Some films stay with you. Some return years later and make you wonder why you remember them so clearly.

Karan Johar’s 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' is one of those films. Released in 2006, the Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan and Preity Zinta starrer arrived as a very different kind of love story from the filmmaker. Twenty years later, as Karan looks back at the film and the reactions it sparked, the memories around it feel almost as significant as the story itself.

At the centre of 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' were Dev and Maya, two married people who find an emotional connection outside their respective relationships. Their friendship gradually turns into love, leading them into an affair that changes the lives of everyone around them.

It was not an easy story to accept.

For Karan, who had already created some of Bollywood’s most celebrated romances and family dramas, 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' was a sharp departure. There was still the glamour, the music, the elaborate sets and the familiar emotional drama, but the romance itself came with consequences.

A love story that made audiences uncomfortable

Infidelity was at the heart of the controversy surrounding the film.

Karan has now revisited some of the reactions he witnessed around its release and recalled just how strongly audiences responded. He remembered sitting behind a middle-aged couple during a screening. When Dev and Maya’s relationship became physical, the husband realised it was not a dream sequence and wanted to leave the theatre.

He also remembered another woman confronting him after watching the film with her daughter. She had expected a familiar Karan Johar film filled with songs, family values and romance. What she encountered instead was a story that challenged the idea of staying in a marriage simply because it was a marriage.

The reactions stayed with Karan

Two decades later, he has also clarified that the film was never intended to endorse infidelity. According to the filmmaker, showing an extramarital relationship was not the same as celebrating it.

Karan Johar shares his thoughts on 20 year anniversary of KANK

He acknowledged that the film had its flaws and was overblown in places, but maintained that its heart was always in the right place. The story, he said, was about what happens when people step outside the boundaries of marriage in search of love or desire, and how those choices can affect the foundations of a family.

Before the debate, there was the memory

Perhaps that is what makes looking back at 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' now feel different.

The film belongs to a very particular phase of Bollywood. Shah Rukh Khan was still the undisputed romantic hero for millions. Karan Johar was known for creating worlds where love, family and friendship came together in grand, emotional ways. Rani Mukerji was at the centre of some of Hindi cinema’s biggest films, while Abhishek Bachchan and Preity Zinta brought their own star power to the story.

And then there was New York

The film's setting, music, fashion and larger-than-life production became part of its identity. For those who watched it in theatres in 2006, remembering 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' can mean remembering much more than its controversial relationship.

It can mean remembering an era of Bollywood that feels increasingly distant.

The songs that played everywhere. The dramatic conversations. The familiar faces. The glossy Karan Johar aesthetic. The discussions outside the theatre after the credits rolled.

The film may have divided audiences, but it certainly gave them something to talk about.

Maybe we see it differently now

'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' was released at a time when its central subject was difficult for mainstream Hindi cinema to approach without inviting strong reactions.

The film did not present Dev and Maya’s choices as consequence-free. Their relationship came with heartbreak, guilt and damage. The people they loved were left to deal with the fallout.

That remains an important part of remembering the film.

Karan’s latest reflections also bring the conversation back to where it began: with a filmmaker trying to tell a complicated story about marriage, loneliness and desire, while audiences brought their own ideas of love and relationships into the theatre.

Twenty years later, the film has become part of Bollywood nostalgia, but its central question has not disappeared.

What happens when the person you married is no longer the person you feel connected to? And what happens when someone else fills that space?

There may not be a comfortable answer.

And perhaps that is why 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' continues to be remembered.

Twenty years later, maybe it still feels personal. Maybe it never was. Either way, some films never really say goodbye.