This is a lovely Indian commercial film. Great songs, nice story, nice script and good actors. The film addresses a rather controversial topic by portraying a very young girl who gets pregnant, and when her boyfriend does not wish to take responsibility for his actions, she firmly decides to give birth to her baby and fight all the social prejudice, including the initial opposition of her own parents. The film is interesting and engaging, but the execution is very poor. The costumes are weird and the film is extremely outdated. Premarital pregnancy is not such a big deal in our times even in India, making the portrayal a bit exaggerated. The film's depiction makes it look like an old picture from the 1980s. Even when Priya dances at the club with her pal, the song that is being played is Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", which is not bad but is not concurrent with the film's time. Maybe they should have defined the period of time as such, it would have made much more sense. Additionally, Saif Ali Khan's character is inexplicable, Preity Zinta's elder brother's character is too aggressive and Zinta herself does not look the age she is supposed to be. At some points the film is a bit overly melodramatic, which is unnecessary in a film that wants to be issue-based and portray realism.
What I did like immensely is the portrayal of a loving, united family. It was very touching and was portrayed well. The scene in which Priya's brothers turn on the video and cry quietly is very moving, however clichéd it may be. This is actually Preity Zinta's very first film and the one which established her as a leading star. She is the soul of the film and injects much energy and freshness into her character. She was not really brilliant as she would be in many of her future films and her voice and diction were pretty problematic at that point of time. Yet she succeeds in breathing as much life as possible into Priya with her boyish charm, bubbly personality and sincere portrayal. Saif Ali Khan and Chandrachhur Singh don't impress much, but Farida Jalal and Anupam Kher as her parents are very likable. Rajesh Roshan's soundtrack is one of the main reasons this film has such a colourful and positive feel about it. One very good example is the family song "Kya Kehna". Other songs that I particularly enjoyed listening to include "Dekhiye Aaji Jaanemann" and "In Kadmon Ke Neeche". Well, do watch Kya Kehna. Don't expect to see a brilliant or a particularly realistic film, but do expect to be touched by a very charming Hindi entertainment.
