The story of a lifetime...in a heartbeat.
- So laugh, live, smile. Who knows whether tomorrow will come?
Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Not Be) is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama directed by Nikhil Advani and written by Karan Johar, who also produced the film under the Dharma Productions label. It was released on November 28, 2003.
Naina Catherine Kapur (Preity Zinta), an MBA student, lives in New York City with her mother Jennifer (Jaya Bachchan), adopted sister Jia, disabled brother Shiv, and paternal grandmother Lajjo, and things are not going well. Naina's father was mysteriously Driven to Suicide several years ago for which Lajjo blames Jia's adoption, causing significant friction and hostility between her and Jennifer; Jennifer's cafe, which she runs together with her neighbor Jazz, is also doing poorly, which doesn't help with Shiv's care. This has left Naina deeply jaded, pessimistic, uptight, and snarky, with her only friends being Jazz's sister Sweetu and her classmate Rohit Patel (Saif Ali Khan).
Her dull and uneventful life is overhauled when Aman Mathur (Shah Rukh Khan) moves in next door with his mother. The cheerful and enthusiastic Aman helps her and her family with their problems, and soon Naina starts to fall for him. However, behind his cheerful facade, Aman is hiding a tragic secret.
Kal Ho Naa Ho was the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, and remains among the most prominent examples of media focusing on Indian-Americans, with its exploration of Indian-American identity making it an easy entry point for newcomers to Bollywood. It received praise for its performances, its soundtrack, and its writing.
This film provides examples of these tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Neither Rohit nor Aman seem to remember Camilla's name. Although, in Aman's cases, a few instances were Malicious Misnaming.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Shiv can be this to Naina.
- Bittersweet Ending: Naina ends up finding a perfect husband and starting a family, but loses the man she truly loves.
- Blithe Spirit: Aman.
- Book Ends: The opening and closing monologues by Naina end nearly identically:Naina: (at the start) My name is Naina Catherine Kapur, and this is my story.Naina: (at the end) My name is Naina Catherine Kapur Patel, and this is my story.
- Boyfriend Bluff: Subverted. Naina pretends to date Rohit so Aman will leave her alone; however, Aman quickly figures out that they're really just good friends.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The film does take a significant turn for the serious as it goes on. The first half, despite the details surrounding Naina's torrid home life, is mostly a comedic story of her friendship with Rohit and his misadventures, as well as Aman entering into her life and livening it up. The second half is far more dramatic (even if it does have a few laughs, mostly with the Playing Cyrano section) and the film ends bittersweetly.
- Character Narrator: Naina. The entire film is a Flashback as she tells the story to her younger sister.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Naina's complaint that the mailman continuously mixes up the last names Kapur and Kapoor.
- All of Aman's conversations with Priya.
- Aman's habit of crossing his fingers when he lies.
- Cool Big Sis: Naina to Shiv and especially Gia.
- Crowd Song: "Pretty Woman," "It's the Time to Disco," and "Maahi Ve" all qualify.
- Deadpan Snarker: All the three leads have their moments.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Naina.
- Disappeared Dad: The late Mr. Kapur, who took his own life sometime prior to the film. This is the root of Naina's bitterness as she struggles with the rift his death caused in her family and grief over him leaving her when she needed him. She gets some closure after learning his reasons for doing so in his suicide note.
- Dramatic Irony
- Drunken Song: Rohit and Naina bellow the chorus of "It's the Time to Disco" as Aman drags them home from a bar.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Kapurs. They come together in the end after Aman reveals the true circumstances behind the late patriarch's death.
- Easily Forgiven: Deconstructed. Jennifer's husband and Naina's father ended up having an extramarital affair which resulted in the birth of Gia. Jennifer not only accepted Gia, but managed to forgive her husband for his adultery, writing it off as a mistake. Mr. Kapur, however saw his unfaithfulness towards Jennifer as an unforgivable mistake and her forgiveness reflected how good a person she was, adding fuel to the fire and he was Driven to Suicide.
- Everything Fades: The title translates to "tomorrow may not be."
- Evil Matriarch: Evil is a stretch, but Lajjo is the main reason for her family's strife for much of the film due to her fights with Jenny, which take a toll on her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
- Family Business: The Kapurs have Cafe New Delhi; the Patels have Dial-A-Dhokla.
- Final Speech: To quote one movie reviewer, "Madame Bovary has nothing on Aman."
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Subverted. Aman removes Naina's glasses for what he intends to be a Beautiful All Along moment, but it backfires because Naina really is Blind Without 'Em. Naina does eventually get contact lenses, however.
- Gilligan Cut: When Rohit doesn't believe that Camilla is a Gold Digger, Aman suggests Rohit test her by telling her that he doesn't want his father's money and that he is going to struggle to earn his own and if she will stand by him. Rohit angrily tells Aman he will never say anything like that. Cut to Rohit saying this to her verbatim.
- Good Parents:
- Jenny is a loving mother who works hard to provide for her family and tries her best to support her children, especially Naina, through difficult times. Taken to the extreme with Gia, to whom she is a Good Stepmother. Despite the Awful Truth that Gia is her husband's child from an illicit affair, Jenny took her in when the girl's biological parents couldn't/wouldn't, and raised and loved Gia as her own daughter.
- Also Aman's mother.
- Go Out with a Smile: Aman spends his final moments laughing and joking with Rohit.
- Gold Digger: Camilla.
- Handsome Lech: Averted with Rohit. His introduction sequence first shows him unsuccessfully trying to flirt with three different women, but it then shows him to be a gentleman, and rather sensitive at that.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Gia.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted. The film establishes that Aman has a heart condition, his heart attack happens during strenuous physical activity, and it's implied that he hasn't been diligent about taking his medication. Upsetting, yes, but hardly shocking.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Aman takes this to an extreme with everybody.
- Innocent Innuendo: Rohit gleefully tells Naina that he spent all weekend in bed with "Laila". Cut to his bedroom, where we see Rohit... and Laila the golden retriever licking his face.
- Intermission: As standard for a Bollywood film, but notable because it is the exact moment when Cerebus Syndrome really hits the movie. After the romantic "Kuch Toh Hua Hai" sequence where Naina has realised that she has fallen for Aman and Rohit has realised that he has fallen for Naina (with Aman's feelings being unspoken), Naina meets Rohit and tells him about her love for Aman as he is about to tell her about his feelings for her, leaving him heartbroken. She goes to Aman's house to tell him, but sees a framed picture of Aman with a woman in a wedding dress; assuming that she is his wife, she leaves the house, also heartbroken. The real bomb drops when Aman reveals he purposefully let Naina believe that he is married: the woman in the picture is his friend...and his doctor, because Aman, even though he loves Naina, wants to Break Her Heart to Save Her as he is dying of an incurable heart condition. The intermission is thus marked with the frame split three ways, as Aman, Rohit and Naina all cry their eyes out.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lajjo at the end of the film after she reconciles with Jenny.
- Just Friends: Rohit and Naina, until the Relationship Upgrade.
- Knight of Cerebus: Inverted with Aman. The movie looks fairly depressing, then enter Aman, who single handedly turns it into an upbeat Rom Com. That being said, Aman does have a dark secret and after The Reveal, it gets dramatic again...
- Love Triangle: Aman and Rohit both end up falling for Naina.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Gender-Inverted; Aman is this to Naina.
- The Matchmaker: Aman seems to have made it his life's mission to push Naina and Rohit together.
- Matchmaker Crush: On the other hand, it quickly becomes clear that while he's busy pushing Naina and Rohit together, Aman has some serious feelings for Naina.
- Meet Cute: Aman and Naina do this twice. The first time is a Crash-Into Hello, subverted because Naina doesn't see him. The second time, she opens her window to yell at Aman to keep quiet. The two have a silent mini-conversation with their eyes until Naina stomps away, at which point Aman begins the first Crowd Song.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Towards the end of the film, Naina sees Priya, who she believes to be Aman's wife, roaming around with an unknown man named Abhay. When she confronts them, Priya, somewhat confused, says that Abhay is her husband; she subsequently tells Naina about Aman's heart condition.
- Mistaken for Gay: Aman and Rohit, by Kantaben and later Rohit's father. Subverted in that both Aman and Rohit are aware of the misconception.
- Mood Whiplash: The first half of the film is a light-hearted romantic comedy - then everything goes south as it's suddenly revealed that Aman is dying of an incurable heart condition and can't find a donor.
- Multigenerational Household: The Kapurs.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Mr. Kapur had an affair with another woman, resulting in Gia's birth. Jenny had forgiven her husband for betraying her, but he couldn't, which is why he committed suicide.
- Notably, Lajjo is shocked and remorseful after learning the above as well as how Jenny kept quiet about the truth all these years to preserve her husband's memory.
- Nice Guy: Rohit and Aman.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Jennifer and her mother-in-law constantly argue, with Lajjo criticizing everything she does.
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One True Threesome: Emphasized by the fact that Aman and Rohit, despite being in love with the same person, do not antagonize each other over Naina at all, and are so close that when others assume that they're gay lovers, they play it up for all it's worth. Additionally, Aman does not hold a grudge against Rohit for marrying Naina, especially since he actually set the whole thing up himself, and would rather see them happy. Rohit for his part is fully aware that if not for the fact that Aman is terminally ill and doesn't have much longer to live, Naina would have chosen Aman without a second thought, and honestly would have both accepted and preferred that outcome had it been possible. - Parental Abandonment: Gia is revealed to be Mr. Kapur's illegitimate daughter born out of wedlock from an extramarital affair, making her Naina and Shiv's half-sister. Her biological mother wouldn't care for her, and her father committed suicide out of guilt some time after Jenny adopted her.
- Playing Cyrano: A good portion of the second half of the film has Aman play Cyrano to Rohit's Christian and Naina's Roxane.
- Practically Different Generations: Naina is a 23-year-old MBA student while Shiv and Gia are in elementary school.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Rohit, Aman and Naina.
- Sad Bollywood Wedding: The bride cries all the way to the altar because she's in love with the dying best man. They get to have a last duet about how much they love each other but have to let go.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Naina with Aman and Rohit.
- Spoiled Brat: Shiv sometimes acts like this by taking advantage of being wheelchair-bound.
- Theme Tune: The titular song.
- The Unfavorite: Gia, whose grandmother refuses to accept her because apparently, she is adopted. It's later shown that Lajjo believes Gia's adoption brought misfortune to her family and caused her son to commit suicide. Thankfully, Aman sets her straight when he reveals Gia is her illegitimate granddaughter from her son's affair, which prompts Lajjo to finally welcome Gia into the family.
- White Shirt of Death: Aman has an entire white outfit of death during the title song.
