Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

Director:

Nikhil Advani

Writers:

Karan Johar (screenplay)
Karan Johar (story)
(more)

Release Date:

28 November 2003 (India)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A Story Of A Lifetime.......In A Heartbeat

Plot:

Life of a very serious girl Naina, changes on the arrival of her new neighbour, Aman, who teaches her a new way to live.

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | New York | Falling In Love | Flower Pot | Emotional Depression

Awards:

19 wins & 33 nominations

Cast

Shah Rukh Khan	...	Aman Mathur
Preity Zinta	...	Naina Catherine Kapur
Sushma Seth	...	Lajjo Kapur
Reema Lagoo	...	Aman's Mother
Lillete Dubey	...	Jaswinder "Jazz" Kapoor
Delnaaz Paul	...	Jasprit "Sweetu" Kapoor
Rani Mukerji	...	Special Appearance
Sonali Bendre	...	Dr. Priya
Sanjay Kapoor	...	Abhay
Sulabha Arya	...	Kanta Bhen (as Sulbha Arya)
Athit Naik	...	Shiv Kapur
Princey Shukla	...	Gia Kapur (as Jhanak Shukla)
Simone Singh	...	Camilla
Satish Shah	...	Kursann bhai Patel
Rajpal Yadav	...	Guru
Ketki Dave	...	Rohit's Mother
Kamini Khanna	...	Lajjo Kapur's sister
Shoma Anand	...	Lajjo Kapur's sister
Anaita Shroff	...	Gita (as Adaita Adajania)
Zohra Sehgal
Achala Sachdev		(as Achla Sachdev)
Deepesh Bhatt
Dodo Bhujwala
Kanika Shivpuri
Ella Atal
Dara Singh	...	Chaddha uncle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ramon Christian	...	Lead dancer
Susanna Harris	...	Sales Dept.
Nadir Hasan	...	Basketball Player
Saif Ali Khan	...	Rohit
Tracy Pendergast	...	Dancer
Bev Reese	...	Wedding Guest / Restaurant Patron
Stefanie Samuels	...	Bagel Vendor
Andrew Vannata	...	Restaurant Customer
Toni Vitale	...	Va Va Voom Girl
Steve West	...	Mike (as Steve Lawton)
Hu Xin	...	Chinese girl
Uday Chopra	...	Day 6 announcer (uncredited)
Joseph Gatt	...	Dancer In Club (uncredited)
Kajol	...	Dancer at engagement party (uncredited)

Directed by
Nikhil Advani

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Niranjan Iyengar		dialogue
Karan Johar		screenplay
Karan Johar		story

Produced by
Anadil Hossain	....	line producer: New York
Hiroo Johar	....	associate producer
Karan Johar	....	producer
Yash Johar	....	producer
Ganesh Nankoosingh	....	line producer

Original Music by
Shankar Mahadevan		(as Shankar)
Loy Mendonsa		(as Loy)
Ehsaan Noorani		(as Ehsaan)

Cinematography by
Anil Mehta

Film Editing by
Sanjay Sankla

Casting by
Rita Powers
Sean Powers

Production Design by
Sharmishta Roy

Art Direction by
Sharmishta Roy

Costume Design by
Manish Malhotra

Makeup Department
Mickey Contractor	....	makeup artist: Jaya Bachchan & Priety Zinta

Production Management
Driss Benyaklef	....	production manager
Prashant Kunder	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mamta Bhatia	....	assistant director
Kapil Chopra	....	assistant director
David Coombs	....	first assistant director: Toronto
Ana Cuadra	....	first assistant director (new york shoot)
Arjun Kapoor	....	assistant director
Punit Malhotra	....	assistant director
Tarun Mansukhani	....	first assistant director
Shiraz Siddique	....	assistant director

Art Department
Mohammed Kasam Sayyad	....	assistant art director
Ashley Vuckovich	....	set dresser
Rae Watts	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Vikram Biswas	....	foley recordist
Javed Khan	....	dialogue editor
Prashant Kriplani	....	assistant mixing engineer
Parikshit Lalwani	....	sound editor
Anuj Mathur	....	audiographer
Anuj Mathur	....	sound designer
Kunal Mehta	....	sound editor
Ali Merchant	....	sound editor
Ajay Kumar P.B.	....	associate re-recordist
Shankar Singh	....	assistant sound editor
Kuldip Sood	....	sound re-recordist: Empire Audio Centre Pvt Ltd. (as Kuldeep Sood)

Special Effects by
Drew Jiritano	....	special effects supervisor
Neil Ruddy	....	special effects supervisor

Visual Effects by
Rahul Kallankandy	....	Flame artist
Pankaj Khandpur	....	visual effects
Sandesh Pai	....	digital effects artist
Mehma Sachdeva	....	animator: visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Anshul Chobey	....	assistant camera
Nicole Emmons	....	grip/electric intern
Sergei Franklin	....	Steadicam operator
Anirudh Garbyal	....	assistant camera
Sidharth Kale	....	assistant camera
Lou Massa	....	best boy grip
Alan McIntyre Smith	....	gaffer (as Alan Smith)
Nestor Medina	....	key grip
Matthew Mendelson	....	electrician (as Matt Mendelson)
Matthew Mendelson	....	grip (as Matt Mendelson)
Jamie Morris	....	best boy
S. Sundeep Reddy	....	assistant camera
Felipe Rodriguez	....	swing: Toronto

Casting Department
Krisztina M. Neglia	....	casting: Toronto
Krisztina M. Neglia	....	extras casting: Toronto

Editorial Department
Sanjay Sharma	....	promo editor

Music Department
Vasundhara Das	....	playback singer
Kay Kay	....	playback singer
Madhushree	....	playback singer (as Sujata Bhattacharya)
Shankar Mahadevan	....	playback singer
Loy Mendonsa	....	playback singer
Udit Narayan	....	playback singer
Sonu Nigam	....	playback singer
Sadhana Sargam	....	playback singer
Shaan	....	playback singer
Richa Sharma	....	playback singer
Alka Yagnik	....	playback singer

Other crew
Rashid Abbasi	....	production controller
Imtiaz Ansari	....	production controller
Paul Aponte	....	production assistant
Carmen Cardenas	....	production assistant
Lou Charles	....	production assistant
Cynthia Edorh	....	production assistant
Simona Fish	....	production assistant
Simone George	....	production assistant
Malaika Johnson	....	location assistant
Farah Khan	....	choreographer
Sean LaPointe	....	production assistant
Shaun Mader	....	production assistant
Brian Mait	....	production assistant
Frankie Malhotra	....	production assistant
Tarun Mansukhani	....	associate director
Fabio Martinez	....	assistant location manager
Patricia Martínez	....	production assistant
Yaminah McKessey	....	production assistant
Manoj Mittra	....	production executive
Brian Moran	....	production assistant
Erin Partin	....	production assistant
Rebeca Ramirez	....	production assistant
Alex Schimel	....	production intern
Anne Shapere	....	production assistant
Maxim Telish	....	production assistant
Andrew Vannata	....	production assistant
Joseph White	....	location manager

Thanks
Sam Bhadha	....	grateful acknowledgment: Management and Staff of Radisson Lexington Hotel, New York (as Mr. Sam Bhadha)
Rohit Bhatt	....	grateful acknowledgment: Toronto (as Mr. Rohit Bhatt)
Sant Singh Chitwal	....	grateful acknowledgment: Management and Staff of Time Hotel, New York (as Mr. Sant Singh Chitwal)
Kajol	....	special thanks
Rani Mukerji	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Dharma Productions

Distributors

• Yash Raj Films (2003) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Bodega Films (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Cineworx (2004) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Rapid Eye Movies (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Rapid Eye Movies (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Manish Malhotra & Co.  costume design

Also Known As:

"Tomorrow May Never Come" - USA (informal literal English title)
"Tomorrow May Not Be" - USA (DVD box title)
"Indian Love Story - Kal Ho Naa Ho" - Germany
"Indian Love Story - Lebe und denke nicht an morgen" - Germany (DVD title)
"Lebe und denke nicht an morgen" - Germany (TV title)
"New York masala" - France

Runtime:

186 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | Urdu | Gujarati | Punjabi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | India:U | UK:12 | Germany:6 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | France:U | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

India

Company:

Dharma Productions

Trivia:

To date, this is the biggest grossing Bollywood film internationally, and the second biggest grossing film in its native India.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the end of the "Pretty Woman" musical sequence, Jaswinder misses the cue to begin clapping.

Quotes:

Rohit Patel:[In front of table with lots of food] What is all this?
Rohit's Mother:This Mango, That is Khus, so no fuss
Rohit Patel:Not the food!... All this singing and dancing
Rohit's Mother:Oh! That! That's our Silver Anniversary Wedding Rehearsal! We are going to preform that day. What are you going to do?
Rohit Patel:I don't want to do anything! I mean... c'mon
Rohit Patel:And by the way... How can it be your 25th anniversary when I am only 28 myself?
Kurzon bhai Patel:No... No... We are just trying to hide our age from the Guju community.

Movie Connections:

References Taal (1999)

Soundtrack:

Pretty Woman

Live a lifetime.in every heartbeat (..and in every scene)

Being one of the first person to watch Kal Ho Naa Ho in my group, I was constantly battered by the same questions: is it worth it? what would you compare it to? whats it about? etc.

To answer these and other questions:

Was it worth it: well depending on your perspective of what an entertaining movie should be like, then the answer would either be: 'yes definitely' or 'you will be mad to miss it'. It is so worth watching and with it Karan Johar has confirmed the he is indeed a milestone in Hindi Cinema history. The movie is definitely directed by a another (Nikhil Advani), but it is a Johar camp movie. With the Johar camp you associate a good story, good production, good songs and the 'King Khan'.

What would you compare it to? Well to be honest .nothing. It has the originality of `Kuch Kuch', the splendour of `K3G' and the freshness of `Dil Chaata Hai'; but it cannot be compared to any of these or other movies. It is in a league of its own. The story may start as the run-of-the-mill hindi-cinema story, but just when we begin to get comfortable with it, it takes a turn down another path. Don't get me wrong, it is not a complex story at all - but it is unique and compelling.

Would you watch it again? Well to be honest, I am writing this after having watched it a second time. What is so rare about this movie is that even the second time round I laughed at the jokes, tapped at the music and got emotional in the sad scenes.

What's it about? Well it will not be fair to tell you about it, as it's an experience you should have first hand. But it has its plus points: the comedy is great (both in the gujju digs as well as the 'kantabein' scenes); the music grows on you (maahi ve being the best); the guest appearances of 'charmed' actresses; the acting - excellent all round from SRK to Zinta to Saif to Jaya; along with good direction and production. It also has its negative points - but then so do other movies and I would rather not get into those.

It may not be the DDLJ or Lagaan of hindi cinema, but it's the best movie of the year and definitely a movie that will entertain me for years to come.