Nice machine," says Amitabh Bachchan, eyeing a shiny black helicopter that he has just descended from. "I must get a few more of them."

Forget the chiffon, champagne and Switzerland universe of Yash Chopra. Or the permanently smiling and dining, dressed-for-a-wedding folks of Sooraj Barjatya. Karan Johar has just redefined rich. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (k3g) is Bollywood's first designer film.

Film: KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GHAM Director: Karan Johar Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor

Johar and his technical dream team-cinematographer Kiran Deohans, art director Sharmishta Roy, dance director Farah Khan and costume director Manish Malhotra-have embellished each frame. And his father-producer Yash Johar has pulled out the monetary stops. Helicopters, mansions, foreign dancers, Swarovski-encrusted clothes, it's all there. Even the poor people-a halwai's family in Chandni Chowk-look like rich people on a day off. K3G is sumptuous eye candy. Add to that the high voltage star power. When all six-Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor-fill the frame shimmering in silks and diamonds, it's hard to decide whom to look at.

But thankfully, Karan Johar hasn't only relied on gloss. K3G has some fine writing, etched-out characters, textured moments and, at least in the first half, a well-paced screenplay. The story-how the youngest son of an industrialist brings together his estranged father and brother-echoes earlier blockbusters. Both Barjatya's Maine Pyar Kiya (MPK) and Aditya Chopra's Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge had heroes leaving home to bring back a loved one. In fact, Johar pays direct homage to his teachers: a teary Khan, before he walks out on his family, asks his mother Jaya Bachchan if he is correct exactly as Salman Khan had done in MPK a decade ago. But Johar has updated the feel good family genre: so the children drop lines like "take a chill-pill mom" and Kapoor, playing the Clueless-inspired fashion victim Poo, says in disdain, "Whatever."

The first half, about Khan falling in love "beneath his status" and consequently leaving home, flows. The geography, as it was in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, is a surreally gorgeous Neverland-a towering palace in England is supposed to be Delhi and Hardwar is reduced to a beautiful temple set. But the characters and dialogue are grounded so the scale is enjoyable, not alienating. Some scenes, like Rani Mukherjee handling unrequited love with dignity, are wonderfully underplayed. And Kajol, as the chatter-box Punjaban from Chandni Chowk, is magic.

The trouble starts in the second half where "designing" creeps into the script. Spontaneity is replaced by calculated claptraps. For the first time, Johar and co-writer Sheena Parikh seem to be struggling to juggle star-screen time. So Roshan and Kapoor have tedious montages, which seem more like commercials to their beauty and youth than part of the script. And, of course, there's the requisite college, disco and Karva Chauth songs. The crying also reaches a crescendo. Everyone is shedding tears or wiping them. Barring a few scenes like the brothers reuniting, the emotions start to feel synthetic.

K3G falters post-interval because both Roshan and Kapoor are underwritten. Roshan is surprisingly sparkless (though his young avatar, a snotty fatso nicknamed Ladoo is superb) and the young pair cannot match the chemistry of Khan-Kajol. In fact the film decides the Hrithik versus Shah Rukh debate firmly in the Khan's favour. Moving beyond his self-confessed stock of five expressions, he has matured into a fine actor. He outshines both his younger rival and Bachchan.

Despite the hiccups, K3G is worth watching. Johar, a compelling storyteller, has acquired technical finesse. K3G isn't innovative like a Lagaan or Dil Chahta Hai but it is a fitting finale to a decade of family sagas.

-Anupama Chopra