Customer Reviews

Hum Aapke Hain Koun

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a wonderful movie. The love story for all ages in any country. Prem and Nisha meet when their siblings get engaged in an arranged marriage. They at first tease each other, but eventually realize that they are in love. Then tragedy strikes, Nisha's sister Pooja, after giving birth to a beautiful boy, dies in a stairs accident. The families are grief stricken. They decide that the husband must marry again for the sake of the baby. The father's decide that Nisha will take Pooja's place. Nisha, being unaware that the families have arranged her to be marriewd to Rajesh, believes that she will be married to Prem.
Both lovers decide that for the sake of the families they will hide their love. Here is the traditional notion of sacreficing your happiness for the sake of many others.
This is a classic tale with the songs not only being an excellent breather from the movie, but they are also cute tunes that keep you involved in the story.
This film from Yash Chropra is the first from his family's company that explores the mixture of modern and tradional India. His later films Diwale Dulhania Y Jangege and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai expand the messages and themes begun in this film.
A must see film for everyone that loves love stories.

This movie turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Indian movies of all-time, and no wonder - the music is superb [songs & melodies in the traditional Indian style], good casting, and lovely costumes, not to mention a story that tugs at the heartstrings.

The story itself is a typical Bollywood romance/ tearjerker - Prem [Salman Khan] and Nisha [the bewitching Madhuri Dixit] finds themselves falling for each other as Prem's older brother Rajesh [Mohnish Behl] marries Nisha's sister Pooja [Renuka Shahane]. Unfortunately tragedy strikes when Pooja dies shortly after the birth of her first child. The elder males feel that it would be best for Nisha to marry her widowed bro-in-law [common in many traditional societies] so as to provide the motherless child with a loving substitute mommy. Unbeknownst to the other family members, Prem and Nisha are deeply in love, and they decide to sacrifice their love for the sake of the family [another common thread in many Bollywood movies]. The rest of the story deals with what happens to the star-crossed lovers.

Though the plot is not extraordinary, what lifts this movie above the average Bollywood blockbuster is the excellent songs & dances that lend a melodious harmony to the movie itself, whilst not detracting from the actual story. The acting by the cast is credible, and the two leads [Salman & Madhuri] have a genuine chemistry [that is repeated in many other Hindi romances such as Saajan etc].

An entertaining family movie that is sure to warm your heart [just don't expect a typical Bollywood blockbuster that is heavy on violence and low on acting & plot].

This is generally a much loved Bollywood movie released in 1994. I think it has to be assessed within that time-frame.
It has all the simplicity and naivete that Hollywood did in the 50s and early 60s. Its the sort of movie Doris Day would have starred in in terms of nice people and family values. It has scenes such as two whole families sitting in a circle and playing a game of pass the cushion and when the music stops the person holding it has to perform some forfeit piece of poetry or music. Now this tells you something about the times in itself.
It is a long movie and there are many more songs than you tend to get these days. The songs were generally lively but I haven't felt tempted to download them. I did find the movie went on a bit at times though I know not all viewers felt that.
It is a piece that informs a lot about Indian customs with quite long scenes laying out cultural practices around weddings and allied rituals. These are people who put family first and will sacrifice personal desires for family sake. The families intermarried are idyllic except for an aunt who provides selfish, greedy contrast.
I came to Salman Khan movies this millennium and its interesting to see him younger. He is less self-conscious here and dances a lot better. I particularly noted the freer movement around his shoulders and wonder if all the bodybuilding since has locked him up there and restricted his range of movement!
All actors are good and the 2 leads (Salman and Madhuri Dixit) have good chemistry in what is, unashamedly, a building romantic tale.
There is nothing new here but it has its own period charms. For those who don't like sentimental or cute, for art-house cinema lovers and those who only like more real or recent stuff, this may not be for you. However for those who like Bollywood musicals this is one of the best loved in the genre- which won a swathe of awards when it was released.

If you only watch the newest movies and you favor the synthetic drum machine music instead of traditional Indian instruments or if you only watch Indian movies with Sharuk Khan in them do yourself a favor and pass this old relic up for something newer. You are dismissed.

Ok, see that? I got rid of all the wannabe Bollywood fans and only those who truly respect this art are remaining. Now onto the review. Lights, action, camera!

The title to this review, seen written on the side of our hero's Jeep sums up the message of this movie. It is about the tight-knit fabric that holds India together- the family. The movie opens up with the credit sequence and hero and heroine signing the title song. It's a beautiful song and a great way to open this movie. It's then onto a cricket match that, ok, may not be the best way top start a movie. It's a little silly with a dog for an umpire. But whatever.

As the film rolls on there is a marriage being set up. The groom's brother Prem and the bride's sister Nisha start off bickering but you can tell they like each other. Soon the marriage is confirmed and the groom presents the ring. And we're onto the next song, the immortal Wah Wah Ramji. This is an awesome song. I do like the Kahbi Kushi Kahbi Gham version better though.

The next part of the movie they are preparing for the wedding. Getting to see a theme? Most of this movie has to do with marriage. The scene either takes place at a marriage or during the preparation for one. Most of the time anyway. During all this marriage prep there is another awesome song. I don't know the names to all the song's sorry. I hear there are about 14-I've never taken the time to count. For this song, the men sit across from the women. I'm sure this is some sort of traditional hindu ceremony. In the song the man sings about how beautiful and wonderful his sister and law is. What a wonderful thing to say.

"My in-law is truly blessed/ She is like the goddess of wealth/ who has transformed this house into Heaven."

Moving on there is yet more preparation for the marriage. More ceremonies and rituals. It seems as though nothing has been left out when it comes to showing us what the Indian marriage process is like. And there is a lot, I am skipping quite a bit or this review would last forever!

When the two are finally wed there is yet another beautiful song the bride sings(or thinks rather.) This may be my favorite song as it is very well written with a bittersweet message.

"Mom, I'm leaving behind all my memories of childhood/My loving sister take care of the house the same as I have./My father-in-law is my dad now and my husband is my God now.

Haha. all the liberals reading this just cringed. Loooosers!

The bride does nothing but cry as she leaves the service. If I was her husband I would feel horrible. Now that they are married off, more rituals and ceremonies take place and we're back to more cricket. Prem sings a song about how he loves his sister-in-law who now lives with them.

"Sister, you're the treasure of this happy home...Search for a replica of yourself and bring her here for me to marry."

Now Prem begins the courting process of Nisha and they begin to fall in love. When they have received the sister-in-law's blessing they are about to go to their parents for permission to marry when disaster strikes. Nisha and Prem must now make a decision-one that will benefit themselves or one that benefits the whole family.

This is not my #1 favorite Bollywood film, but is probably #2. It has the most simple and beautiful messages that a film could have. Love of family, self-sacrifice...maybe Jesus traveled to India after all.

My only problem with this movie is with the DVD. First, they try to fit a 3 1/2 hour movie onto a single layer disc, reducing the picture quality. Next, the English subtitles are a couple seconds off during the last half hour of the movie so it is very hard for us folk that don't know Hindi to keep up! Sorry, but that Rosetta Stone software still isn't doing me any good!

After watching about ten brilliant Bollywood films I foolishly bought this one. From the first 5 minutes I hated this. at first I thought it was a comedy. No it is not. It has no redeeming quality.....honestly I could not finish this piece of trash. Well we make a lot of junk...so why not India. Like one reviewer said DO NOT judge Bollywood based on this film.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun is a 3½ hour movie that maybe should have been 4 hours long. Many of the scenes are energetic and move at a blistering pace just to get everything said and done, which is why some might think the acting is lacking. The actors just are not given time to properly work many of the scenes. Some of the transitions between scenes are so abrupt that we almost get whiplash. The camera work is very good and the image quality is adequate. The sound is sub-today-standard and almost poor on 1 or 2 of the songs, but they are great songs. Be prepared to speed read and watch scenes several times just to see everything. Based on movies that I have seen, at least 10 important later films were influenced by this film.

All that said, I highly recommend this absolutely adorable film for what it is, not what it isn't. It is a family film. There is great love between 2 brothers and 2 sisters. True love develops between the couple in the arranged marriage. There is intense electricity between Madhuri and Salmon as their love develops. There is the Indian version of a pooh-pooh cushion (crunchy chips under a blanket). There is a wonderful subplot where Madhuri and the young girls play the game steel-the-groom's-shoes during the wedding. A little white dog is a cute and important character. There is a ton of soul lifting laughter in this film as characters and guests laugh at the antics of the main characters. And, my all time favorite, you never really know for sure who or how many will eventually get married in one of these films.

The negative reviewers do make some points. If this film were remade with today's sound quality, choreography, film quality and directing it would be a tremendous film. However, it might lose something immeasurable in the process.

As I watched Salman Khan mugging shamelessly from virtually the first frame of the unbearably saccharine beginning of this film, which was even worse than watching the brilliantly talented dancer Mads make a fool of herself, I kept thinking I should reach for the remote and pull the plug; but as an experienced Bollywood film fanatic, I know that often enough a bad beginning is followed by some pretty good stuff "after the interim," so I kept watching. Incredibly, things got worse and worse as it dragged me along to its inevitable conclusion.

I am not a big fan of Salman Khan, so to be fair, I challenge myself to answer the question, "If SRK had been playing this role instead of SK, would this have been a better film?" The answer is almost always yes, and sometimes it's YESSSSS! But in this case, choke, gasp, no. But you wouldn't see him taking a role like this, did you? I'm just really glad I was home alone when I watched it, because my friends and family NEVER might have been turned off Bollywood films for good if they'd seen this as their first sample.

I've read that sometimes a Bollywood film does not have a fully-completed script before it begins production. It is not clear if this film had one by the end. It's kind of patched together, and could probably have told its thin and predictable story more effectively if it had been about an hour long.

NOT recommended for newcomers to the otherwise wonderful world of Bollywood!

The movie in absolute fantasy - one of the most tawdry and shallow products of Indian cinema - by the vapid, for the vapid, of the vapid.

Bollywood never ceases to amaze me; this is one of those movies where most Westerners (or anybody who doesn't know Indian Cinema) get the wrong idea, because Bollywood is a love or hate relationship kind of deal. I was disappointed with this movie, while it is very very long, it offers an enjoyable 'white love' concept, and the family is always first message, and we all have our duties reminder; but it ends to be too childish, silly, and unfortunately, Madhuri doesn't dance to the extent of her abilities. One thing I liked is seeing Salman so dark! was he suntanned or what? Also... what's up with the excessive slapping?

FIRST HOUR: Handsome Prem meets beautiful Nisha and they fall in love.

SECOND HOUR: While Prem and Nisha keep falling love, their relatives also fall in love!

(*INTERMISSION* Go get your pickle and chutney.)

THIRD HOUR: Prem and Nisha fall EVEN MORE MORE in LOVE than before!!! Try not to laugh when one of the relatives falls down a flight of staris and dies.

FOURTH HOUR (brace yourself, surprise ending): Prem and Nisha are so in love that they decide... to get married!

The end.