Birthday Special: Karan Johar and his cinematic expressions of love

Even though Yash Chopra was also known for his raging and roaring dramas like Deewar Trishul and Kaala Patthar hersquos mostly remembered and recalled for the gorgeous and grand romantic sagas he created on the celluloid His love stories had sweep and soul and the canvas was mounted with care and charmOne of the earlier filmmakers or budding filmmakers that he inspired was Karan Johar Having acted in Choprarsquos son Aditya Choprarsquos directorial debut in 1995 Johar may have imbibed the nuances of filmmaking He eventually turned into direction and production and followed similar templates immortalised by Yash Raj Films Fervent romances with attractive starsHe has directed six films from 1998 to 2020 and all of them are mostly love stories but all of them are different expressions of the same emotion He turns 50 today and as he scores a halfcentury and moves on to his seventh directorial Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani here are his last six films and how they captured love differentlyKuch Kuch Hota Hai 1998First love is always special Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was Joharrsquos debut as a director It was the story of Rahul Tina and Anjali Two women fall in love with the same man in college in what remains a fluffy frothy triangle Shah Rukh Khan in vintage King Khan style delivered three iconic dialogues that only SRK could have made historic ldquoPyaar Dosti Hairdquo ldquoHum Ek Baar Jeete Hain Ek Baar Marte Hainrdquo and of course the title itself In many ways the film made us believe that love is indeed friendshipKabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham 2001Johar aimed for the skies with his second outing as a director both in terms of canvas and characters This was your inyourface largerthanlife family saga with all the emotions one needs to make a film of this nature and stature work Comedy Romance and Copious Tears The title and the tagline were selfexplanatory Itrsquos all about loving your family With K3G as fondly abbreviated the old days of cinema were back only bigger and smarterKabhi Alvida Naa Kehna 2006Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was in many ways the filmmakerrsquos ode to Silsila The man who perpetuated the idea of true love with immense help from his perpetual leading man attempted the theme of infidelity with his third outing For the first time Shah Rukh Khan swinging his arms was looked at with disdain since it was for a woman outside his married life Hersquos a footballer whose career comes to a halt post an accident hersquos jealous of his wifersquos flourishing career Rani Mukerji the woman he loves also falls for him She has a lovely husband but becomes a victim of callousness Hers is a story very similar to Preity Zinta from Dil Chahta Hai both the women finally unite with the men they love but with different reactions We root for one condemn the other And Johar may have known thatMy Name Is Khan 2010My Name Is Khan was a delicate and affectionately crafted drama about the repercussions of being a Muslim Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol donrsquot have to follow any script or dialogue for chemistry Having worked multiple times together since 1993 their routine and random conversations could also make for an entertaining viewing And the first hour of My Name Is Khan was a riot After a tragedy befalls it turns into what itrsquos trying to convey A man travels all the way to meet the President of the US to declare his name is Khan and hersquos not a terrorist Hersquos not doing this for himself but for his wife Hersquos autistic and can barely emote but we sense his love as much as his wifersquos For the first time Khanrsquos limited expressions were put to good use especially to convey loveStudent of The Year 2012More than the launchpad for Sidharth Malhotra Alia Bhatt Varun Dhawan it was also a relaunch for Karan Johar This was his first film sans SRK as his hero and first film with debutants Johar refuses to imagine small and that was apparent in all the frames of this innocuous entertainer The college campus could easily transport someone into the land of fantasy and so could the way in which the actors were dressed and their characters were designed Was this a love story For sure But more than the girl the two boys competed for the coveted prize named after the title of the movie Or was it the other way roundAe Dil Hai Mushkil 2016Ranbir Kapoor is certainly not the first onesided lover of Hindi Cinema but the blazing popularity of Channa Mereya on social media in the last five years has clearly made him one of the most iconic ones Look at the gloom on his face when the woman hersquos just fallen in love with frankly says shersquos not attracted to him Look at his desperation when hersquos informed shersquos getting married to the very man who once cheated on her Look at the haughtiness with which he introduces her to the new woman in his life only to make her jealous albeit in vain SRK in a cameo explained wonderfully why such love is the best feeling in the world Given how he has always charmed all his ladies the choice of him in this cameo is quite a conundrum Why not Johar himselfAlso Read Karan Johars lockdown stories are back