Can a movie be so sexist that it becomes kinda gay?
By Danielle Momoh and Simona Zaunius
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a beloved classic of Bollywood cinema, the colorful romcom delighting audiences since 1998. With infectious dance numbers, dead mothers, and Shah Rukh Khan, it is everything anyone could want in a Bollywood blockbuster. It is also “classic” in its tropes, with many modern viewers noting its rampant sexism. Writer-director, Karan Johar, manages to hit every misogynistic note in the film's 185 minute run time; the ugly duckling transformation, the “perfect”’ woman, the inability for a family to be whole without a mother figure… just to mention a few. These ideas are so ingrained in the fabric of the film, it starts to feel intentional. Karan Johar’s characters are so trapped in their sexist heteronormative roles, their struggles in them reflect the struggles non-heteronormative people in real life face fitting into a rigid society. In other words, it’s so sexist, it almost becomes gay. His writing is so restrictive, it frees up the viewer to look at the relationships in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai from a different lens– a much gayer lens.
In Johar’s insistence to make his main protagonist Anjali (Kajol) so deeply “unfeminine” and “not like other girls”, her tomboyishness is so extreme it becomes accidental queer coding. Every single woman in college is in love with her best friend, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan). Anjali scoffs at them. By her not being in love with Rahul, she is distinctly separate from any other woman in the college, and from perhaps the heteronormative culture they follow. It is widely accepted among the students of the college that Rahul and Anjali are best friends with no romantic inclination (i.e. It is of general consensus that Anjali is gay as hell– Her short hair, brash demeanor etc… I don’t know what to tell you).
Anjali and Rahul are equals in a way that Rahul and the women who present more femininely and fawn at his every move are not, due to her masculine presentation. The two of them play basketball every morning. They wear remarkably similar clothes. Anjali beats Rahul every single day in basketball. In this sense, she surpasses even him in masculine performance. There is obvious chemistry and connection between the two, but when the idea of a romantic relationship is brought up in jest, they both scoff at it. Johar implies that a girl who looks like her can’t be with a guy like him. Were they to get together at this point in time, it wouldn’t “look right”.
Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as Rahul and Anjali play basketball / photo: Dharma Productions
Everything changes when Tina (Rani Mukerji) arrives from an all girls boarding school in England. Perfectly made up in sparkling clothes and fancy shoes, she is the pinnacle and idea of femininity. The Woman to end all Women. Rahul immediately falls in love with her, just as Anjali begins to realize she has deeper feelings for him. Rahul and Tina are perfect for each other; The Boyest Boy at the school with the Girliest Girl. Tina and Rahul can be clearly defined by the language of this film and by heteronormativity. They are In Love, just as a man and a woman should be.
Before this, Anjali was immune to the pulls of heterosexuality and heteronormative standards. It has eclipsed her now and she is facing the reality of her unconventional appearance. Anjali begins to question how feminine she presents and shows up to school with makeup, a skirt and a bright pink top on the next day. She looks and feels horrifically out of place and is laughed at by the whole school. They do not consider her a proper woman. But Tina does. When she is mocked by the entire class, Tina is the one who reassures Anjali that she is very beautiful. This is not just Tina being a good friend, her affection for Anjali going past that of friendship.
Rani Mukerji and Kajol as Tina and Anjali share a moment / photo: Dharma Productions
Tina very quickly becomes Anjali’s second closest friend and she is constantly her biggest supporter even before she is ridiculed by her entire school. Sure, this can be attributed to Tina being one of the nicest characters to ever grace the big screen, but as Anjali’s gaze strays to Tina more and more throughout the film, a homoerotic undertone emerges between the two of them. A love triangle is inevitable, but the truly caring relationship between Tina and Anjali adds a layer of compassion and empathy. Interactions between Tina and Anjali are never bitter or spiteful, but warm. Their love cannot be articulated as easily as Rahul and Tina’s love, but it is present and it is deep in a film that suggests “Pyaar dosti hai” (Love is friendship).
Tina goes along with what is expected of her and becomes Rahul’s girlfriend. This is too much for Anjali to take. Anjali leaves the college because the love triangle resolves itself, leaving her outside of her two most important relationships. Yet when Anjali leaves, she removes her iconic red scarf on the train and throws it not to Rahul, but to Tina. She gives her a piece of her to hold onto.
Tina’s choice to assimilate into heteronormativity gives her a tragic death that historically has encumbered women in all forms of media; a death in childbirth. She tearfully begs Rahul on her deathbed to forgive her for separating him– or them– from Anjali. She names the child Anjali, after the woman both her and her husband used to desire but because of repressive heteronormativity, could not let themselves have. “Anjali Jr” grows up to carry out her mother’s desire, starting a plan on her eighth birthday to get the estranged Rahul and Anjali together. Though Tina could have never been with the original Anjali, Rahul still could.
Karan Johar, in the second half of the movie, makes sure Anjali has become radically feminine in order for Rahul to fall in love with her. But whether it’s through the queer undertones that have worked their way into the script unconsciously or through Kajol’s gorgeous performance, there is a lot more to this makeover than meets the eye.
When we meet Anjali after intermission, her hair is long, she wears saris, and she is engaged. Yet this is not the vibrant Anjali we know. This is a placid one, constantly putting on a performance she is clearly uncomfortable with, especially in front of her fiancé, Aman (Salman Khan). There is a subtle discomfort with which Kajol performs her femininity, since we know this is not what she wants but what she has given into.
Meanwhile, Rahul has become a lesbian dad (Have you seen his suits?). Not having remarried, Rahul parenting his daughter alone along with his mother is unconventional. He has thrown away his playboy facade and become a devoted parent, standing in for both father and mother. Johar ends up reinforcing the idea that a family is incomplete without a mother when Anjali Jr cries for a mother figure in her life. But before this, we get a glimpse into a man that has transformed from the Boyest Boy into a parent who has raised his child in perhaps an unconventional way, but no less loving and valid. We see a Rahul less concerned about society’s rigid expectations and more in tune with how best to love those he cares about. Before he even sees that Anjali has become a “proper woman”, he recalls the memory of her with a fondness and longing that he didn’t allow for himself in the first half of the film.
When Anjali Jr successfully manipulates Rahul into going to the summer camp where Anjali now works, Rahul and Anjali are reunited after 8 years. Rahul observes the change in Anjali. One of the first words he says upon seeing her is, “Sari?” Anjali’s appearance has extreme significance in the second half of the movie, beyond what a normal “makeover” scene would encapsulate. When the two play basketball once more, Rahul distracts Anjali by untucking her sari. She is exposed and needs to cover up, so for the first time she loses in basketball to Rahul. This feminine performance is actively inhibiting her and who she truly is.
The setting of the summer camp itself provides the two to engage in playful games such as basketball and charades with each other. Surrounded by only children, they can be the children they are within themselves. During “Ladki Badi Anjani Hai”, on the basketball court, he sees and embraces college Anjali with a pained look in his eyes as he looks at older Anjali. College Anjali assures him that she has always been there, that she is still there.
Rahul and Anjali in "Ladki Badi Anjani Hai" / photo: Dharma Productions
After they open up to each other once more, allow themselves to be the Rahul and Anjali they’ve always been, they’re also free to explore sensuality together. Anjali’s boisterousness and Rahul’s malewife-ness do not inhibit their relationship or desire for each other, but encourages it. In this scene Anjali is reminded of her commitment to Aman, and this time it is her who can’t quite let go of what is expected of her. As she leaves to get married, Rahul reveals that he has kept the scarf that Anjali threw to Tina. A thousand unspoken words pass between them as he hands it to her. It's a reminder of a woman they both once loved, Rahul’s sly declaration of love for Anjali, and also a show of grief for that same love that he knows he cannot express in words. Even the specter of Tina is tied up in that simple scarf, a possible symbol of Tina giving Anjali permission to love Rahul. Much like the movie itself, this red scarf contains multitudes. Layers and layers of meaning that are never quite spelled out but still undeniably present. Just like the characters, the red scarf may seem straightforward, but as it navigates such rigid relationships, it begs for more interpretation.
Strikingly, the final “I love yous” in the story between Anjali and Rahul are exchanged without words. It is one of the most touching confessions put to film. He simply touches her hand to his heart, and then touches it to hers. His love is said in their handshake they made when they were in college. It’s completely devoid of any heteronormative performance (unlike, one could argue, Anjali's dramatic “I love you”s from act one or Aman's declarations of love). Their love is different, but it’s true.
And Tina, with tears in her eyes, watches and smiles.
photo: Dharma Productions
loved reading this <3