20 Years Of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: A day in the life of Rahul, Anjali and Anjali

After much ado about a lot of things, Rahul married Anjali Senior. Of course with Anjali Junior’s and Tina’s blessings. Yes, Tina was there, in her white salwar, gliding through the mandap as the two college sweethearts completed the pheras.

Anjali junior was the happiest, she had, after all, managed to do exactly what her mother wanted. The three walked into the sunset. Little did they know that tomorrow would be a new day.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the film that put Karan Johar on the map, turned 20 today. And so did the magnificently flat characters — Rahul, Anjali, Tina, Aman — he had sketched. If you’re feeling old, well, you should. The Expendables version of One Tree Hill that turned a teenager’s slam book into a full blown script, sold us several lies about love and friendship. Lies that we’re still struggling to come to terms with. But that was all within the scope of the film. Twenty years since, however, life’s a little different in the Khanna household.

For starters, they do not settle scores over a friendly match of basketball in circa 2018. They tweet. To each other. While sitting across each other on a table. Yeah, communication isn’t one of their forte, it never was. No wonder Tina decided to write letters to her 8-year-old instead of having a conversation with Rahul like adults.

Anjali junior is currently caught in a Twitter war against the makers of P.S. I Love You. She claims they stole her story, twisted it and made it less believable. “Who’s ever going to believe that the dead husband wrote love letters to the wife? And then she ends up with his friend? What the hell was that?” she just tweeted. We tried telling her that the movie released over a decade ago, and besides, it was based on a book published in 2004, but she won’t budge, she’s only just discovered the movie on Netflix.

Rahul seldom forgets to wear his pants while he is leaving for work now. Instead, he often forgets why he married Anjali in the first place. “Did my 8-year-old catfish me into marrying Anjali?” he often rues the day he allowed a damn shooting star and the superstitions around it take the better of him. If only he had listened to himself when he said, “Hum ek baar jite hai, ek baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek hi baar hoti hai, aur pyaar, pyaar bhi ek hi baar hota hai.”

It took Anjali senior about a decade to figure out what a fraud Rahul is. That he never practiced what he preached. That he always went for the pretty toys. That he always needed to be the centre of everyone’s attraction. It took her less to realise love is not friendship. She’s cut her hair short again, but still loves a saree. She doesn’t let others’ definition of beauty define her and confine her. She’s a badass now, capable of calling out Rahul’s misogyny and douchebaggery whenever she spots ‘em. And Rahul’s motor laugh has no effects on her whatsoever.

She’s, however, gotten in touch with Aman through Facebook. It all happened when someone tagged Anjali on one of Aman’s Facebook memories.