Always Kabhi Kabhi
- Director
- Roshan Abbas
- Studio
- Red Chillies Entertainment
- Release Date
- 16 June 2011
- Running Time
- 126 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹11.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹4.18 Cr
Review
There's a earnestness to "Always Kabhi Kabhi" that tugs at something real—the messy, contradictory heart of adolescence where Shakespeare and police raids collide. The film genuinely wants to capture four teenagers caught between who their parents want them to be and who they're becoming, and in moments, it succeeds. The chemistry between Sam and Aishwarya crackles with that electric first-love innocence, while Tariq and Nandini's bickering-to-feelings arc feels lived-in and honest. Director Niranjan Nawathe understands that high school romance isn't just about stolen kisses; it's about competing loyalties, unspoken fears, and the suffocating weight of parental expectations. When the film lets these characters simply *be*—vulnerable and searching—it finds its pulse.
But "Always Kabhi Kabhi" stumbles when it tries to do too much. The police corruption subplot feels grafted on from a different, grittier film, yanking us away from the intimate character work that actually moves us. The tone becomes scattered, caught between coming-of-age sweetness and melodramatic crisis, never quite sure which story it's telling. Some scenes feel overwritten, the dialogue occasionally clunky, and there's a sense that the script needed one more round of refinement to balance its ambitions. The performances carry much of the emotional weight—the young cast throws everything at their roles—but even their sincerity can't quite stitch the fragmented pieces together.
Rating: 5.8/10
Storyline
So basically, this movie follows four teenagers navigating their final year of high school at St. Mark's, and it's pretty much a roller coaster of romance and drama. You've got Sam, this athletic guy who's totally smitten with Aishwarya, a gorgeous new girl who's on her way to becoming a Bollywood star. They click immediately and even end up landing the lead roles in a Shakespeare production together—Romeo and Juliet, naturally. It's cute watching Sam work so hard to impress his teacher just to get the part opposite her.
Then there are Tariq and Nandini, these two who are constantly bickering and getting on each other's nerves, but you can totally tell there's something deeper going on between them. Nandini's got it rough because her parents are never around, so she's basically partying and living wildly to fill that void, while Tariq's getting crushed under the pressure of his parents wanting him to study at MIT. Their whole dynamic is this push-and-pull thing where they finally start realizing their feelings are way more complicated than just friendship.
Things get messy when Sam throws a party that gets raided by cops, and he ends up getting arrested while trying to protect Aishwarya. Then he's stuck dealing with some seriously corrupt police officers who want fifty grand from him, which creates all sorts of chaos for his relationship with Aish. The movie really digs into how these four friends are trying to figure out who they are while dealing with love, family pressure, and all the complications that come with growing up.
