Indian director Karan Johar's three-hour feature
Never Say Goodbye (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) utilizes and celebrates the common Bollywood practice of combining multiple genres and elements - comedy, drama, romance and flashy musical numbers - into one picture of epic length, to maximize cinema's capacity for entertainment. The story concerns two Manhattan couples. Soccer player Dev (
Shah Rukh Khan) and his magazine editor wife, Rhea (
Preity Zinta) are happily married despite occasional stress on the relationship; PR executive Rishi (Abhishek Bachan) and preschool teacher Maya (Rani Mukherji) feel their marriage strained by her inability to conceive. But the couples' worlds are turned upside down when Dev and Maya meet and fall hopelessly -- wondering how they ever lived without one another. Meanwhile, Dev's father Samarjit (
Amitabh Bachchan) - who lives for pleasure and satisfaction at the expense of others' feelings - complicates matters by encouraging his son's new relationship. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide