Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham turns 20: Karan Johar’s film has aged but Kareena Kapoor’s Poo hasn’t

In the column Let’s Talk About Women, Sneha Bengani looks at films, the world of entertainment, and popular media through the feminist lens. Because it’s important. Because it’s needed. And because we’re not doing it enough.

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2001 was an interesting year for Hindi films. The bada parda’s palette was diversifying, and it had begun to show. It was the year of films as different as _Dil Chahta Hai_, _Lagaan,_ Gadar, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It was arguably the only year when a historical sports drama, a love story set during the India-Pakistan partition, and a coming-of-age film on urban youth and friendship all got the box office rolling. It was the year when we last saw Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan together as a couple in a film (if we ignore the cameos in R Balki’s 2016 film Ki & Ka).

But most importantly, 2001 was the year that gave us Poo.

Kareena Kapoor Khan was only a year old in Bollywood when Karan Johar reintroduced her to us as Poo in his big-budget, glitzy, ensemble family drama. It has been 20 years since we first met the vainglorious fashionista but we still cannot seem to have enough of her. Two decades on, she continues to entertain and be relevant.

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Internet is filled with Poo memes. Her dialogues have found such a comfortable space in the everyday vocabulary that a lot of Gen-Z use them even without knowing where they come from. Whether it be “Good looks, good looks, good looks” or “Whateverr” or “Gym class today” or “Attitude, haan?” or “Say something I don’t know” or “Tell me how it was,” Poo is how we talk, it’s how we dress, it’s how we sass.

Kareena calls Poo a cult figure. In an  interview with Film Companion last year, she talked about how her K3G character is still so relatable. She said, “I can’t walk the streets of London without people addressing me as Poo. And I’m like, I’m walking with my son!”

Poo has moved into our homes and hearts. It’s difficult to say when or how, but Poo ceased to be just a film character a long time ago. Over the years, she has become an emotion, a way of life. Her dialogues have found a place next to “Ja Simran ja, jee le apni zindagi” from _Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge_ and “Kitne aadmi the?” from Sholay. We are still taking fashion inspiration from her wardrobe. Every heroine who has debuted after K3G has dreamt of playing some version of her on screen. Every millennial knows at least one woman who is Poo in real life, who can totally look in the mirror and say, “How dare you? Tumhara koi haq nahi banta ki tum itni khoobsurat lago_._ Not fair!”

What worked? Despite her flamboyance, unapologetic frivolity, and self-obsession, you cannot help but adore Poo. But why? I think it helped that Johar, who wrote her and took every creative decision needed to bring her to life, did not just believe in her, he was her. This is why Poo rings so true. She may be over the top, but she is never fake, with not even one note false. Because Johar knew his subject as well as he knew himself, he created her with remarkable empathy.

In the interview, Kareena reveals that Johar was the original Poo indeed. From clothes to dialogues, he did it all, even showed her how to perform each scene. “He was acting the scenes. He was acting every beat out. Somewhere this character’s energy is a bit like Karan — flamboyant, lovable, all heart. He knew this character the best. I was just following him. It’s been one character where a director has actually performed each shot for me. I literally followed him to that extent. He is the only director who has shown me that,” she said.

It shows. Poo is undeniably PHAT (pretty hot and tempting, duh!) but Johar was careful not to reduce her to a trope. As big as she is on self love, Johar roots her firmly within the family structure and the larger plot. She helps further the film’s central narrative, is instrumental in several emotional scenes, and ably plays her part in bringing together an estranged family.

If you watch closely, Johar has ensured that Anjali and Poo feel like sisters even if they do not look like it. Kareena’s Poo is just the anglicised version of Kajol’s earthy Anjali, a loud and proud Chandni Chowk mohalla girl. They are both OTT, and carefully tread the thin line between annoying and lovable, never once crossing it.

When Johar approached Kareena for the role, she was apprehensive. Mainstream heroines did not play frivolous or do comedy at the turn of the century. Moreover, what could she bring to a film that also had Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Hrithik Roshan? But Johar assured her that Poo was going to be iconic, and that she would be remembered for playing her.

Until the release of the film, Johar says only he and Bebo loved her character. Poo was largely thought of as the entertaining element in an otherwise tear-jerker of a film. Talking about how Poo was received upon the film’s release, Kareena told Film Companion, “You could have actually hated her. But nobody did. In fact, everyone loved and lauded her so much that they wanted to be like her, talk like her, dress like her. They still do.”

Other than Johar’s meticulous direction and Kareena’s fabulous portrayal, what is also striking about Poo is how she espoused unadulterated self-love, and never took herself too seriously in a culture that loves to put women on a pedestal and glorify them as givers, nurturers.

We love to show our women in relation to men. As their mother, sister, wife, relative, friend, or love interest. Poo was a lot of it too, but before any of it, she was herself. Without apology.

Twenty years on, K3G has managed to create a peerless legacy. It has given hours of wholesome entertainment to countless cinephiles, its songs still blare from speakers at weddings, and tailors and designers still get asked to make Kareena’s ‘Bole Choodiyaan’ dress. But the true legacy of K3G lies in creating Poo, a woman who dared to be anyone unlike we had ever seen, someone who mistakenly wears two different sandals to party and when pointed at, calls it haute couture.

When not reading books or watching films, Sneha Bengani writes about them. She tweets at @benganiwrites.