Raja Hindustani

This has got to be one of the greatest Indian movies you will ever see. Yes, some of the acting is over the top, the first 15 minutes of the film drag before the story kicks in and sure, some points are laboured for Western audiences. However, petty criticisms aside, I keep coming back to this flick year after year as my all time favourite Hindi language film (after Khuda Gawah perhaps). Karishma Kapoor in particular is a real treat to watch - beautiful and intelligent, and above all a very talented and convincing actress. I am genuinely curious that such a breathtakingly gorgeous lady did not make an effort to enter Hollywood or the English language movies at all. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the movie is the fantastic music. Catchy and hypnotic to the point where you cannot really ever forget the main motifs and themes. I can guarantee that even if you don't like the film that much the song & dance numbers will either enchant or entrance. You will never in your lifetime forget the gypsy dance number. Forget the art house stuff and enjoy pure Bollywood at its best.

I saw Raja Hindustani way way back in 96 when it first came out. It was a huge blockbuster and made Karisma Kapoor a major star. The songs became imensely popular, especially Pardesi Pardesi. In my opinion the songs are the only reason the movie became such a huge blockbuster because the story is pretty appalling and clichéd. The story as it is involves Aamir Khan, a cab driver who falls in love with a rich girl who comes to stay with him. They get married but then the rich girl's parents try to cause problems in their relationship and the couple eventually split. The movie's main problem is that it can't decide whether it wants to be a remake of Jab Jab phool kile or Akele hum akele tum and it ends up as an uneasy mix of both. The movie can't even be saved by the wonderful songs. An awful awful movie and the fact that the movie did so well simply astounds me.

Raja Hindustani, released in 1996, was a huge blockbuster. It swept nearly all the awards at Filmfare that year and the actors and songs became a sensation.

But nowadays people look back and have begun to criticize the film, saying that it is cheesy, over the top, and stuff like that. Sure, it has some faults, like a typical clichéd Bollywood love story that is up and down, cheesy dialogues, and some quality mistakes. I admit, the story was kind of stupid. But honestly, it's a Bollywood film, so what do you expect. I mean many of Shah Rukh Khan's films have all these things as well, but you don't really see people criticizing those.

There were two reasons why I liked this film, and why it entertained me. First, the performances. Karisma Kapoor did pretty good, she danced well, and looked good overall throughout the film. Raja Hindustani also contains one of Aamir Khan's finest performances. One of his underrated ones actually, if you look at it today. He was earnest, likable, he was excellent emotionally, and overall really impressed me. He didn't really overact as SRK does.

Besides the performances there was also the music. Who can forget Raja Hindustani's songs? Nadeem-Shravan and singers Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan did great by singing songs such as Pardesi Padres and Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein.

There was also some good comedy throughout the film.

Overall, I think Raja Hindustani is a pretty good entertainer, I don't understand why people don't like it anymore.

Awesome movie. Nice music. Amir khan acted beautifully.. Karishma is OK OK... All over good movie..

One thing that lingers about this movie is the music, which is innately Indian and the melody is reminiscent of the yester-year Music Makers. Aamir khan who is one of the better actors and Karishma who is easy on the eyes unlike her sister, also happens to be a good actress. There is the usual cast of "Appetisers-side dishes" including Johhny lever, who has better talent doing Bhangra than comedy. This actor has talent with mimicry and impersonation but is a annoying comedian. The Story is a typical Bollywood, where the girl meets a poor boy whose habitation almost always happens to be tourist spot that good looking Rich girls happen to visit. They are invariably are snobbish or the Script writers make them that way till the 23rd reel of the movie to make way for the musical numbers-which just happens to be pure treat.