Bollywood’s ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ Gets a Kilted Celebration at Edinburgh Film Festival

The only thing hotter than the Scottish drizzle was the collective gasp when a convoy of Bollywood royalty strutted onto the Royal Mile, clutching copies of a 1998 rom‑com for its 30th birthday.

Edinburgh International Film Festival has politely slipped the iconic love‑triangle into its 2028 lineup, offering festival‑goers a chance to trade haggis for heartfelt hand‑holds under a rain‑spattered sky.

Karan Johar, the film’s original director‑turned‑party‑planner, accepted the invitation with the solemnity of a man who knows that a 30‑year‑old Bollywood hit is about as timeless as a Scottish loch – it just keeps reflecting the same dramatic waves.

Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji arrived arm‑in‑arm, looking as if they’d stepped out of a time‑machine that only plays the soundtrack of ‘90s synth‑pop and melodramatic sighs.

Even Salman Khan made a cameo appearance, reminding everyone that a cameo in a Bollywood anniversary is like a thistle at a garden party – unexpected, prickly, and somehow perfectly in place.

Festival officials, who have long been accustomed to the occasional kimono‑clad samurai or Tokyo‑sized robot, seemed to treat the Bollywood delegation as the most exotic export since the world’s first haggis‑filled pizza.

The screening will take place in the festival’s main auditorium, a venue that now doubles as a cultural crossroads where tartan meets tinsel, and where the audience will be asked to clap in time with both bagpipes and Bollywood beats.

If the film’s original tagline promised that “love is everywhere”, the 2028 Edinburgh showing proves that love is also everywhere – from the cobblestones of the Old Town to the glossy red carpet of a world‑class film festival.

By the time the final song swells, the rain will have stopped, the Scots will be humming “Pal Pal Pal” in a hushed chorus, and the festival will have earned a new badge: officially Bollywood‑friendly.

All that remains is for the next generation of Scottish cinephiles to decide whether they’ll trade their kilts for a pair of sequined jackets at the next anniversary party.