Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!

Who am I to you..! This has fast become one of my favourite films ever. Having in fact seen this film a while back, I have been putting off writing a review. No particular reason rather than the mundane necessities of life which get in the way. But, back to the point. Did I know that this was going to become a great film? No. In fact, this was the first Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit film I've ever seen, and I couldn't be more impressed and found a better introduction to seeing these two actors.

Firstly, let me tell you of the selling points before I'd even seen this film:

1) Highest grossing blockbuster in 1994.

2) Starring two of the greatest Bollywood actors: Madhuri Dixit (who in my opinion is also one of the most beautiful women ever!) and Salman Khan

3) It won several Filfare awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading actress

So, on to the actual plot. Prem (Salman Khan) is a young man enjoying his life in a beautiful mansion with his brother. Losing his parents at a young age resulted in his uncle, Kailashnath, raising his two nephews as if they were his sons. Prem's older brother Rajesh is soon proposed to Pooja, the daughter of Kailashnath's old friend. Sparks fly and the two are soon married. Pooja has a younger sister of her own, surprise surprise! It's Nisha (Madhuri Dixit)

While initially Nisha and Prem involve themselves in harmless pranks they soon begin to realise of a budding love between the two. As the film progresses, tragedy strikes and decisions are forced to be made, the love you have for your beloved, or the duty you owe to your family.

In typical Bollywood fashion this film presents a love story intertwined in dancing and singing. The songs in this were particularly enjoyable for me. This is the song sung at Pooja and Rajesh's wedding. Just like any other Bollywood film, the leading characters steal the bride and groom's thunder (lol!)

Just a note, the outfit Madhuri is wearing in this video became a very popular outfit in the following years. However, it is not as memorable as the purple satin saree which is often remembered in the scene where Salman Khan catapults a flower at Madhuri.

This is not an in depth film where you will learn a lot about yourself, or anything deep and meaningful like that, but it will make you laugh, cry and smile.

P.S. In case you guys wanted to see where I watched the films, I've decided to start adding links to the exact YouTube video I watched it at. As I've mentioned before, I can't speak Hindi (though I'd love to learn) so I need English subtitles on the Bollywood films I watch. The links that I add will all have English subtitles and you'll know that they work because I've watched them and I'll let you know how well they work.

If memory serves me well, the subtitles on this worked very well. If you need the subtitles on this one, you have to click the little "cc" button at the bottom of the video, to the right of the volume control. Enjoy!

Koi... Mil Gaya

As you can most likely infer from the title, today's film that I watched was Koi Mil Gaya. I thought that overall it was a good film. The film starred Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zint and Rekha. Preity Zinta was one of the first Bollywood actresses I'd heard of (you can tell that I walked into this whole Bollywood thing with NO understanding of anything in it) so I was excited to finally see a film she starred in.

I had already seen Hrithik Roshan in the film Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham where he acted as a handsome, suave guy. In this film however, that persona is put on the back burner for most of the film as he plays the character of a young boy, Rohit, who as a result of a prenatal brain injury, is unable to grow to full mental capacity. As a result he is bullied by children his own age, in particular by the bad guy, Raj Saxena. Furthermore, both Raj and Hrithik's character are in love with the same girl, Nisha, no guesses as to who plays her character. As the film shows, he is constantly harassed by kids his own age and can only find solace amongst little kids whom he befriends. This all changes when he meets Jadoo, an alien who has been separated from the rest of his species. Jadoo posesses supernatural powers which lead to a turn in life for Hrithik's character. The film ranked no. 1 in 2003 according to boxofficeindia This film definitely posesses elements of the 1982 Spielberg blockbuster E.T. The whole plot of an alien being separated from the clan and befriending a human. Although this movie does have parts of a love story woven in, I wouldn't call it a romance. This is a film I would most likely recommend for a young child since it is a very lively, happy movie.

Here's an interesting fact which I later learned from research of the film, the character who plays Rohit's (Hrithik's character in the film) father, is Hrithik Roshan's real life father. Overall, while I did enjoy this film, it would not make it onto my top favourites list of films. My rating for this is 7/10 for an enjoyable film.