Archive · 11 Aug 2026
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna: Two Marriages Failed Before Anyone Cheated
Long ago, in 2006, a movie called Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna came out in India.
It was made by a director named Karan Johar and starred very famous actors.
The movie tells the story of two married couples who are not happy in their marriages.
Dev and Maya meet and fall in love, even though they are married to other people.
Many people were upset and said the movie made cheating look okay.
Other people said the movie showed that the marriages were already broken before the cheating happened.
In the movie, Dev was never really in love with his wife, and Maya was never really in love with her husband.
The characters finally tell their husbands and wives the truth about the affair.
Their spouses are angry and do not forgive them, so the couples live apart for a long time.
Even today, people still argue about what the movie really means.
Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK), released on August 11, 2006, turns 20 while the debate over its portrayal of infidelity refuses to die.
The film was accused, almost from its first weekend, of glamourising extramarital affairs.
The new analysis argues Dev and Maya's affair was a symptom of marriages that had already failed: Dev was never in love with Riya, and Maya was never in love with Rishi.
After the affair, Dev and Maya confess to their spouses, who refuse to forgive them, and the couples live apart for three years before a train-platform reunion.
Audiences stayed divided, with some calling the film a celebration of infidelity and others a mature look at modern marriages; the piece presents Navya Kharbanda's contrarian view that KANK is a glamorous, romanticised apology for infidelity.
The film ends with both lead pairs saying goodbye to the wrong marriages, matching its title, which translates to never say goodbye.
- Who
- Director Karan Johar and stars Shah Rukh Khan (Dev), Rani Mukerji (Maya), Abhishek Bachchan (Rishi), Preity Zinta (Riya) and Amitabh Bachchan (Sam).
- What
- As the film turns 20, a new analysis argues Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was misread: it portrays two marriages that had failed before the affair, not a celebration of infidelity.
- When
- The film released on August 11, 2006, and the debate is being revisited as it completes 20 years.
- Where
- In Hindi cinema (Bollywood), the film industry to which the movie belongs.
- Why
- Because the film was accused almost from its first weekend of glamourising extramarital affairs, and the new analysis argues that criticism misread the film's argument about marriage.
Critics of the film
Defenders of the film
Glamourising infidelity
Critics of the film
Critics said KANK glamourised and romanticised extramarital affairs, with Navya Kharbanda calling it a glamorous, romanticised apology for infidelity.
Defenders of the film
Supporters said the film was a mature look at modern marriages that showed two marriages failing long before anyone strayed, and that nobody in the film argues the affair was right.
Who was at fault in the marriages
Critics of the film
Dev and Maya made a choice to be together, knowing it was wrong for the people on the other end of that choice.
Defenders of the film
Dev and Maya never loved their spouses to begin with, while Riya and Rishi still had love left to lose; Riya and Rishi had the stronger case for straying but never did because they were never out of love.
Cinema's responsibility
Critics of the film
Critics, in their own way, asked cinema to keep things simple and to treat a choice to cheat as a moral failure.
Defenders of the film
Cinema is not obligated to punish every choice it depicts, and the film argues against the idea that marriage is always the safe, correct, uncomplicated choice.
- Director
- Karan Johar
- Release date
- August 11, 2006
- Lead cast
- Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan
- Runtime
- 192 minutes
- Title meaning
- Never say goodbye
- Central debate
- Whether the film glamourises extramarital affairs or is a mature look at failed marriages