Best movie. Review on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

CHEERS! A helicopter's buzzing wings dissolve to a girl pirouetting joyously. A high-heeled soiree cuts sharply to a robust celebration in a downbeat mohalla. A disturbed young man dispenses words of wisdom to his kid brother on a park bench before which an azure-green meadow stretches as far as the eye can see.These are just some of the visually astonishing moments in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, in which Karan Johar displays as much technical assurance as his gift for stripping his characters bare of their innermost emotions. Tears-`n'-laughter are a deadly combination. Practically every film-maker strives to make the twain meet. Only Johar achieves it, compelling the viewer to guffaw and weep, alternately, in the course of his opulently-mounted family drama that is kabhi staunchly traditional and kabhie hip-hop trendy.In fact, in the realm of the much-vilified and rarely- saluted commercial cinema, here's a polished product which presses all the right buttons without ever dithering. Long for glamour-`n'-glitz? Crave superstar power? Need love- `n'-caring? Voulez vous fun-`n'games? You want 'em, you got 'em in this three-hour-30-minute entertainer which, indeed, leaves you hungry for more.Working from a sturdy screenplay which spans 10 years in the life of the ultra-cushy Raichand family, the director avoids the cliched pitfalls of vicious villainy and grotesque exaggeration.On the contrary, every character breathes the oxygen of self-esteem and firmly-formed values. At the helm, there's the patriarch (Amitabh Bachchan), absorbed in his flourishing business, but always sparing quality time for his near and dear ones. If he steps out of a slick chopper and mumbles, ``Fine machine, must get a couple more,'' he also sits by the fireside, gabbing with his family.His wife (Jaya Bachchan) speaks through her silences and eyes whenever she disagrees with his rigid ways. She's shattered when their foster son (Shah Rukh Khan) must leave on a self-willed exile on marrying a vivacious mohalla girl (Kajol) of his own choice. The Raichand house is plunged in gloom, but like Dashratha, the patriarch wallows in his loneliness instead of effecting a practical truce.A decade later, then, it is the Raichands' younger biological son (Hrithik Roshan) who resolves, like Bharat, that enough is enough. Grief must give way to a reconciliation, a mission that can be accomplished in tandem with his childhood sweetheart (Kareena Kapoor), who has now blossomed into a howlarious Spice Girl. Get set, then, for a virtual war of wit and emotions between the three disparate generations.True, on the surface, the story is conventional. Gratifyingly, Johar grabs the formula and freaks out on it, in the process whipping up a confection that is as delicious as crunchy chocolate nougat.Result: an array of memorable moments. To cite just a few, there's the foot-stomping `Shava shava' dance set-piece; the heart-wrenching confrontations between Papa Raichand and his prodigal son; the Chandni Chowk girl going ape over the batting-shatting of the Indian cricket team; the national anthem recited with fervour by a child at a toffish English school; and of course, the mother's cathartic dressing down to Raichand about how a `pati parmeshwar' is not always right. Throughout the dialogue is ear-catchingly simple, humorous, ironical and emotionally powerful.On the nitpicking side, you do feel that the screenplay skims over the adoption question. If Raichand could bring a child home without fussing over the tot's antecedents, why is he so opposed to the lower strata in principle? Also, the Johnny Lever track is half-baked.And yes, there are a couple of songs too many, like that predictable tango against the backdrop of the Egyptian pyramids. The music score has its high as well as flaccid points.Never mind. Those are minor blemishes in an otherwise rich tapestry. In the behind-the-scenes departments, Sharmishta Roy's splendid sets, Farah Khan's dynamic choreography. Kiran Deohans' glitzy camerawork and the co-ordinated costume designs, are the major assets.