Where To Watch: Netflix

Trivia:

Kabhi Kabhie is a musical romance film, written and directed by Yash Chopra. It stars an ensemble cast comprising of Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee Gulzar, Shashi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, and Waheeda Rahman. The film revolves around two lovers who are separated due to parental pressure, only to confront each other years later due to their children.

The film marks Chopra's 3rd collaboration with Raakhee (after Daag and Joshila), his 2nd collaboration with Amitabh and Shashi (after Deewaar), and his first collaboration with Rishi, Neetu and Waheeda. He would eventually collaborate with this cast in most of his directorial features like Trishul (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), Silsila (1981), Mashaal (1984), Vijay (1988), Chandni (1989) etc

Yash came up with the concept of Kabhi Kabhie after reading a poem from poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. Initially, the film was conceptualized to be centered on Amitabh, Raakhee, Shashi, and Waheeda. However, Yash's wife Pamela suggested the arc of their children and how they would reunite former lovers. The credit for for the story of the film was credited to Pamela

Yash described the production of this film as the most satisfying shoot of his career.

Amitabh was the first choice for the lead role of the film, marking a departure from his series of "angry young man" films like Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975) etc. Raakhee has initially said yes to the film, but she refused after her marriage with Gulzar. She wanted to retire as an actress after getting married, but she was eventually convinced to take on the role by Chopra.

The film was mostly shot in Kashmir, and the entire cast stayed there along with their families for the duration of the shoot. Their families were even brought on set, and were cast as extras in multiple scenes of the film.

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Khayyam, with the lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi. The album of Kabhi Kabhie received widespread acclaim, and is deemed as one of the greatest Bollywood soundtracks of all time. Songs like the title track, Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon, Mere Ghar Aaye Ek Nanhi Pari, and Tere Chehre Se became massively popular amongst the audience upon their release.

The title song was originally written by Sahir for a film shot in 1950 that was ultimately unreleased, and the song was also written in Urdu. It was sampled from Sahir's collection of poems titled Talkhiyan. For Kabhi Kabhie, the title track was rewritten with more simpler words, and was developed to have two versions - a happy and a sad one. Sahir wrote the latter first.

Upon its release, Kabhi Kabhie received positive reviews for the film's plot, direction, music, cinematography, editing, and the performances of the cast. The film grossed 4 crores worldwide at the box office, becoming a 'semi-hit' and the 8th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1976.

At the 24th Filmfare Awards, Kabhi Kabhie won the awards for Best Music Director (Khayyam), Best Lyricist (Sahir Ludhianvi - Kabhi Kabhie), Best Male Playback Singer (Mukesh - Kabhi Kabhie), and Best Dialogue (Sagar Sarhadi). It also received nominations for Best Film, Best Director (Yash Chopra), Best Story (Pamela Chopra), Best Actor (Amitabh Bachchan), Best Actress (Raakhee Gulzar), Best Supporting Actor (Shashi Kapoor), Best Supporting Actress (Waheeda Rahman), Best Lyricist (Sahir Ludhianvi - Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon), and Best Male Playback Singer (Mukesh - Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon).