Yes, it's a remake. So what? Sometimes it seems like one of the greatest compliments Hollywood can ever give to a foreign movie is exactly that: it's so good that it deserves an American remake. However, when Bollywood does the same thing, it's immediately considered plagiarism or even worse, stealing. I firmly disagree with such an approach. In India, the same thing is true: without a home-made remake, the movie would probably not be seen at all. Therefore, what really counts, are the merits of the movie itself. If the story is good, does it really matter whether the script is original, based on a book, based on real life, or based on another movie? In my opinion Hum Kaun Hai is a masterpiece. A thrilling movie with a fascinating storyline and equally fascinating characters, all excellently portrayed by the actors who play them. I've been watching it in full concentration, and couldn't help being completely absorbed in a way that happens to me rarely, till the very last minute.
I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that the creators of the movie have carefully avoided the numerous traps one can see way too often in Bollywood movies: songs, dance, colourful clothes, heart-touching love stories, children with watery eyes, unlikely coincidences, artificial happy endings, misplaced comedians trying to be funny... None of these are the case in Hum Kaun Hai. For a Bollywood movie, it is a fairly atypical one, and in my humble opinion it's one of the best Bollywood movies I have ever seen.
It should be mentioned that the lack of songs of entirely made up for by a wonderful background score that is pretty much a masterpiece in itself.
I heartily recommend this movie. It deserves to be watched and subsequently judged by its own merits, not merely by comparing it to another movie.
