Maine Pyar Kiya: Eighties Love Revisited
iView Author: Roshni Mulchandani (Fremont, California, USA)
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Maine Pyar Kiya: Eighties Love Revisited
Whenever there is a strike in the Hindi film industry and there are no new movies to dissect, love or hate, I often find myself returning to the classics. With courtesy of the film distribution strike, I decided to watch one of the best romantic movies, in my opinion at least: Maine Pyar Kiya. Sadly, I had completely forgotten how simple this Rajshri flick was. It bought back many memories of being six years old, sitting cross legged in front of the television waiting eagerly as my mother played the movie on our old school VHS machine questioning my sister and I, how many more times we would watch the movie before we were finally bored. We of course, had no answer. It struck me as odd that I hadn’t watched one of my childhood favorites in so long.
A quick realization that hit me immediately was that at six, I enjoyed the movie on a more superficial level; the songs, the dances, the kabootar and Salman Khan. Now, perhaps more mature, informed, and after passing a film appreciation class, I can see the underlying ideas that made up the script. Family values, love, friendship, relationships, and the modernization of the Indian culture are all imperative themes that make up MPK. The movie begins with two childhood friends, Alok Nath and Rajeev Verma, whose brotherly friendship is as thick as thieves. Later, their camaraderie is tested by status, money and animosity. On the other hand, their children, the eternal Prem and Suman, realize their friendship has quickly turned to love in only a matter of time. The duo epitomized the otherwise tabooed idea of the boy-girl friendship. The “Friendship” cap was a sellout as was the “No thank you, no sorry in friendship” dialogue. Don’t deny it—you know you used it!
Love of course, was never the same in the eighties. If every girl wanted a fun loving foreign returned Prem, every boy wanted a sweet innocent homely Suman. For all the directors, producers and actors even, who claim that their chemistry with XYZ actor is sizzling, they ought to take a look at the Salman Khan-Bhagyashree chemistry. Fresh, young and definitely not over rated, their innocent charisma is still one to beckon with. The love they shared onscreen is further fueled by some Handsome the dependable kabootar, best bud Manohar (Laxmikant Berde) and some fantastic music.
Without a doubt, MPK is up there as one of Salman Khan’s finest performances. There are no signs of any overacting in MPK unlike many of his other films that will remain nameless. Instead, we are treated to a cute, honest and endearing performance. He played the part as the young boy in love with great nuance—I was convinced to the T that he dearly loved Suman. As a young boy who has his values in check and shares a bond with his mother, you can’t help but gush at his cool yet dorkish ways. Bhagyashree’s character lacked persona and perhaps even ambition but then again, this was back in the late eighties. However, her sweet smile and shy mannerisms add to the cute factor of the film. It is a shame her career didn’t reach the heights it probably could have as she clearly was not lacking in talent. The theory of opposites attract is demonstrated clearly as the firey Prem and the gentle Suman fall into a deep engrossing love.
Hard-work is another important aspect to the film. While the character of Verma works hard to achieve great heights in his business empire, it is ultimately Prem who must toil and labor to prove he is worthy of Suman’s hand in marriage as the friendship between the lovers fathers turns sour. Additionally, the parental relationship is highlighted as the lovers parents realize they must let their children go metaphorically and literally, so they can find themselves, love and ways in life. Of course, the mother-son relationship is emphasized between Reema Lagoo and Salman Khan as is the father-daughter connection between Alok Nath and Bhagyashree. Alternatively, as the motherless child, Suman finds solace and maternal affection in Lagoo who also realizes she would be the perfect daughter-in-law for her son. This was a modernization from the traditional mother who was usually viewed as the husband obeying woman who agreed without a thought; Lagoo tells her son to fight it out himself and win his battle.
Love concurs all, and after a big dishoom-dishoom fight and help from Handsome the kabootar, Salman proves his merit, wins the hand of his lady-love and mends broken friendships. In true Barjatya fashion, the movie is about families, for families and can be seen by all; none of this violence, vile profanity that is a part of modern scripts. Perhaps, not as applicable to youngsters today, it is definitely worth a re-watch for it for a simple lovely three hours.
The movie was complete, and I wondered if I would be able to show the movie to my children years from now. They may actually find the entire storyline extremely outdated or laugh at Salman as he did the moonwalk with the kabootar sitting on his shoulder. Perhaps, they would have thought Bhagyashree’s character was too old-fashioned, and maybe perceive the bag punching scene, where there was clearly sexual tension between the lovers, as too cheesy. And lastly, perhaps they wouldn’t be able understand why Prem had to play the saxophone at an obscene hour and Suman wouldn’t pick up his phone from down the hall. Although, I loved all those scenes— but I’m an eighties child and that is my perception of love vis-à-vis Maine Pyar Kiya and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
Maine Pyar Kiya doesn’t have an unpredictable ending—in fact the entire story is foreseeable. Nor does it have anything that hasn’t been seen before. The uniqueness and repeat watch factor lies in its honest and simple story. Maine Pyar Kya is still worth a watch and thoroughly enjoyable.
Tags: ajit vachhani, Alok Nath, bhagyashree, MAINE PYAR KIYA, Mohnish Behl, rajeev verma, rajshree films, Salman Khan, suraj barjatya
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I cringed then, I cringe now. But I know of many people who freaked out then and cringe now!
It’s a relief to find that one more person found it cringe worthy. It marked the entry of trendy-conservatism in Hindi films, that has now manifested into a monster that makes Ekta Kapoor’s serials.
The write-up’s honest..honest enough to forget that I myself didn’t like the movie.
tried watching it y’day. just cudn’t for more than 10 mins. i liked it back then, but may be DDLJ spoiled me.
on the contrary, i neither cringed then nor do i cringe now
.
its quite sad tat it takes a film-strike to push u into viewing movies of the past :(
Well I liked it when I saw it ages ago ( I guess I was just on the verge of entering my teens
)
have watched it many times over. But yes not sure if I can watch it completely now.Did watch it for a while a few days back though.All said & done MPK and QSQT were responsible for changing the scenario of Bollywood in the late 80’s & thus will always be remembered.
Lagoo was perhaps the first singing dancing mother in bollywood history, a major change from the abhaagi maan that was the staple.
Honest, I agree. I was blown away at age 5 but not so anymore. I remembered all the songs in the antaakshari verbatim and in sequence. In fact, I didnt know they were all old songs. I actually thought some of them were original movie songs of MPK only. I guess I was not so bright at 5! But I agree that Salman didnt overact in this one. He was Prem.
.
@Magik (3): Yes, DDLJ did spoil us! It WAS romance for me. I grew up believing Raj Malhotra’s are for real ;)
Unbearable then , unbearable now , unbearable forever. Not just MPK but all Rajhshri films.
I wasn’t allowed to see this film upon release, as my parents thought it was too ‘gandi’!!
I’m not even joking!
My whole school RAVED about it, yet I had no idea who Prem & Suman were!
It was almost mid ‘91, that my folks FINALLY gave in & let my sister & I watch this ”dirty, explicit, offensive film which destroyed family values!”
Those are not my words.
I happened to like it.
My parents??
Hmm… kinda went against our ’strict’ Sikh values!
Pah!
Might watch it again, if my parents are sleeping!
“Not just MPK but all Rajhshri films.”
All Rajshri movies!!!! I think thats a very strong statement. I have not liked MPK and for that matter most of their post MPK stuff either, but in the past Rajshri’s have given some wonderful stuff like Dosti, Tapasya, Piya ka Ghar, Nadiya Ke Paar,Kora Kaagaz.
@ Steve
Is that what ur parents thought of MPK? Gosh man wonder what they would be saying about today’s movies, then.
hehehehe…ppl’s dislike of MPK and other Rajshri movies that followed is pushing me to write about them, highlighting the importance of their movies.
Rk has already written nice posts on HAHK and HSSH in the past, wonder what he would say if he were to read the comments here
“Rk has already written nice posts on HAHK and HSSH in the past, wonder what he would say if he were to read the comments here”
That we have all become hard core “Anti family men”( thank you Subbu), he, he.
Anyway my hating MPK and other flicks post MPK, has nothing to do with me being an “Anti family man” or “Western culture worshipping Whatever Whatever”. Its just that Rajshri made much more better movies in the past, Dosti, Saudagar, Piya Ka Ghar, Chitchor being some examples. The stories and characters had more depth. Post HAHK, focus just seemed to be on cramming characters into every frame with no justification, or shooting in some huge palatial havelis.
And for those who say Vivaah was about small town, i recommend them to watch Basu Chatterjee’s Chameli ki Shaadi, a movie that takes a tongue in cheek look at small town attitudes and people and yes is Entertaining. Comming from a small town myself, for me Vivaah was nowhere even close to a small town. A Small town is populated by interesting quirky characters, with their own prejudices, aspirations, feelings, and there have been many entertaining movies based on that.
Sometimes I think PFC stands for Psychic Forum Chatroom!
Only yesterday I was discussing MPK and HAHK with a friend, and today, as if by Magik (hee hee) it’s mentioned here!
Tbh, HAHK was sheer torture for me.
Madhuri was THE ONLY REASON i lasted till the end!
But, I do prefer MPK to all the other films which followed.
Ratnaker, EGGJACKLY!
Actually, I go to the cinema alone.
The content these days is HIGHLY dissaproved by the elders in my little village ;-)
Ratnakar, u think that’s bad?
My folks also put ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ in that ‘explicit’ category!
Normal kids are sneaking around to watch dodgy films, but me?
Oh, just trying to watch hindi films chori chori!!
Ridiculous!
The best is DDLJ.
I had to lie to my dad to take my mum to watch it in a different town!!
Sounds insane, but it’s true.
Mum became a bit more relaxed after that.
But dad? Chaance illai!!
Anyways, thankyou Roshni for this post.
Has stirred up so many memories :-)
@Roshni
Music played a huge role in MPK’s success story.
I think the same film..with the same starcast but with a weaker soundtrack would have definitely failed at the box office
@ Steve can understand KBM, you have that steamy pool wala song between Kabir Bedi and Sonu Walia, and Rajesh Roshan’s score inspired by Vangelis.
BTW my parents were strict too, when we were kids, my mom absolutely hated those teen love flicks like QSQT and MPK, but there was no banning then. AB flicks were allowed grudgingly. And any English movie with adult content, tauba,tauba, get out of the room please.
Anyway considering how the 80’s flicks were, dont regret missing out much on them.
Inappropriate title of the post !
80’s love reminds me Love Story and Ek Duje ke liye but that time your age would have been minus2 …lol
MPK worked probably because of a new face and attitude in Salman and the divine innocence (!) of Bhagyashree. Trivia- what was the kabutar’s name in MPK ? A: Handsome.
MPK was more like 90’s love story. Aashiqui was another milestone in 90’s (with more innocent looking hero heroine) which initiated the change in music scene in Hindi movies.
Cheers!
~uh~
@ Ratnakar sir (14)
“Comming from a small town myself, for me Vivaah was nowhere even close to a small town. A Small town is populated by interesting quirky characters, with their own prejudices, aspirations, feelings, and there have been many entertaining movies based on that.”
Delhi-6 belongs to this category which you are refering to. Vivah as a movie wasn’t there to show the socio-political condition of a small town the main focus was the household of Poonam which is based in a small town. Still somewhat it captures the ambiance of a small town in different frames. We see the children running behind the car or when Poonam says to Prem “kyonki ladkiyan dulhe ko dekhne chaton par jo aa jayengee.”
All I’d say that there are various cheesy moments in Rajshree films but these movies have their heart at the right place and that’s why the films work.
Ratnakar, the irony is, a potential family film like MPK is frowned upon, yet all those revenge drama’s where the hero’s sister is raped were most welcome!!
How screwed up is that?!
Yeah, I know, good v/s evil, u rape my sister, I have reason to kill u, kutey, kameeneh, blah blah, but those scenes were HORRIFIC!
We had 10min rape scenes!
Yet we’re ‘conservative’!
Bit concerning how that was the norm once upon a time!
Actually, after saying all this I guess I DO appreciate Rajshri Productions!
Oh, hang on?
Wasn’t Suman sexually assaulted in MPK too?!
Gawd!
DDLJ is the most fucking overrated piece ever tp get some real attention.I really fail to understand.
Arre Sourav? Wah!
Nice to know there’s a 3rd person out there in the world who doesn’t worship the DDLJ bible!
I don’t hate it.
It was ok.
But, even I fail to see why the hysteria.
I’ve only ever met 1 person in my whole life who shared my sentiments.
Ur a 3rd :-)
Did u like MPK?
@Steve..hahah..I am glad we share the same opinion.
I liked MPKs music but I was too young to realize that it was all about Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Europe.:D
DDLJ was so over the top.I think Ek Duje Ke lIye left an indelible work.I had seen it long back.I really want to see it again.It was crazy like love.:)
Sorry for the typos.
@ Sourav- to each his/her own, nevertheless I’m surprised by your outburst on DDLJ.I mean I can understand if you didnt like it- but to say its OTT & that its overrated is a surprise to me.This is the first major negative feedback I’m getting on the movie in the last 13+ years
maybe we’ll discuss it in detail some other time.
Steve- In my case movies like MPK, HAHK,DDLJ et all were all referred to as family flicks.In fact QSQT was a hit with my parents also
A big joke that I want to share with all is that I happened to watch Khoon Bhari Maang with my folks.My folks really did not have much clue about the movie.And though I was still a school kid I was already a budding filmy & told my folks that its a Rekha-Shatrughan Sinha movie & they just caught the bait
somehow I did not get any scoldings after the movie.
The next day when I went to school & informed my friends that I had seen the movie with my folks- I was literally looked at by surprise by my friends
Of course the “Friend” cap was a sell out item.The other thing that I still remember about the movie is the dialogue by Mohnish Behl-
” ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahin ban sakte hain” to Salman after the fight.its after this dialogue that both Salman & Bhagyasree start “feeling” the love for each other.
Oh! yes when the fight between Mohnish Behl & Salman is on- you have a funny- he! he he ! he! he he music in the back ground
DDLJ worked because every 1 liked it, parents liked it coz it showed the youth as being respectful to elders, caring for their view point, instead of the standard love stories, that show lovers rebelling and eloping.
Youth liked it, because it was romantic. And NRI’s liked it due to the nostalgia factor.
So it was a case of “Tum bhi Khush, Main bhi khush”.
On DDLJ
For major part of my life I’ve lived in a small town and I remember HAHK lasted there in the theatres for a long time while DDLJ was out in 2 weeks only. Then I only used to think that DDLJ was just another blockbuster movie. It was after I went to college and came contact with other people, I came to know how popular DDLJ is and it is considered to be one of the best romantic movies of India.
In my town, I had seen the people mostly women from the nearby villages lapping up for HAHK but it was not the same case with DDLJ. I first watched DDLJ in 2002 and couldn’t understand what the fuss is all about. It was a good movie but not a pioneer and I too feel it is overrated. I somehow feel that DDLJ started all the wrong trends in bollywood. If I watch HAHK today I know I’ll not like it as much as I liked it back in 1994 but I can still watch it with a smile on my face throughout the movie but give me DDLJ and I’ll be thinking to watch it again and certainly not with a smile.
Point was that DDLJ mainly worked for the audiences in the cities.
@ Jahanpanah
Well DDLJ was targeted more towards the yuppie and NRI crowd. And generally the movie reflects the “desi” attitude-” Outwardly modern, inwardly conservative”. So first half had all that Swiss Alps, UK stuff, and second half had all the nostalgia inducing sarson da saag, mustard fields stuff. But at least i found DDLJ much better than Dil to Paagal Hai, halfway through i got so bored with that Pyaar-Dosti bhaashans, and yes I am referring to the first time i had seen it in theater.
@ Jahanpanah- while I do agree that DDLJ was more targeted to the city crowd and the NRI’s, I still feel your town was an exception.DDLJ was one of the first Bollywood movie to get extensively released across the length & breadth of the country.I remember especially in the 4 southern states DDLJ happened to get released in not just the A&B centres it happened to penetrate even to the C&D centres.In fact the print kept shifting within towns in a particular district I guess.This was definitely a tremendous achivement.HAHK was a complete family wedding saga- so obviously it attracted the family audience in huge lots ( something I witnessed in a slightly lesser way for Vivaah), whereas DDLJ was a more cool movie that people would like to have been identified with.
@sethu..I am game for the discussion someday.I am nauseous on discussing DDLJ.:D
But I shall manage
@ Sourav- would the discussion be better over some beer/rum/whisky
I have got a few things to say about DDLJ, but guys, remember how last time we got jootees for getting carried away and almost altering the post??
I don’t want Roshni to feel the same way!
So, i’ll wait until one of u guys does a write up on DDLJ :-)
Coming back to MPK, I most certainly wanted to trade my mum for Reema Lagoo :-)
I did love Bhagyashree’s long lustrous black hair in MPK. I thought she looked adorable and “aaja shaam hone aayi” was a verry decent MPB crooner.
to kis baath ki hai ladaayi…..
all the posh households’ posh gadgets didnt hurt the eyes either.
Cut to HAHK in 1995…remember the transparent phone Dixit uses ..i thot that was cool.
I loved that “munder pe teri bol raha hai kaga” song. I have a salwar kameez in that very ochre color …my personal tribute to Mad Dixit.
Hell I love conservative. I could adopt Alok Nath for my dad anyday. My dad is already pretty similar..papa ki yaad aa rahi hai…kabootar kidhar mar gaya….
I never did like DDLJ much…I fell for Rangeela hook line and sinker instead.
Whatever the reaction now, MPK was one film that really elicited such a strong response from the audience all over the place. I can’t watch the film but back then it just came and….swoosh…the whole nation was in its sway. For a long time. Long enough for it to be still written about, 20 years later. That experience not many films can boast of. So MPK, for this reason, is in a different league.
Dark&Dusky!
Yes, I also fell for ‘Rangeela’ in a very, very concerning and disturbing way!!
But, i’ll save those details for another post :-)
Arthi V, a very valid point!
Steve- yes I remember that Debashri’s post was hijacked by you,me,Ratnakar & Jha as we were discussing our Flopiya list if my memory is right
So yes lets stick to MPK here.
Trivia time- Rajshri Films was all set to wind up when a young Sooraj actually requested his father & grandfather to allow him to make one movie.That was to be a last go @ trying to revive the banner.Well MPK was a smashing success & Rajshri & Sooraj Barjatya did not have to look back again.
I first saw Maine Pyar Kiya in the early nineties and liked it. Even then I thought that the Kabootar fight in the end was ridiculous. I recently saw the movie again and thought that there were too many cheesy scenes in it.
Maine Pyar Kiya did have novelty at the time when it was released. It had a modern, foreign returned guy falling in love with a small town girl. It had the friend cap, ‘no sorry no thank you’ bits which the audience loved. It had some other good dialogues like ‘mujhe aisi ladki chahiye jo sirf skirt pahene, chudidar bilkul na pahene’ or
‘chalega, daudega’ or ‘hota hai hota hai’. Bhagyashree looked very beautiful and Sooraj has this habit of making his heroines look at the camera and talk as if speaking those lines to the audience.
HAHK was also a novelty as it was the first movie where the whole story revolved around weddings. It can be called a true musical as the songs literally took the movie forward. Madhuri never looked more gorgeous than in HAHK. HAHK is filled with two many sweet characters. Bindu is the only negative character in the movie. The last scene with the dog and the necklace could have avoided the whole religious bit. HAHK still had decent sets and had good art direction from what I remember.
Sooraj has been trying unsuccessfully to replicate his HAHK success so far. I recently saw Vivah and the movie had some cheap sets more on the lines of some bad TV serial. Alok Nath was overacting like hell and all the characters are good except for his standard one bad woman character. The village setting is fine and the movie is not that bad if you take out some cringe worthy scenes. Amrita Rao says ‘Jal’ for water and you cant help but think like Siddharth in Rang De Basanthi ‘Kon Aisa Baat Kartha hai’.
DDLJ was a big hit because the first half was very entertaining and it was the first time where there was an NRI romance in Europe. It had the novelty of the hero not fighting her parents or eloping away but trying to win her parents over. I think a lot of youngsters loved the coolness and the love story whereas the parents loved the fact that
the hero was not eloping away with the daughter. The movie is inspired from Sooraj Barjatya’s movies a lot. The dialogue ‘bade shaheron mein aisi choti choti batein’or the whole second half which is inspired from HAHK that had just come a year before. Then there is the letter scene at the end where the letter just keeps going on and on till it reaches Amrish Puri. It was too melodramatic with the whole ‘Main bhaga kar le jana nahin chahta’ or the ‘Kya huva agar tum mujhe nahin milee’ dialogues adapted from Anthony’s famous speech ‘Friends, Romans and Countrymen’ speech from Julius Ceasar.
Aditya and Yash Chopra have been trying to replicate DDLJ unsuccessfully since then. Every movie of theirs has some dialogue about DDLJ. Just get over it. The movie is way overrated.
DDLJ started a bad trend in hindi cinema. DDLJ was full of hypocrisy. It had Kajol dressed up in the skimpiest of skirts and cleavage revealing tops and then dressed up in churidars singing ’swami jai jagdish hare’. It had Amrish scolding angrez and angrezi culture and still living in UK. It had too much of hindustani jingoism going on. The word hindustan/hindustani is said 18 times in the movie. It was the movie that started the whole
Raj/Rahul NRI melodrama. It had Shah Rukh start his slow, eyebrow twitching hamming from this movie. It was after this year that filmfare awards totally lost it. They started awarding all the main awards to the biggest hit movie of the year. It won a record 10 filmfare awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Best Comedian, Best Screenplay, Best Dialogues, Best Lyrics and Best Male Playback singer. Now the best movie that year was DrohKaal and it did not win a single filmfare award despite having great performances by Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht, Om Puri and Naseer.
Now the best movie that year was DrohKaal and it did not win a single filmfare award despite having great performances by Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht, Om Puri and Naseer.
@sputnik..thankfully and sensibly digressing from the topic..spot on with Drohkaal…an insight into the very well know idiocy called Filmfare awards as well…same way MPK won over ‘Salaam Bombay’ in 1990. This is how the clout of Bollywood overshadowed some gems of their years…
I hope its ok to deal with some sad reality in between celebration of mediocrity… :-)
this movie has a very great effect on me :-) i wanted to get more marks than suman in her exams. and later i got higher than her :-D
she was my inspiration. i had her pic in my book. no i was not in love with her.
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DDLJ.. i didn’t like the movie. first time i left the theatre in the intermission. 2nd time i went again after few weeks, but i still don’t like that movie. there are some very big mistakes with the movie. and the problem is, ppl like it a lot.
In the past, i had argued with some friends (girls and boys) who liked this a lot. and i cud convince them abt my thoughts abt this movie. they still like the movie, but they agreed with me.
i think, i will write a detailed post on the net somewhere soon.
(and i am fan of kajol, and srk too)
Sputnik,Ram- What on earth is your expectation from Filmfare awards?They have always stood for popular cinema & not artistic cinema.How many people those days must have even watched a Drohkaal or a Salaam Bombay? Another classic example is Salman Khan winning the Best Supporting Actor Award for KKHH while Manoj Bajpai was much better in Satya ( he even won the National Award).Those expecting Filmfare awards to support artistic ventures over the years- I would say its expecting too much.of course let me tell you that I am a big fan of movies like Drohkaal & Salaam Bombay.
But finally this year’s Filmfare Awards seem to be really much better with movies like OLLO & MMJ winning 3 awards each.
No expectations Sethumadhavan, just an observation
I was trying so hard not to say anything here, but ‘Drohkaal’ has been mentioned too many times!
I saw it back then too.
And just like ‘dirty, gandi’ films like MPK, realistic films like ‘Drohkaal’ were shunned back here in my khaandaan!
It was a brilliant film!
Annu Kapoor really surprised me.
Hadn’t seen him in anything like this before!
Ashish Vidhyarthi man?? What happened to him?!
Btw, congratulations Roshni!
45 comments on a 1st post!
Not bad :-)
@Steve: this is not her 1st post dude…its her 4th post. her first post was some ’sugar daddy’ stuff
by the way, u can write a post lambasting ddlj and u will get 100 comments too :D
A very good review. I share the same sentiments about this movie and HAHK.
I have an ‘ulta’ experience. I thought the movie was ok when I saw it for the first time but when I watched it recently, I found it very cute. simple and lovable! Back then, Salman had become every young girl’s dramboy and rightly so. He was a very sincere actor to start with. Then somewhere along the way, something went wrong.
loved Salman in lots of movies.
MPK, HAHK, Saajan(hated the haircuts)
Khamoshi
Hum dil de chuke sanam rocked.
Andaz apna apna of course
MPK was awesome that time and a decent watch even today. Never realised there were so many cliches in the movie, but i will still watch it.
Hum Saath Saath Hain, was the worst movie i ever saw during my college days. Unbearable, Intolerable cruelty, I wanted to run away from the theater so badly. Now away from India for so many years, i think i have started loving this movie.
Salman has some really good movies in his repertoire esp Andaz Apna Apna, Khamoshi, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam….
A point of detail: MPK is technically a film of the 80s as it released on the LAST FRIDAY of 1989. But its phenomenal success has 90s written all over it. Literally as well as metaphorically. So it is a 90s movie, not 80s !
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That apart, I feel it is natural that many of us who loved the film back then, do not like it much now. Firstly, it came at a time, when Hindi cinema was down in the dumps- contentwise and businesswise. Secondly, we all were dreamy-eyed teen-agers back then.
—-
A similar example- I was blown away when I saw Tezaab in 88 as a 13 year old. I cringe now when I happen to run into it while surfing channels.
On the contrary, I was unimpressed by Kuch Kuch Hota Hai the first time I saw it. But I kinda took to it when it began appearing on TV.
I liked Maine Pyar Kiya when it was released …that was probably 20 years back.. but after watching Vivah I do not have the guts to revisit any of Sooraj Barjatya’s films….moreover there was a new release from Rajshri “Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi” with sonu sood in the romantic lead….wow..that was really corageous from the Barjatyas
People love to hate Rajshree. :-)
Salman in MPK defined modernity for me.
I enjoyed HAHK, even faced police lathis to watch the film, but I wonder why?
I also remember the transparent phone.
I stopped watching Rajshri then.
DDLJ took the same modernity project (NRI attitude) forward.
Tezaab was awesome, the real Munna Bhai remains Anil Kapoor.
One of the best movies by Sooraj Barjatya. I consider it to be better then HAHK. Somehow such purity in scripts is lacking in Barjatya’s films today, though Vivah can be said to be a very simple and pure script.
This is a movie in which all the songs are a treat and this movie can certainly be watched by the entire family.