No wonder so many people think Kal Ho Naa Ho is directed by Karan Johar himself though in reality KJ only scripts and produces , his former assistant Nikhil Advani is actually at the helm . It's because the film talks of love , hope and goodwill and the characters and packaging is very much KJ-style . If KKHH was a usual college romance developed into an adult romance later and K3G was all about "loving your parents" , KHNH talks of loving life itself .<br /><br />Where Advani improves over KJ is that the overall emotional quotient is toned down and KHNH is a lot more colourful than KKHH and K3G . Also the characters' introductions aren't so "filmy" as in the first two .<br /><br />Preity Zinta's character Naina narrates the story . She lives in New York with her widowed Catholic mother Catherine Kapur (Jaya Bachchan) , Punjabi grandmother Lajjo (Sushma Seth) , brother and an adopted sister . Rohit Patel is her best friend (Saif Ali Khan) . Naina is too serious , too boring . She misses her father who committed suicide for reasons explained later in the movie . At home her grandma constantly bickers with her mom on trivial issues .<br /><br />A new neighbour Aman (Shahrukh Khan) comes to reside next-door . Aman charms the entire neighbourhood , brings all Indians together and solves their problems . Naina resents him at first but cannot help falling in love with him .<br /><br />But there's a twist .. Aman suffers from an incurable heart ailment and has little time . So he lies to Naina that he is already married . Naina is heartbroken but now Aman embarks on a noble mission of bringing Naina and Rohit together .. because Rohit loves Naina and Aman wants to make her happy .<br /><br />The introductions of characters through Naina's POV is very different and funny and striking at the start . The first half is laced with witty humour and the second half is tinged with sadness . And yes the movie leaves a message as Aman says, "live every moment of your life fully , because there may be no tomorrow" .<br /><br />GOOFS : Aman's surname is Mathur , so how could his uncle have the surname "Chaddha" ? And the scene where Aman takes off his life support and runs through New York's streets to meet Naina is a clear exercise in OTT melodrama .. wasn't needed .<br /><br />Shahrukh is the driving force behind KHNH and as always does justice to his part . Preity has never looked more beautiful . She acts like a pro , though over-expressive in a few scenes . Saif Ali Khan continues where he left in Dil Chahta Hai and looks great . Jaya Bachchan had disappointed me in K3G , here she gets all her old greatness back . Sulabha Arya (who plays "Kantaben") cracked me up , and so did Lilette Dubey and Satish Shah .<br /><br />Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music is not high on melody yet the title track and "Pretty Woman" are very hummable though I didn't dig "It's The Time To Disco" .<br /><br />Kal Ho Naa Ho might be resented by some for its rather high-pitched EQ but overall it's great to watch once .