Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! 25 Years To An All time Classic

BY VINOD MIRANI

It is now 25 years to one of the biggest hits and an all-time classic, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! In those days, there were factors due to which films had, what was called, repeat value. In Sholay the special effects and stereophonic sound, as well as the film's dialogue, drew repeat footfalls. Deewaar because of
Amitabh Bachchan's fiery performance as well as the dialogue. In Rajesh Khanna starrer, Dushman, one song, Vaada tera vaada..., was enough the get the audience back again and again.

There have been many such examples. In fact, this surging popularity of films' dialogue prompted the music company, Polydor India, to start a new trend of releasing dialogue tracks on cassettes and in the case of Sholay, which had a weak music, dialogue cassettes sold many times more than the music album!
All this glory of repeat audience was lost to the piracy when the films were overnight copied on pirated Video Cassettes and released in the market the same day as the film released. There was also no stopping as the piracy moved from Video Cassettes to cable networks and fresh films were beamed right
into the households. However, the Rajshris had the advantage of an all India distribution network as well as sub-offices in distant parts.

Hum Aapkke Hain Kaun..! was inspired from Rajshri Productions' earlier small budget home production, Nadiya Ke Paar (1982), a rural loves tory. Though the film went generally unnoticed in rest of the country, it was a major hit in parts of UP, especially Eastern UP and Bihar. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! was
modernised to suit the prevailing tastes.

Piracy did not affect Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! The company made sure that each print of the film was in the possession of a company appointed security man and the print remained in his possession when not being screened. Also, by that time, the film's praises had reached a pinnacle and every film lover wanted
to catch it at a cinema hall.

1980s and 90s films offered a varied fare. While Amitabh Bachchan films dominated till mid-1980s, the field was also open to films with other stars. However, a new lot of actors made inroads in 90s with Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Kahn and so on. Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol
and Jackie Shroff continued to have their following.

Among all these, it was in 1994 that Rajshris' Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! released. It was like no other film seen so far. The film ran through 3 and half hours and contained as many as 14 songs! And, there was no solid script, so to say, to hold either the duration or the 14 songs. If at all the film had a story to tell, it was during the penultimate 40 minutes or so before it came up with a happy ending sending out a delighted and contented audience. (Most wanted to see the film again!)

The mainstay of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! was its music and the way it was used in the film. After all, it was not easy to find slots for 14 songs in a film and, then, to justify them. Yet, the music set the tone for the film from the very onset with the title song, Hum aapke hain kaun.......A slow but melodiously soothing number.

When it comes to film fraternity, every other producer seems to know better than the one who made a film. So, there was criticism for the length of the film as well as the number of songs. A verdict of flop was passed even before the film could release! Going by various suggestions, the producers went on to
reduce the length by one and a half songs from the 14 numbers. The film belied all predictions and went on to become a blockbuster like no other film so far. The deleted songs were added back and that did not deter the audience from coming again, and again.

Music played a very vital role in all Rajshri production yet, surprisingly, they never went after big named, established composers. When the Rajshri Productions founder, Tarachand Barjatya, made his first film, Aarti in 1962, he assigned to music composing to Roshan. But, thereafter, the production house signed budding composer duo, Laxmikant Pyarelal, for their next five films. Starting with Dosti, the music for all five films, Taqdeer, Jeevan Mrityu, Piya Ka Ghar and Uphaar, was hit, whatever the fate of the films.

The Rajshris continued to work with new or lesser known composers and, for Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! they repeated Raalaxman, who gave the hit music for director Sooraj Barjatya's debut directorial venture, Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). Now, that was a gutsy move since, till then, Raamlaxman were known for composing music for mainly Marathi films! The result, the film boasted of a variety of songs, from melody to fun to foot tapping kind. No song drove a viewer to a loo break (as was the norm in those days with boring songs).

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! was way different from the kind of films being made around the time. During its 3.30 hrs duration and 14 songs, most of the film was about a family gathered to prepare and celebrate a forthcoming wedding in the family. Mostly, the screen was kept full of characters generally
having fun, singing and dancing. The story comes with a twist in the proceedings only much later. But, what still made the film tick was its very Indian-ness, the values, traditions and spirit of sacrifice for the family; feelings lying deep down in all Indians, still.

The Rajshri Productions, which also had its in-house distribution network, Rajshri Pictures Private Limited, always experimented with their release strategy. Though a high end production, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..! was given a limited screen with just a SINGLE screen to start with. As the film kept on
generating more footfalls, the screens were increased. The film went onto celebrate 25 to 100 week run in almost all major cities.

At about 31 crore real time box office collection figures, it was the biggest hit of its time (Not adjusted for inflation etc since the take home of that time is what matters). And, that was the era of lakh and a few films, if at all, crossed a one crore mark! What is more, it inspired many big production houses to take to similar film themes appealing to universal audience, as in family included. No action, no negative characters as in villains.

@The Box Office

*Game Over, a film made for the Tamil and Telugu market, is dubbed in Hindi for a wider audience. However, a film made in any other Indian language dubbed in Hindi does not normally work. Also, the film had no face value to attract the audience.

*Bharat drops heavily in its second week. Collecting just about 23.5 crore as its two week (17 days) total stands at about 199 crore.

*De De Pyar De sustains though the collection figures having tapered down to mark the end of its run. The film's four week tally stands at 93.25 crore.

*The week's new release, Kabir Singh, is the remake of the 2017 Telugu film, Arjun Reddy. It is written and directed by Sandeep Vanga, who also wrote and directed the original. The film is much different than the nationalistic and patriotic stuff meted out lately. It is back to violence and romance. Also,
Telugu remakes prove generally acceptable to the Hindi audience.

The film promises the best opening day collections considering its advance booking for any Shahid Kapoor film so far. Some critics tend to compare the Hindi version to its original, Arjun Reddy, but, then, the public has not necessarily seen the original!

(Vinod Mirani is a veteran film writer and box office analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at vinod.mirani@gmail.com)