Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!

I'm not a fan of Salman Khan, but this is one film I'm glad I didn't give a miss. Great music, great acting and a simple storyline to tug at your heartstrings. The chemistry between Madhuri and Salman is remarkable. Look out for remarkable family/wedding scenes, which many other films have tried to ape in vain. Definitely worth a watch.

It was on 5th August 1994 that Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun (HAHK) premiered at Liberty cinema, Mumbai. A unique strategy devised by Rajshri Productions; they released their close to three hour thirty minutes long film only in one theatre per city in a bid to curb video piracy. The film prints used to be taken back from these cinemas every night to Rajshri office and resend the next morning just in time for the matinee show.

Like it happened with Sholay (1975), quite a few critics wrote off HAHK as a flop in it's first week dismissing it as an extended Marwari wedding video. But then the audience was clearly impressed with director Sooraj Barjatya's adaptation of Rajshri's own 'Nadiya Ke Paar' (1982). HAHK picked up with strong word of mouth and ran for 125 weeks (that's more than two years!!) at Mumbai's Liberty cinema. This film brought families back to theatres and audience (specially ladies) used to come dressed up as if they were actually attending a marriage!!

Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit had worked earlier in Saajan (1991) and Dil Tera Aashiq (1993) but their chemistry in HAHK was something else altogether. Truly awesome! Particularly, Madhuri looked super gorgeous and her dresses became a style statement for years to come. Madhuri herself, became the nation's heartthrob and even the late MF Hussain's heart went dhak dhak for her as he announced a film called Gaja Gamini (2000) to be directed by him just for her.

HAHK broke all box office records emerging the biggest hit of all time, took home five Filmfare awards including Best actress for Madhuri Dixit and also won the coveted National award for Best Film providing wholesome entertainment that year.

I saw HAHK first at Rajshree cinema (Gandhinagar) which was specially decked up to resemble a wedding hall. The gigantic screen used to get illuminated with lights during the two popular songs - "Didi Tera Devar Deewana" and "Joote Le Lo". This film was also the only one after Raj Kapoor's Sangam (1964) and Mera Naam Joker (1970) to have two intermissions (atleast in its initial weeks).

Todays generation may find HAHK to be indulgent and boring piece of cinema (atleast my son does!!) but we 90s kids, know its euphoria and influence on pop culture. Indian wedding celebrations were never the same again!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni

Hum Aapke Hain Koun was a landmark film, undoubtedly. Love it, hate it, but you couldn't ignore it. Everyone watched it, from enthusiastic children to their doting parents, and even the parents' parents. Young lovebirds watched it together, for they imagined themselves in Madhuri Dikshit and Salman Khan pondering about what chaste love and sacrifice really could mean. I went to watch it too, and I had both the wife and the mother in tow, and this was probably the last time my mother stepped into the cinema theatre before her untimely demise, and that's one of the reasons that the film will hold a special place in my heart. Towards the end of the film, both the women between whom I was comfortably lodged, were in copious tears, leaving me thoroughly helpless and beleaguered.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun actually lacked originality. It was a shiny, polished, glitzy and expensive rehash of Rajshri's very own "Nadiya Ke Paar", helmed by Govind Moonis and starring Sachin and Sadhna Singh in a dual role. The storyline is absolutely similar, but the original was set in rural India which was Rajshri Production's usual playground. Nadiya Ke Paar was steeped in reality, sans the glamour, traditional overdose and musical melodrama of its later version and is unsurprisingly rated higher on IMDB. In stark contrast, Hum Aapke Hain Koun was all chocolatey, brimming with acts of kindness, upholding humanity, values and traditions to the point that one could choke, not with emotions, but out of sheer disbelief. Why doesn't God make any more men and women with such virtues?

But all the above information and critique is in hindsight, and certainly not straight from 1994. When Hum Aapke Hain Koun released, in spite of my having mapped it to Nadiya Ke Paar, I found it delightful and refreshing. Madhuri Dikshit was in her sublime form and Salman Khan played the perfect foil, energetic and charismatic. I thought he remained underrated in the film's super success story, and my heart went out to his role, just this once other than his performance in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The music of Hum Aapke Hain Koun by Raam Laxman (Vijay Patil) was soulful, standout, immensely hummable and almost definitely the main reason for the film's runaway success, even though it came down as an overdose, almost resembling an incessant downpour. There was no lack of drama, melodrama, dialoguebaazi and the goofy goodness of everyone in the script - there wasn't an iota of badness anywhere. It's actually quite difficult to draw a parallel with Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun, even today. Cheers to the twenty six years that Hum Aapke Hain Koun has traversed, it's often aired even now and remains immensely watchable, for different reasons to different people.

Once I finished watching HAHK for the first time in 1997(3 years after its original release), I had absolutely no doubt as to why this movie became the highest grossing Hindi film of ALL TIME. HAHK is a case where everything comes perfectly together - direction, acting, music, cinematography, sets, costumes and that extra indescribable "magic" every classic has.

HAHK's story in itself is nothing special. Heck, it doesn't even have much of a plot to talk about. But what keeps us hooked to this 3 hour+ saga is a crisp screenplay, and the charming way in which everything is presented. In a movie where there are barely any conflicts and everybody loves everybody else, the audience could've easily been turned off by the excessive sugar. But HAHK's greatest achievement probably lies in the fact that it NEVER feels fake. The cast's chemistry is so natural and there's such generosity behind the emotions that you can't help yourself but fall in love with this world of theirs. This is something none of the HAHK copy-cats(to this day!) could accomplish. So many movies tried to recreate that magical family atmosphere, but none(especially Barjatya himself!) could really pull of that feeling of genuineness.

Moving on, HAHK doesn't have a single "boring" or "lets fast fwd. this scene" moment in the movie. And that's what it ultimately is - a super entertaining musical dealing with two families and two irresistible characters in Prem(Salman Khan) and Nisha(Madhuri Dixit). These are career performances from two of Bollywood's finest looking people. People forget that Salman Khan started off being a fairly solid actor. Not only could he easily enact the typical Bollywood emotions, but his unique mischievous 'ada' and natural charm went well with his good looks and lean physique(buffing up was the worst thing he did to himself). 1994 was still a time when we could count on him to deliver a likable performance. And Salman isn't just likable here, his infectious energy and charm makes Prem utterly irresistible. I don't understand why Madhuri has always been seen as the show stealer in this movie. Salman matches her all the way. Speaking of Madhuri, she just glows in every frame here. Her charming performance was simply intoxicating. Who wouldn't fall in love with Nisha? Salman-Madhuri share terrific chemistry. One of the best ever in fact. Prem and Nisha's romance develops slowly and beautifully. Every scene shared between them is memorable and believe me, their moments will bring you back to watch this movie again.

The strong supporting cast in HAHK definitely provides the movie with the ideal stability and mood to further enhance our impression of these sweet characters as believable. The casting crew hit gold because every actor looks perfect in the role he/she is portraying. The music is also BRILLIANT and the song picturizations/choreography remains unsurpassed. Barjatya cleverly keeps the narrative flowing with each song. AND that was a HUGE key because 14 songs could've easily slowed the movie's pace down.

Bottomline: HAHK to me is the quintessential Bollywood entertainer. The movie, despite being unrealistically sweet, never feels fake(something no other movie has been able to recreate, not even the director himself). Every actor in the cast adds something to make the movie special. The leading stars to this day haven't given more likable performances. If you look up the word chemistry in a Bollywood dictionary, a pic of Salman/Madhuri from HAHK should be there. Overall, just an incredibly charming movie that you can't help but fall in love with.

The success of this film is a memorable landmark inasmuch that the violent legacy of action films pioneered and boosted by Amitab Bachan came to an end and movies again took a semi u-turn to social and family oriented depiction of human values that are more close to real life.

This romantic cum social legacy of Hindi movies came to an abrupt end by the release of movies, like "Sholay" and "Zanjeer" in early 70s, when Amitabh set the stage for his personification of a young angry man willing to turn violent. In this way, the cool, romantic and charming personality of Rajesh Khanna eclipsed to give way to the new Super Star.

HAKAK turned the tables, insofar, that this beautiful song studded and family drama having a focus on light merriment and jubilant frenzy took to the hearts of the audience and Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit touched new heights of stardom ushering in a revived era of filmdom that is the touchstone of social and family drama.