Revisiting Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit’s 1994 Iconic Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

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Subhash K Jha revisits the Salman Khan-Madhuri Dixit brilliant box-office hit film, Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! , which released in 1994.

Sooraj Barjatya’s three and a half hour long wedding-video done in gloriously unapologetic shades of purple, pink, mauve and military-green, was not a film. It was an extended evening of musical chairs that made the great Indian wedding look like an occasion to flaunt the peacock within all of us. Sadly, from this point onwards the clothes, attitude, flamboyance, and extravagance flaunted in Barjatya’s non-cinematic reel raga became the benchmark and definition of ‘Lavish Wedding’.

Maine  Pyar Kiya. Sooraj Barjatya and  Salman  Khan  decided  they would come together for another love story, this  time  a  full-blown musical with fourteen songs. Salman was  not sure  if that would work.

Initially when the film opened  audiences  complained  about its length. So two  of  the  songs were  removed. But when  the film went on to become  the biggest  hit in the history  of Hindi cinema, the two edited songs ‘Chocolate lime juice’ and ‘Mujhse juda hokar’ were restored on  public demand.

Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice  is  the soul  of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, recorded ten  songs in  four  days , as she had  to leave the country for  a concert tour. She  recalled Sooraj Barjatya  being part  of  every recording. “He  knew exactly where and how he wanted the songs. He had  the music mapped in his  mind,” she remembers. One reason why Hum Saath Saath Hain,  the  follow-up to Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! flopped is because Lataji’s voice was missing.

When  Sooraj  was  ready with Vivah in 2006 I  asked him if it would be as  big a hit as Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!.  He replied, “I can’t remake Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! because that part of my life is over. It’s never thought of. It just happens. I’ve always gone by instinct. No one can do that, not even me. Every project dictates its own vision. At 40 I could look at the man-woman relationship with some detachment. Unlike my earlier films Vivah isn’t about the festivities connected with a marriage. It’s about the definition and dynamics of a marriage. I feel youngsters are losing touch with the beauty of relationships.”

Sooraj and Salman  have done four films together. Sooraj represents everything that is good kind and humane in Salman. From the time they made their debut as leading man and director in Maine Pyar Kiya, they’ve shared a very spiritual relationship. Although they’re the same age, Salman  looks up to Soorajji. Their friendship struck a rough patch during Hum Saath Saath Hain (when the black buck incident happened). But that’s in the past now. Today Salman is closer to Sooraj and his family than ever before.

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