Khuch Khuch Hota Hai has been one of those movies that I find really problematic. The first time I watched it, I was okay with it, but after that, whenever I watched this movie, I could only focus on how problematic it was. In my blog post, I am going to talk about a number of instances in the movie that were problematic for me.
Firstly, we see the issue of male gaze in the movie a lot, and how a woman should be a certain way to be liked and loved by a man. Anjali (Kajol) is a tomboy, has short hair, and wears full covered, men-type clothes. She is best friends with Rahul (SRK), but when Tina (Rani Mukerjee) comes into their lives, their friendship grows apart.
Rahul in the movie is quite problematic; he falls in love with Tina because she is feminine-looking, has makeup on, is all girly, wears skirts, and is showing skin. In the movie, we see that when Anjali wants Rahul to like her and see her the way he sees Tina, she dolls up, wears girly clothes, and puts on makeup, but rather than telling her she looks good, he laughs at her with Tina, which makes her cry. This scene is quite problematic because, firstly it shows that for women to be liked by men, they need to be all dolled up, have makeup on, and should be feminine. Showing the problematic side of the movie.
Not only this, but later in the movie we see that 8 years later Anjali has long hair, she wears traditional clothes, and she has makeup on. Instantly, when Rahul sees her after 8 long years he falls in love with her, because now according to him, she is “beautiful”. This movie focuses on all the wrong things, firstly, showing that a woman needs to be beautiful in order to be liked by men. If they are tomboys and have short hair, they will not be liked by men.
Further, in the movie, we see Rahul contradicting his own self, in the movie, multiple times. He says, “Hum ek baar jeetay hai, ek baar martay hai, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai, and pyaar bhi ek hi baar hota hai”, but we see that Rahul falls in love two times, first with Tina and then with Anjali, when she is all pretty, according to him. He also marries twice, so we see how problematic the character of SRK (Rahul) is. We also see that Anjali leaves Aman (Salman) at the end when Rahul wants to marry her, despite all she has been through with Rahul.
Personally, I am a big fan of SRK, but I never really liked this movie because of how it portrays female characters and shows that they need to be a certain way to be liked by men. Why do women have to change themselves and their appearances so men can fall in love with them. This is just very problematic, according to me.
What are your thoughts on my argument?