Let’s talk about Rahul…

I watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Dil To Pagal Hai and I seriously want to pull my hair out of my head.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

1. Rahul is so cool, so charming, a heartbreaker and blablabla. Rahul is in fact a narcissistic roadside Romeo breadcrumbing girls and play with their feelings until someone better comes by. He is so inconsiderate about other people’s feelings, even for Anjali. When he was rehearsing to confess his love for Tina with Anjali, the latter had tears in her eyes. At least, he could have asked ‘what is wrong?’ but he is too self-absorbed.
2. Rahul is seriously the mean girl at the University of Mauritius. YES, it was the University of Mauritius. He made fun of his own best friend when she wanted to look feminine. Yet, he didn’t question that COOL necklace. He is very competitive with Anjali. He even made her fall just to win a trivial basketball dual. So yes, Rahul is a cheater. And when Anjali confronted him with that, he got upset. Dude, accept your fault. It doesn’t make you a small person. Also, constantly fighting with your best friend over trivial matters and having everyone know about it is quite energy-draining. You should reconsider your life choices, Anjali.
3. If love is friendship, is Rahul bisexual and so are the guys that I know? Am I too? Plus, he says something like ‘love should happen only once’ but he says ‘I love you’ twice, to two different girls. What is this double standard or do they see Anjali as a substitute for Tina? He admires Anjali for her simplicity but falls for her when she has long hair and wears makeup and is very feminine. Double standards again, bro. Eventually to him, good looks matter more.
4. Rightly said that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. His daughter turned out to be as narcissistic as he is and that tantrum she threw because Rahul was late for meeting her in the beginning of the movie and not to forget her stubbornness to have Anjali and Rahul reunited, even if it means breaking the heart of Aman who has loved Anjali unconditionally.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

1. Rahul bullies his little brother, calls him fat and he didn’t even recognise him when he grew up. And what is wrong if Rohan doesn’t know how to tie shoe laces? I still do the two bunny ears method. Go laugh at your father for not knowing how to knot a tie. Can you? Bully Rahul. Thankfully, his bullying behaviour is less compared to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai because the actual bully is Yashvardhan Raichand, his controlling and condescending father who is allergic to lower-class people.
2. He love bombs Anjali, even on her friend’s wedding. At least let the bride be the center of attention and don’t steal her thunder on her wedding day. I know falling in love is an amazing feeling and you feel like shouting your love to everyone but it’s cringey when it’s someone else’s day. Calm down and wait for your turn.
3. Again inconsiderate Rahul marries Anjali on the day her father died. Was it hard for you to let her grieve for some days? Was it hard for you to accept that she is missing and thinking about her father? Did she tell you on the day of her father’s death that she wants to marry you? Maybe she wasn’t ready. With the death of a parent and then having to adapt to a completely new lifestyle can be problematic, in terms of adjusting to the new family, their rituals and culture, their expectations and all. It can cause stress and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but no, Rahul just went and coloured her parting without consent.
4. Narcissism passed on to Poo this time. Let’s skip this part. Too much already.

Dil To Pagal Hai

1. If love is friendship, why can’t he love Nisha? Love is friendship only when it’s convenient for Rahul. And he successfully pitted Nisha against Pooja because Nisha loves Rahul but Rahul loves Pooja who is engaged to Ajay who loves Pooja. But Nisha walked away from toxic Rahul because she can do better.
2. Maya is a play about a girl who believes in true love and waits for her prince charming to take her away. It’s like a damsel-in-distress kind of situation. Maya is basic! But self-centred Rahul makes the lives of every member of his dance troupe revolve around Maya and keeps changing the play without consulting with his team members. He is a tyrant but no one can confront him for his bad leadership skills because of his anger issues.
3. No one knows what they are doing. Rahul is okay with leading Nisha on and Pooja as well is okay with leading Ajay on until Rahul and Pooja fall in love and they toss away Nisha and Ajay like they are a kind of volleyball. That’s playing with other people’s feelings, overtly treating them like options because Rahul is insecure and indecisive and it is not fun.

P.S: I still love the songs from all the 3 movies. I love Anjali and her goofy character, her innocence and humour. I love Tina as well as Naina, her adorable smile especially in Say Shava Shava and her shimmering sharara. I really really really love Nisha (my favourite actress Karishma Kapoor). And Rahul, he just needs therapy.