Who Am I to You?

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

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.

No Spoiler but is rather lengthy and maybe too much detail for some people.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun, what can I say about it. I'll start with the fact is my favorite movie of all time. Why? I really can't say. Because believe me when I say that there have been much better movies made before and since it. I know this and yet this remains my favorite.

The story is quite simple, too simple some people say but thats not necessarily a bad thing. It's about Prem (Salman Khan) and Nisha's(Madhuri Dixit) love story. Prem is from a loving family and home, appropriately called Prem Nivas. Everyone loves everyone else including the servants and pets who are treated as one of the family. When Prem's older brother Rajesh's (Monish Behl) marriage is arranged with Pooja (Renuka Sahane), the oldest daughter of a Professor Chaudhary (Anupam Kher) and his wife (Reema Lagoo). The Professor and his wife are also school friends of Prem's kaka or uncle (Alok Nath) who has brought up the two brothers after the death of his sister and her husband.

During this 'rishta' Prem meets Nisha who is Pooja's younger sister. He immediately falls in love with her, but Nisha develops a strong dislike of him. What follows is a sweet and mischievous intercourse of jokes and pranks that they play on each other during the marriage ceremonies. While taking his bhabhi (sister-in-law) home, Prem apologizes to Nisha for anything he has done. Nisha is extremely surprised at his sensitiveness and also begins to like him.

Following this are many sweet sequences of how their love blossoms with songs aplenty in between. While the two are lost in each other and their new found relationship, fate takes a nasty turn as tragedy strikes both the households. Prem and Nisha find themselves in a delicate situation. And they call upon themselves to sacrifice their love and happiness for their families.

Music is excellent. No ground-breaking stuff nor any A.R Rahman genius of any kind. But it is entertaining, catchy and sweet and some numbers such as Didi tera dewar will remain in our memories for ever. Picturization is also excellent. Not one song should be skipped in the movie. Not even the two minute long babul song.

Performances are of course excellent. Madhuri Dixit excells as Nisha and completely convinces the audience as the sweet-hearted but mischevious sweetheart of the house. Nisha's character reminds me slightly of Rekha's Manju in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Khubhsoorat. This is Salman Khan's best performance to date. Even though I'm quite obsessed with him, I own that he is not a very good actor. But in this movie he is flawless as the sweet and lovable Prem. The rest of the cast was also well chosen, every single one of them from Pooja to Tuffy the dog. They gave us the impression of being a real family. Many movies since have used almost all the members of this cast for other family movies.

Direction is also excellent. Sooraj Barjatiya excells at romantic cinema. The scenes between Prem and Pooja and Prem and Rajesh show the love between bhabhi and her devar and two brothers. The sweet moments between Prem and Nisha are also fantastic as they hold your heart still for several minutes. The intricacies of love, from first attraction, to love slowly growing in a young girl's heart to deep understanding are shown with intricate and realistic detail.

The one letdown is the screenplay by Sooraj Barjatiya. Some lines given to Salman are embarassing, especially the english ones where the sentences are not sentences. Pretty sad for someone who has an MBA.

HAHK was a landmark in indian cinema for many reasons. First was that it was the first movies with no violence at all. The whole marriage song craze also started. First full-fledged family drama. Since then we've had many such movies and most of the audience has become bored of them. I think the last one of this genre we'll be seeing is Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I personally love these non-violent family dramas, I don't think I'll ever get sick of them. Today, many people will say that HAHK wasn't a good movie, and I think it is because they have seen too many of the copies made after it. I still maintain that it's my favorite movie and that not only should you watch it but also own it. It is the Sholay of our times although I never liked Sholay :)

Very good picturised.

Songs are nice. Romantic scene picturised for Madhuri and Salman are tooo good. I can watch this film 100 times.

It's perfect family drama without "saas bahu" ....

Songs are really good...

Sarees wearied by Renuka too good...she looking perfect newly married woman

Somewhere every couple relate to madhuri and salman

Good choice of story,Songs, music, drapery, shooting place

Renuka and Mohnish looking pretty... Every one played a perfect role for character...

People may dismiss this movie today as artificial and too cheesy but the fact remains it kept the box office cash registers ringing when it released in 1994 for years. Coming to the movie, it doesn't have any story at all but what keeps the audience glued to the movie is its tight screenplay, direction, melodious songs and the strong performances of every actor. The human relations shown were pure and simple. I must have watched this movie over and over again and every time I watched it, there was always a smile on my face and it always feels like a festival to me when I watch this movie. This movie brilliantly showcases the talented madhuri dixit.