In this This Day That Year special feature Subhash K Jha looks back at the Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor film Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya. Directed by Dharmesh Darshan, the romantic drama was released 23 years ago. We also feature an interview with star Akshay Kumar that was conducted before the release in 2002. The actor said, “Working with Suneel and Dharmesh Darshan is like having ghar ka khana”, but more on that and his thoughts on his character in Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya further down.
Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor were engaged to marry when this fluffy, silly film was launched. They parted ways by the time the film was released.
Somewhere in the second half of this marital drama about Man, Woman, and Angel, Kader Khan, playing a valet to a strangely benevolent film star, Akshay Kumar, tells Abhishek Bachchan, “What films they used to make in the old days! And what stars? There never has been another Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar).”
Every heartbeat in Darshan’s Dhadkan and now Haan…Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya is designed to wean viewers into a state of submissive ecstasy. The volume of emotions and the noise decibel in every sequence is modulated to melodramatic requirements so that we’re never given the opportunity to question the improbability factor in the high-rise architecture that Dharmesh Darshan built for the masses.
Returning to the theme of marital strife that worked so effectively in Raja Hindustani, Dharmesh Darshan cast Karisma Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan as husband and wife who are torn apart after the husband Shiv has a one-night stand in Switzerland (described in the film as “Every Indian’s dream”) with an old college friend (Simone Singh).
The adulterous tryst signifying a terrible breach of trust is thrust on us in a most unbecoming manner. The lovemaking sequence in a motel in Switzerland should have been done sensitively. Instead, the director would have us believe that Shiv has sex with a woman he meets after years only because her clothes get drenched, and the sheet covering her body drops off. Feelings come nowhere in the picture.
In a way, such surface readings of serious domestic and social problems such as marital infidelity and casual sex go with the sur (tenor) of Dharamesh film. Shiv’s enraged wife Pooja walks out on her husband, straight into the inviting arms of an incredibly well-behaved film star, Raj (Akshay Kumar), who has no vices, only virtues, and a retinue of three skittish slaves (Himani Shivpuri, Shakti Kapoor, Kader Khan) who fawn over every nuance in their lord and master’s voice.
Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya was Abhishek Bachchan’s acid test. In an author-backed role, he had the opportunity to express a range of emotions, from elation to rejection to dejection to redemption. Unfortunately, the character lacks deeper shades. The narrative devices a string of flighty incidents to project Shiv’s boyish innocence when confronted by predatory and, therefore, “dangerous” women. And if Shiv’s encounter with the bimbo-like seductress (Shweta Menon) on a Ferris Wheel is preposterous, the encounter with an aggressively suggestive doodhwali(Upaasna Singh) smacks of crowd-wooing vulgarity.
There are other comic escapades that cut into the narrative with slicing suddenness. Director Dharamesh Darshan downsizes the drollery and modulates the melodrama to retain the essential sensitivity of the triangle. The end-game at a scenic sanctuary where the benign star woos and almost marries his secretary-cum-lady-in-waiting Pooja right under her lovelorn ex-husband Shiv’s pained eyes is a crisply cut delectable piece of melodramatic cinema with Karisma catching on to the demands of the turbulent triangular mood with seasoned effortlessness.
More than the other two players, it’s Karisma who blossoms as a screen performer under the stewardship of the actor who provided her career with a turning point in Raja Hindustani. In Dharamesh’s film, Karisma rises to razor-sharp summits in sequences such as the one where she questions the hotel’s receptionist about the manager, who also happens to be her ex-husband. Unlike her co-star, she’s also comfortable doing the earlier flippant scenes.
While Abhishek is brilliantly adept in the emotional second half, where his eyes convey cascades of unstoppable pain, he walks edgily under his illustrious father’s shadow in the comic sequences. Abhishek’s discomfort with exaggerated emotions shows up on screen.
Unlike Dhadkan, where Dharamesh revealed a uniform sense of narrative ripeness, in Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya he vacillates between personal integrity and aggressive box-office manoeuvrings that leave the narration gasping for breath. Every actor, from the subtly-inclined Akshay, Abhishek, and Mohnish Behl to the melodrama-friendly Karisma, Supriya Karnik, and Himani Shivpuri, seems to be thrown into a state of agitated anxiety by the plot’s peddle-pushing emotions.
Dharamesh Darshan celebrates all the traditional emotions of commercial Hindi cinema with a great deal relish. His theory of narration is simple: listen to your heart carefully, and you’re bound to hear echoes of the nation’s collective consciousness. We’re swept away in the cyclone of emotions that spill out of Dharmesh’s perceptions, though not quite with the same force as in the director’s Dhadkan.
Although it turned out to be a box-office fiasco, Akshay Kumar seemed very charged about Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya on the eve of its release.
Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya features you in an interesting ‘Other Man’ role. Happy?
Very. I couldn’t have asked Dharmesh for a better role. He first gave me Dhadkan, which, in many ways, was a turning point in my career, and never mind if some people thought my role was too noble to be interesting. I enjoyed playing this compassionate husband and son who chooses to forgive and forget. I wish I could be like that in real life. Now in Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya. I get to play a film star, if you please. Not many of us get to play one of those, you know.
There have been some instances of a star playing stars, for instance, Hema Malini in Tere Mere Sapne, Jackie Shroff in Kaash and Rangeela and Urmila in Mast .
Yeah, but they’ve almost always been shown as lonely and unhappy. My character Raj Malhotra in Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya is lonely, but he isn’t unhappy with stardom. Tell me, why do our films always show stars as miserable? My character takes life as it comes. He doesn’t get what he wants in life. But he doesn’t hit the bottle. My character is full of fun and masti. I like that. Because I’m something like that in real life. Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya is a very simple film. And as Dharmeshji says, it’s very difficult to be simple.
How much of yourself have you put into the star’s I kept going along with life and kept blowing away all worries in smoke Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya?
A lot, actually. My character in the film resembles me in a lot of ways, besides the face, of course(grins). Like Raj main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gayaa har fiqr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya(I kept going along with life and kept blowing away all worries in smoke). I’ve never been too bothered with the business aspect of cinema. No producer can claim I hiked my price just because my last picture was a hit. I never got into film production and never will. I didn’t start any business ventures. I’ve always been happy with my work. I don’t want to become a director. I don’t want to do anything that will add to my work tensions. I always wanted to be an actor and think I’m getting there (laughs).
So Raj Malhotra is a lot like Akshay Kumar?
Like me, Raj wants to do his work and be happy. We both have the same motto in life: live and let live. Like me, he’s full of laughter, music, romance, sporting activities, fun, and games. I’d say playing him was easy. Except that when you think it’s easy, you tend to go overboard. I had to be controlled. For that, I must give full credit to Dharmesh.
Was doing Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya fun?
Haan…bilkul. Working with Suneel and Dharmesh Darshan is like having ghar ka khana. Very appetizing and fulfilling. I had a great time doing Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya. I enjoyed doing Dharmesh’s earlier film Dhadkan equally. As for Suneel, his Jaanwar gave me a new lease of life. In Ek Rishta: The Bond Of Love, Suneel gave me a chance to work with my screen idol, Mr Bachchan. Now I’m doing Suneel’s Talaash, which is an unusual drama-thriller where I co-star with Kareena for the first time. And Raakheeji, who played my mother in my very first film Saugandh and recently in Ek Rishta, is my mother once again Talaash. Suneel started another film Mere Jeevan Saathi with me, Karisma and Amisha Patel.
At this rate, you’ll be branded the Darshan’s permanent leading man.
Maybe I was their third brother in my last life. I can’t imagine not being in their films.
Why was Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya released on Valentine’s Day?
Because it’s one of the most romantic films ever made, but besides romance, it’s also about love, success and tradition. My character, Raj Malhotra, is a romantic at heart. But he’s also very successful. And he knows exactly where to draw the line in a relationship. Raj knows how to charm people and make them smile. He’s quite like me(grins). He’s not like those givers who are dukhi from the inside. Raj is happy both inside and outside. Which makes him quite a change from the way film stars are shown in our films.
