Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2001)

Oh, Mujhse Dosti Karoge. So much unnecessary melodrama all wrapped in candyfloss and served up with silly songs and well-timed divine intervention. And sometimes, that’s exactly what I want, so I watch MDK again. It’s a love story about some friends who have some very questionable notions about friendship and also fashion choices. (Sometimes I wonder what I would have thought about this movie back in 2001. Would I have been too cool for this sort of thing, or would I have loved Kareena’s fantastic pants?)

Raj

Best friends Tina and Pooja

The scene is set with three young friends. Raj is leaving for London, and saying goodbye to Pooja and Tina in Shimla. Raj has a not-so-secret crush on Tina, and Pooja has a not-so-secret crush on Raj. They promise to stay in touch, but when Pooja emails Raj, she signs it “Tina” to ensure a response. They continue their correspondence, and years later, when they’ve grown up, Raj and Pooja (who Raj thinks is Tina) have fallen in love over email. Raj has grown up to be Hrithik Roshan, Tina has grown into bubbly, hyper-fashionable Kareena Kapoor, and Pooja is quiet and sweet Rani Mukherjee. She’s supposed to be the plain one, but you can stuff her in all the dowdy turtlenecks you want, she’s still Rani. Also her outfits have aged a little better than Kareena’s.

Pooja refuses to send Raj a picture of herself before they meet, wanting him to recognize her as his email-soulmate. This is kind of setting him up for failure because he actually knew Tina as a kid, but Pooja is still disappointed when Raj arrives and greets Tina and Pooja correctly. During his visit, Raj lavishes attention on Tina, and Tina is unsurprisingly not immune to the charms of a doting Hrithik Roshan. 

There’s a few moments between Raj and Pooja that make him wonder, but Pooja refuses to say that she’s the one who really sent those emails.

Singing Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua and dancing together. I think this blows the
 KKHH moment out of the water, warm fuzzies-wise.

Finally, when Pooja visits London, Raj figures it out.

But when they return to Shimla, (dun dun dun!) they find that Tina's father has passed away, leaving her alone, and still thinking Raj loves her. So Pooja does what every good friend would do: demand her boyfriend marry her best friend out of pity.

Give the girl some credit, Pooja!

 Raj agrees to this stupid plan in order to maximize the melodrama.

Creepy and messed up for everyone involved!

Enter Rohan Verma (Uday Chopra), Raj's friend and convenient suitor for Pooja.

Beware ladies! It's Uday!

Raj bullies Pooja into agreeing to marry Rohan, holding Tina's feelings hostage.

So Raj is kind of a dick. Maybe Tina ends up dodging a bullet here.

Such a good reason to get married!

So she does.

Wrong Chopra, Rani!

There are so many intense Hrithik-stares in this movie, so many solitary tears running down Rani's cheek. You can be appalled that Pooja decides that marrying her best friend to someone who doesn't love her is the right thing to do, or you can eat up all this melodrama with a spoon. It is perhaps obvious which I chose. And Pooja really does think she's doing the right thing by her friend, and once it snowballs into this dysfunctional mess she feels it's even more important to keep going along, whether it's out of ego or love.

Redefining awkward since 2001.

Kaho na pyaaaaaar hai...

There are three parties in the space of a week or so, full of singing and dancing and a very emo Raj and Pooja. We get a 12-minute self-referential medley of Hindi film love songs, full of double entendres and significant looks between Pooja and Raj. Naturally it descends into single entendre when Raj grabs Pooja to sing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai to her in the rain in front of their respective fiances and entire families. It’s glorious.

At the end, it seems all is lost. It’s Tina and Raj and Pooja and Rohan’s wedding day, and marriage and their inevitable separation are only minutes away. Raj and Pooja stand next to each other in front of the Radha-Krishna statue, silently imploring them to save their love, somehow. 

And boy do they deliver. A gust of wind knocks over the sindoor in Raj’s hand and sends it flying into Pooja’s hair. Bam! Surprise married!

Magical flying sindoor!

Luckily Tina is okay with all of this, and it's a happy ending. Maybe she marries Rohan or something.

So yeah, it's all very unrealistic and ridiculous, but there are so many feelings and genuine love between the three friends, dysfunctional or not. It's not something I'd want anybody to actually go through, but it's kind of fun to be along for the ride.