Mohabbatein

Some love stories live forever.... And so will this movie...Two great superstars offers superb acting......Seeing two talented actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh work side by side was mind blowing...The story reminds us that love is all powerful and with it we can overcome the most difficult of situations...Gurlz were ok...The soundtrack is amazing...Violin Music was melodious...Locations were mind blowing....skimpy clothes were good...watchable movie.

I have seen some good movies in my life but this one totally caught me off guard. I have never seen any character, in movies or real life that believes in love and the power of love as strongly as Raj Aryan does. Raj Aryan's character is everything that is good about mankind. Ironically it was a quirk of fate that made him the way he is, but nevertheless his character is most amiable. Amitabh's character is just perfect for him, something he is very comfortable playing. With the changing times, he had turned from the `Angry Young Man' to the `Angry Old Man' - he plays it wonderfully. One can actually feel his pain and sympathise with his character. The three love stories are the only loose ends of the movie but without them the overall movie would not have been able to take shape. If you believe in the inherent goodness of mankind then this movie is for you. It teaches us no matter what we do, love finds a way. But the real reason you should see this movie is because it's a real entertainer.

Put a legend, an icon, a star, and six fresh buds waiting to bloom all in the same movie and what do you get? Mohabbatein. Sure, the story is the oft-repeated tale of forbidden love, unappreciated lovers and the traditions that gag and bind us, but the all-star cast, the skilled direction, and lively musical numbers all contribute to make this a movie worth noting.

The setting of Mohabbatein is the Gurukul School, an elite school housed in a cold, uninviting, castle-like edifice. Narayan Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan) is the stern, disciplinarian and somewhat tyrannical headmaster of Gurukul who rules the school with an iron fist.

The story begins on a dark and quiet night at the local train stations where three young men, prospective students at the school, meet on the platform and set out on a journey that brings them closer together than they ever could have imagined. Vicky (Uday Chopra) is an athletic, energetic playboy type, seemingly unshaken by the harsh reality of the school. Sameer (Jugal Hansraj) is the timid and shy one with boyish charm and innocent looks. And Karan (Jimmy Shergill) completes the trio as the more mature, intense member of the pack.

The three lads are struck by cupid's arrow when they meet the three heroines; Vicky loses his heart to a rich and spoiled girl named Ishika (Shamita Shetty) while Sameer is reunited with his childhood buddy, the bubbly Sanjana (Kim Sharma) and Karan falls hard for the bashful widow, Kiran (Preeti Jhangiani).

As with every true-to-form Bollywood movie, their love stories are met with several obstacles, such as differences in class, no-good boyfriends, and familial obligations, but the most important hurdle in their path is none other than Narayan Shankar who is convinced that love is a pure waste of time. A glimmer of hope comes their way when a maverick music teacher, Raj Aryan (Shah Rukh Khan) sweeps into the picture and helps nurture their young loves. What follows is a battle of good and evil, love and hate, and sheer determination and conviction on both sides at the end of which … (well, let's not get carried away! Just make sure you have a box of tissues handy!).

Mohabbatein is the second directorial of aditya chopra after ddlj. Narayan Shankar (Big b) is a strict authoritarian running a school named gurukul with three rules- parampara,prateestha, anushasan. Meaning only focus on studies. Enters into the school raj aryan(srk), as a violin teacher who focuses on everyone to love. This irks narayan shankar and later it is revealed that raj was a former student of gurukul thrown out by shankar for loving his daughter meghna(aishwarya rai) who committed suicide after that. Raj has entered here to take revenge on shankar by turning his disciplinary school with love and romance. The story also focuses on 3 students of gurukul- Vicky (uday chopra), sameer(jugal hansraj) and karan(Jimmy shergill). Vicky falls in love with the neighboring school student ishika(shamita shetty), sameer is in love with his childhood friend sanjana(kim sharma) and karan falls in love with a young widow kiran(preethi jhangiani). Rest of the movie is how raj helps these boys and whether he could defeat narayan shankar or not. Highlight of this film is the faceoff of two big superstars itself. After several failures as a lead actor in 90s, bachchan decided to shed all his superstar image and become into a character actor through this film. Mohabbatein started a new phase for big b as what we see him today. SRK's raj is overly romantic. Both of their combination scenes are handled well. Among the three love stories, my favorite one is karan and kiran's only. Vicky and ishika one is childish and sameer sanjana one is meh. Today, none of the female lead actress could shine in Bollywood and in males only Jimmy is today a successful actor. There is also one side track of anupam kher and archana puran singh as the cliché sardar which is forgettable. Songs look good on screen. Production values of yrf are grand. But the movie is too long and far too unrealistic. On the whole, mohabbatein can be enjoyed if you ignore its unrealistic plot and if you are a big fan of these superstars.

Mohabattein was the first Hindi movie I ever saw. It was sent to me by a friend who is crazy for Shahrukh Khan.

My first impressions were, `WOW, this Shahrukh guy has a tremendous screen presence (but, yikes, what a profile!)' and `I love the old guy with the black hair and the white beard. He's too cool.' As for the movie itself, I wondered how in god's name anybody could enjoy that horrid cat-in-heat screeching which issued forth whenever that gorgeous young woman (Aishwarya Rai) opened her mouth to sing. And I found the interminable love stories of the three young couples to be boring, boring, boring. I spent all my time waiting for Mr. Aryan and Mr. Shankar to come back onscreen.

As for the story, I was completely out of sympathy for the silly idea that it's more important to spend your college years running around trees and going to dance parties with scantily clad girls than to be studying or going to prayer. As a westerner who has watched my own treasured Catholic traditions thrown overboard one by one for every goofy, modern idea that comes down the pike (clown Masses, anyone?) I was firmly on the side of Mr. Shankar: `I don't like change, Mr. Aryan!'

I've since learned that Amitabh Bachchan is like the Sean Connery of Indian cinema, and that Shahrukh Khan is known better for his manic, over-the-top performances than the quiet, mature act I saw in Mohabattein. (I cringe whenever he is referred to as `The Tom Cruise of India'…Tom Cruise can only wish he had Shahrukh's talent and screen presence. Sharhukh definitely would win that contest by a nose.)

But to be honest, I didn't like this movie much, and after seeing about 50 Hindi films since then, I still don't like it much. It has some great songs that are almost completely destroyed by the ancient, crackling voice of Lata Mangreshkar (sorry if I spelled it wrong), and I still can't sit through the endless love stories of the three young couples. ONE couple would have been plenty to get the point across, and it would have cut the movie by 45 minutes or so, which it badly needs.

As a person who grew up on the MGM musicals of the 40s and 50s, I have eagerly embraced Bollywood (but no kissing). And although I get bored pretty easily with the dancing around trees (it all starts to look the same), I just can't get enough of those Holi celebrations! Bring ‘em on.