaajol and actually does things for her. Yet, what does she do? She goes back to the man who rejected her all those years ago in favor of someone not because she was a better fit for him but because she looks, dresses and behaves 'better' (better as in Bollywood better - dresses in miniskirts, smiles all the time and marries the first man that proposes to her not because of who she is but because of how she looks!) To him a woman who plays and beats him at basketball, a woman who can shout back at him and refuses to follow the norm of how a woman is supposed to look is not good enough to love. She is good enough to be friend zoned and be all pally-pally with but nope, a tomboy like her who lives life on her own terms is not good enough to fall in love with.

She is only fit enough to fall in love with when she can dress in Saris, with long flowing hair, false eyelashes and perfect make up. She can only be loved when she can dance in a gharara and twirl around. The worst part? She doesn't mind it all. She feels so great that finally this red flag of a man realizes what a beautiful woman she is. She never questions him why he left but says - tum itna bhi nahi bol sake about an I-love-you game they play. Idiot, did you forget that he was in love with someone else. Why would you wish he would say that to you when he was clearly not in love with you but with some other woman. The only reason he's back to you is because she died and he now needs a nanny for their daughter and to provide that service you sacrifice the man who loves you for what you are. The man whom your family loves dearly. Truly, what an anti-thesis to the Kaajol of the first half.

I really wanted to rewrite that story with believable characters. Strong women who are good friends and don't need no Khans to show them their worth. Tomboyish or girly, every woman is beautiful in her own way and let us not have Karan Johar dictate who is worth falling in love. That is how I came up with my latest audio story - 'The Third Musketeer!'

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-4juqp-1a86974