User reviews

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

Hum Aapke Hain Koun was a landmark film, undoubtedly. Love it, hate it, but you couldn't ignore it. Everyone watched it, from enthusiastic children to their doting parents, and even the parents' parents. Young lovebirds watched it together, for they imagined themselves in Madhuri Dikshit and Salman Khan pondering about what chaste love and sacrifice really could mean. I went to watch it too, and I had both the wife and the mother in tow, and this was probably the last time my mother stepped into the cinema theatre before her untimely demise, and that's one of the reasons that the film will hold a special place in my heart. Towards the end of the film, both the women between whom I was comfortably lodged, were in copious tears, leaving me thoroughly helpless and beleaguered.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun actually lacked originality. It was a shiny, polished, glitzy and expensive rehash of Rajshri's very own "Nadiya Ke Paar", helmed by Govind Moonis and starring Sachin and Sadhna Singh in a dual role. The storyline is absolutely similar, but the original was set in rural India which was Rajshri Production's usual playground. Nadiya Ke Paar was steeped in reality, sans the glamour, traditional overdose and musical melodrama of its later version and is unsurprisingly rated higher on IMDB. In stark contrast, Hum Aapke Hain Koun was all chocolatey, brimming with acts of kindness, upholding humanity, values and traditions to the point that one could choke, not with emotions, but out of sheer disbelief. Why doesn't God make any more men and women with such virtues?

But all the above information and critique is in hindsight, and certainly not straight from 1994. When Hum Aapke Hain Koun released, in spite of my having mapped it to Nadiya Ke Paar, I found it delightful and refreshing. Madhuri Dikshit was in her sublime form and Salman Khan played the perfect foil, energetic and charismatic. I thought he remained underrated in the film's super success story, and my heart went out to his role, just this once other than his performance in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The music of Hum Aapke Hain Koun by Raam Laxman (Vijay Patil) was soulful, standout, immensely hummable and almost definitely the main reason for the film's runaway success, even though it came down as an overdose, almost resembling an incessant downpour. There was no lack of drama, melodrama, dialoguebaazi and the goofy goodness of everyone in the script - there wasn't an iota of badness anywhere. It's actually quite difficult to draw a parallel with Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun, even today. Cheers to the twenty six years that Hum Aapke Hain Koun has traversed, it's often aired even now and remains immensely watchable, for different reasons to different people.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun is not much of a film as it is a show, which is big and extravagant and presents a positive world of love and smiles and the wonderful fraternity of the big wide Indian family. So popular did it become that its title today is immediately associated with wide families. Strictly as a film, sadly, the film is not that great, but it's pure entertainment. The film's music is absolutely beautiful and clearly a big part of the film's success because the show is never less than a sum of its parts.

In order to make the entire show and portrayal of the big family valid, a great cast was needed here, and indeed they're all nice and they all work well with each other. But Hum Aapke Hain Koun i-s Madhuri Dixit all the way; she is its face, soul, and heart, and it fully rests on her electrifying, charismatic presence, heartfelt performance, and her impossible, heavenly beauty. No one else exists when she is there, and thankfully she is there most of the time. She is the main reason the film is so iconic today, for sure.

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 :)

The success of this film is a memorable landmark inasmuch that the violent legacy of action films pioneered and boosted by Amitab Bachan came to an end and movies again took a semi u-turn to social and family oriented depiction of human values that are more close to real life.

This romantic cum social legacy of Hindi movies came to an abrupt end by the release of movies, like "Sholay" and "Zanjeer" in early 70s, when Amitabh set the stage for his personification of a young angry man willing to turn violent. In this way, the cool, romantic and charming personality of Rajesh Khanna eclipsed to give way to the new Super Star.

HAKAK turned the tables, insofar, that this beautiful song studded and family drama having a focus on light merriment and jubilant frenzy took to the hearts of the audience and Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit touched new heights of stardom ushering in a revived era of filmdom that is the touchstone of social and family drama.

This movie can definitely listed among the top 5 movies of all time . It Is a breezy movie with an ingradient of all nice things . It has ear soothing music, good performances and extremely good-good happenings going on . You wont feel bored even for a second .Though without a strong story , it is pure entertainment at its best .

At a time when action films were the norm of Indian Cinema came a family film called "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun". A film that broke all the records at the time. It was the turning point in Indian Cinema to move away from violent films and towards more romantic and creative efforts or as I like to call them "Films without Villains".

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun started it all. The film is directed by Sooraj Barjatya, it is his second film after Maine Pyaar Kiya. HAHK stars Salman Khan as Prem and Madhuri Dixit as Pooja, its about how they fall in love and what they have to go through to finally end up together, throw in some family values and emotion and you have Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.

Everyone should watch this film, but wait, I think they already have!

Enjoy!

HAHK represents all things that the best of commercial Hindi cinema stands for. It has music that is melodious and just merges with film. There is a romantic angle full of innocence and electrifying chemistry. The premise is very simple yet has enough scope for a large array of emotions. Repeat viewing only enhances the appeal of the film. This is most definitely a Sooraj Barjatya - Madhuri Dixit collaboration to give credit where credit is due. It is the highlight of both of their careers so far, in my opinion. Barjatya does a great job with each and every character of the film. He does something that is essential for the viewer to enjoy the film: he makes you genuinely care for each character. So if they laugh, you laugh and if they cry, you cry. And he does so with sincerity and simplicity. Most definitely the film was designed to be big budget block buster, but it was made with the intention of making a great film which it most certainly is. Salman Khan and Madhuri together are one of the best onscreen couples ever depicted. Great choreography, a well-written script and most of all excellent direction by Barjatya in pacing the film superbly. One of the best films ever made. 10/10.

Over the last few months, I've become increasingly jaded and cynical about Hindi cinema. The choices seem to be narrowing to increasingly violent and brutal films with good performances or soulless masala clones with production line Barbie dolls for heroines, and songs that are forgotten seconds after they finish. I've been pushing myself to reach 150 BW films watched, and it has increasingly seemed like a waste of time and effort, often leaving me angry at the time chewed up by the drek on offer. In the last week, I've sat through Aashiq and Gumrah, both films that left me bewildered and angry at their awfulness.

Then, today, I finally got to see HAHK. I went in expecting to loathe it. Despite my vigorous efforts, I just couldn't. Cinematically, there's almost nothing right with this film, but it was still great fun to watch. One IMDb review disparaged it by calling it "just a shaadi cassette", and I think that was right on the money. I also don't think that it is such a bad thing. There's an artless naivety and innocence to the film's spirit that makes it easy to overlook the fact that watching it will induce a coma in the saccharine-intolerant. I am normally very intolerant of super-sweet fluiff, but somehow this film sneaked past my outer cynic and found my inner child. It was a better K3G, better for not having all the negative elements. If you're going to make candy floss, don't try to be "cool" by spicing it with pepper, just celebrate the sugar, and that's what HAHK does. I don't know if I'll watch it again, but there are several songs that were well worth the watch, and Tuffy was great.

I don't think such a film could be made today, since jaded cynicism is de rigueur for film viewers the world over, and I doubt that many directors would have the courage, or find the backers, to make such an unabashedly retro piece. To compress the "mushkil" into the last 20 or so was genius, it let the film just bubble away, with so many laughing, smiling faces that only the stoniest grinches could be unmoved. Maybe the biggest flaw with HAHK is the fact that so many subsequent films tried to copy its "formula", without realising it didn't really have one, and that calculating mimicry is no substitute for the real thing.

As a film, I'd give it 5/10. For refreshing my BW palate, and reminding me of the magic of masala, I'd give it 8.

Bad acting, no script and nonstop music. It is a treat for mindless audience.

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.

This is one of the best movies ever.The direction is superb.The choreography is excellent.The story is great.It tells us about Prem and Rajesh who are orphans and are being taken care by their uncle Kailash.One day they get Rajesh engaged To Pooja chowdhary.Pooja also has a sister named Nisha.Nisha and Prem fall in love.Rajesh and Pooja get married.They have a baby noy.One day a tragic incident happens.Pooja dies after falling from a staircase.They plan Nisha to marry Rajesh.On the climax scene Pooja gives Tuffy a letter and sends it to Prem.Rajesh reads it.He realizes their feelings.All ends happily when Preem and Pooja marry.The cinematography is excellent.Madhuari and Salman are brilliant.The others are great too.The on screen chemistry is excellent.The music is excellent.The costumes are good too.Script is excellent.Dialogs are excellent.Photography is excellent.I have seen tnis 7 times already.This is Tooooooooo good.A MUST SEE MOVIE RATING-10/10

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...

This movie is another stolen story and remake from 1980's Rajshree movie "Nadiya Ke Par" starring Sachin and Sadhana. Sooraj Barjatya is using old "Hit" to make new "Hit" in this movie. This movie has very good songs. Young Sallu looks bad to Sachin. I hadn't have a chance to comment on this movie early but commenting little late as it was made in 1994. If you read this comment and have seen this movie, you must also see the old HIT "Nadiya Ke Par" by Tarachand Barjatya.

Has excellent Songs but story is old and stolen from 80s. One Must learn how to copy from Sooraj. In my opinion Sooraj Barjatya was the one who introduced the "Remaking" of movie.

Overall this one is a good movie because of songs.

Some parts of the movie were a bit cheesy in my opinion, but I mean, that was kind of Bollywood's thing back then I suppose, and I do think that the cheesiness of the acting and plot is what accentuates the humor in this film. Anyways, this film was actually quite entertaining. As an American, Bollywood films don't always appeal to me, but this movie was quite good. My dad put this up on Netflix with my mom, as I walked into the room, and I was instantly hooked. It had such an adorable plot line with highly likable characters that you'll instantly fall in love with in seconds. The jokes were extremely clever as well, and of course goofy and cheesy (in a sort of odd and satisfying way). In conclusion, the film is lighthearted, romantic, humorous, and just downright adorbs.

Back in the late 1990's, I worked for an Indian doctor who wanted to give me a taste of Indian cinema. He loaned me this movie for a weekend. My mom & I watched it together. We enjoyed it so much we watched it multiple times. The music & dancing was was fun, the costumes were gorgeous, & the storyline was really good. I may have to watch it again sometime as I see it's available on Amazon Prime.

This has got to be my most favorite movie ever! Even though i watched this movie over and over again i never get bored! The movie gives you an awesome performance by Salman Khan and a perfect performance by Madhuri Dixit!

Everything is absolutely rocking! The comedy, Songs, Locations, Costumes, Cast!

If you are not a fan of Salman Khan yet, this movie will make you a fan of him instantly, he is just lovable! The first three hours you will have a big smile on your face the whole time!

Double thumbs up for this everlasting classic in Indian cinema!

IT IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE IN 90'S. ITS REALLY AN AWSOME FILM.EVERY ONE SHOULD WATCH THIS WITH THERE FAMILY.SALMAN AND MADHURI'S ACTING IS AWSOME.

It is difficult to point out good or bad points in this particular movie. From the first watch, the movie will look quite a simple one with nothing of the excellence short (as most of the critics also could not find). Still, the movie, like a magnet, attracted viewers again and again to the theaters and slowly one realized that it is this simplicity of the movie that is its best asset. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first complete family entertainer of its kind - no blood, no violence, no hero-villain hand-to-hand combats, no dialog-baazi etc. Basically a new hit formula was born that was adopted in hits like DDLJ, Raja Hindustani, Hum saath saath hai, Vivah, Waqt and many more. Unbound love from people can be gaged from its box office result, which no other movie has matched till date. Watch it for the first time and you will be entertained thoroughly for 3 and a half hours. Watch it for second time and you will start humming the songs (14 songs and all adds fun-element to the story). Watch it for third time and you will start to fall in love with the characters. Thereafter you will continue to watch this movie every now and then. Like we enjoy meeting our relatives during festivals, fans (possibly half of pan India or more) of HAHK continue to enjoy the movie at regular intervals. It has been more than 20 years now and the love for the movie remains the same. One thing that stands out is Madhuri Dixit as Nisha. I am sure like me, many of my generations who have watched the movie have become an ardent admirer, fan and possibly a devotee of this beauty. Apart from looking million bucks in every frame she appeared, her lively act took the movie to a different level altogether. How can one not fall in love with her eyes after seeing her walk down the stairs in purple saari while Salman was humming the shayari for her. Her simplistic attire and expressions in maye ni maye is the one to die for. Madhuri mesmerized everyone from 8 to 80 years old with this movie. Obviously, there was a reason that her name appeared before Salman Khan and she was paid more than Salman for the movie.

With the box office success of this movie, Indian film industry hit a new low. Indian film industry is still trying to come out of the bad drug that it got infected with. Just when there seemed to be some sensible movies started to come up in India, in 1994 this movie got released and brought us back to where we were 10 years back. It inspired a genre of movies which have completely meaningless melodrama, utterly nonsense dance song sequences, brainless stories. I sometimes wonder if Indian movie industry would be better if this movie (along with another crappy movie called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) had not come. I may be wrong, Indian movies were never worth considering seriously before that also barring a very few exceptions. But this one just took it to a new low.

Many people say this movie changed the face of Indian movies, and I absolutely agree with it, not for good but for worse. It has been close to one and a half decade and we are slowly managing coming out of the hangover. Hope Indian audience will be sensible enough not to create another Suraj Bhartyaja or Karan Johar.