Rakesh Roshan had hit bull’s eye with his directorial, Koi Mil Gaya. It was the top-grosser of 2003 and for a while it looked like only Karan Johar's Kal Ho Naa Ho could outrun it at the box office. The SRK-starrer weepathon eventually didn’t overtake Roshan’s sci-fi emotion-drenched film starring Hrithik Roshan, though the films later clashed again at the awards functions! In the middle of all the excitement, 14 long years ago, Rakesh Roshan was made to review the film that was in competition, so to speak, with his own film, for a website.

Roshan, determined to set the record straight, started off claiming that he had watched the film as a member of the audience and not a reviewer or industry person and that he wouldn’t compare KHNH with his own KMG, as they were two very different films. Here are some of his incisive observations…

He found the first half of the film hilarious and very true to life, while the story takes an emotional turn in the second half.

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Director Nikhil Advani had come in for praise for doing “a very commendable job”. Roshan pointed out at he had taken cinema at least two steps ahead as far as shot-taking and conceptualisation were concerned. He pointed out that although Advani was not a copy of Karan, he belonged to the same school and had managed to uplift the category itself. “He has a lot of potential,” the veteran filmmaker, had complimented.

Technically, the film pleased him immensely. “The photography is very good. The takings are very good. It's a very well made film.”

Known for having great melodies in his films, created by brother Rajesh Roshan, Rakesh was not too impressed by the music of Kal Ho Na Ho. He admitted that the while the music was good, it was not great and would probably be enjoyed better while watching the film.

The performances had come in for open praise. While he commended Shah Rukh and Saif for doing a very good job, he found Preity “just fantastic” in the film. However, he did add that when it came to the Best Actor awards later, Hrithik would have an edge over Shah Rukh because Hrithik had to portray a different kind of character, which had never been portrayed on the Indian screen.

The awards functions would later prove Rakesh Roshan was absolutely right!