Rani Mukerji was asked what she'd do if Karan Johar offered her Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna sequel, here's what she said

Rani Mukerji, who turned 46 this year, has played a variety of roles in her career spanning close to three decades. Amongst her enviable repertoire of films and characters, Karan Johar directorial Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) holds a special place for reasons more than one. The film that centred around dyfunctional relationships and marriages explored themes of infidelity and adultery and was way ahead of its time. It was met with severe criticism upon its release back in 2006. However, as the audiences evolved over the years, KANK has managed to gather a lot of love and acclaim and is now considered a mature and nuanced take on love, relationships and marriage. 

During a recent interaction of Rani Mukerji with fans organized by Galatta India, a fan asked her whether she'd do a sequel of the film if Karan Johar offered her the same. The actress replied saying, "Of course, 100 percent because KANK is actually one of my favourite films." 

A polarizing film

Rani went down the memory lane and talked about the time when she was offered the film. "When we did KANK and when Karan came with the subject, it was very polarizing. It required a lot of courage from my end to play a role like that because that time India wasn't very open to roles like that, especially with women, because they looked at women with only one kind of glass - very very judgemental about the fact that a woman has to be in a marriage just because the man is really nice. Nobody thought about what a woman wants." 

Rani further added, "Today there's so much chatter about what a woman wants and what's important to her but at that time everything was about the man - from a man's point of view. 'Arrey uska pati itna achha hai toh woh kyu chhod ke gayi?' He's so loving towards her, why's she wanting not to be in this marriage. But nobody thought from the point of view of a woman. When are we going to ask her the question that does she love the man? Is she attracted to a man? Those are the things that are very poignant and important in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna." 

How KANK helped Rani to make a decision about her marriage

The Hitchki actress said that she always wanted to portray women in their best and strongest avatar so that they derive inspiration from them. She shared, "There are many women who don't open up in their marriages for a long time. The years pass and they become old and they are like 'Why didn't we be honest to ourselves?' but it's too late for that. So as a young girl at that point of time when I did KANK, it also helped me to take a decision for my marriage that I need to marry for the right reason. Because if you marry for the wrong reason, you will end up being with a person and suffer all your life."

An eye opener and a reality check

The actress emphasized that the film ended up giving a reality check to a lot of people in marriages. "It was an eye opener for a lot of young girls, eye opener for a lot of men, and eye opener for a lot of people who were in marriages, and a lot of marriages broke after that because they went to the theatre and they were extremely uncomfortable watching the film because they were watching their life and it's not easy to watch a film which is actually depicting their own life," she said. 

Rani concluded by saying, "Today I'm very happy that we've come to a point where we can talk openly about it without anybody having to judge. But at that time poor Karan had to go through a lot, that why did he make a film like that. I think it's one of his best films."