| Product: |
Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai (DVD) |
| Date: |
22/02/08 (121 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: somewhat different story to normal Bollywood offerings
Disadvantages: at nearly 3 hours, a bit too long
Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai quite literally means "Go on, say it... there's love"!
Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (KNPH) was released in 2000 and was produced, written and directed by Rakesh Roshan and starred his son, Hrithik in the leading role as Rohit/Raj Chopra alongside Amisha Patel as Sonia Saxena, Anupam Kher as her father, Dalip Tahil as Shakti Malik and Mohnish Behl as Inspector Kadam also with Ashish Vidyarthi, Satish Shah, Farida Jala and Tanaaz Currin in supporting roles. It's a Hindi language film with a 15 certification in the UK and it was filmed on location in India and New Zealand. The film runs for a lengthy 170 minutes.
PLOT BASICS
Spoilt rich girl Sonia falls for struggling singer Rohit who lives with kindly landlords and his younger brother. Rohit is killed by corrupt police officers after he witnesses them killing a senior officer who has found out about their illegal drug operations. Sonia can't bear the loss of her love and goes off to New Zealand from India to try to get over him where she meets Raj who is the spitting image of her beloved Rohit. Together they go back to India where they are spotted by the bad guys who assume he's Rohit and they set about trying to get him.
Do the bad guys succeed? Will Sonia ever find happiness? What is the mystery behind Raj and Rohit seemingly looking so identical?
ANALYSIS
The storyline seemed to me at the start (well, not exactly the start but when Rohit dies at the hands of the corrupt police officials and Sonia meets Raj) that it would be somewhat similar to other Bollywood films I'd seen in the past, whereby a long lost twin brother appears out of the blue and is reunited with his long lost brother / mother / father / sister / brother / childhood sweetheart and everyone lives happily ever after, notwithstanding the eradication of all the bad guys! Luckily this wasn't the case with this story which made me somewhat sit up and take more notice of the story.
The film was enjoyable enough for me but it did have some far-fetched scenes such as when Sonia and Rohit get stranded on a deserted island and have fun and frolics before they're rescued. This was a real stretch of the viewers' imagination and I didn't feel it was necessary to include this in the film but it gave the director the chance to put in one of the better songs of the film. It also gave Hrithik the chance to show off his dancing skills, which he did a lot of in this film!
This was Hrithik Roshan's first film and it was an instant hit - how clever of his dad to cast him in his own film! Hrithik hasn't looked back since really with recent hits including Krish (Indian version of Superman) and last year's Dhoom 2 in which he created a real splash! His rippling muscles and extremely good looks won him the adulation of many a female fan and young men wanted to be just like him. The strong good-looking whilst also sensitive character he portrayed in the film was a winning combination and it was no wonder that the film won many awards (Filmfare Awards) including Best Actor, Best Newcomer, Best Choreography, Best Screenplay, Best Film, Best Editing, Best Playback Singer and Best Music Director. Most of all Hrithik deserves special credit for handling two different characters in his debut film so well that one watching the film for the first time would not realize it was his first role! All in all KNPH won no less than 29 awards!
Amisha Patel was a relative newcomer in 2000 and she was given the part after Kareena Kapoor left the film a few days into shooting. It was a good move for Amisha as she had excellent on screen chemistry with her leading man which helped the film become a hit. I'm not a particular fan of her acting these days, I find her acting skills rather bland! She is quite stunning to look at but I don't think she's going to win any Best Actress awards any time soon - although I will admit her acting was decent enough in this film.
Rakesh Roshan was a Bollywood actor himself back in the 70s and although he acted in many films he was never quite the A list actor that his son has become in a short period of time. He has, however, become a very successful in producing films and having set up his own production company in the 80s, he has become known for directing hit films such as Karan Arjun (starring Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan), Koi... Mil Gaya (starring his son Hrithik) and its sequal Krrish (also starring Hrithik). Oddly enough these hit films all start with the letter K and it's become a sort of trademark and expected that his films will become hits! Rakesh's brother Rajesh is also a successful music director for Bollywood films and together the two brothers and Hrithik make a good film-making team.
I can't really say much about the supporting actors in the film as their roles just weren't big enough to make an impact. Hrithik Roshan stole the show in the film and it's no wonder he's gone onto bigger and better things in Bollywood since the release of this film. I just had to add though that having Johnny Lever in a brief cameo in the film was totally unnecessary and I found it just extremely annoying having to see his supposed comedic presence in this film! One of these days the Bollywood powers that be will realize that having this irritating man with his cameo comedy scenes does not improve a film!
MUSIC
The music for the film is by Rajesh Roshan (brother of the director and producer and uncle of the lead) and playback singers included: Lucky Ali, Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan, Ramya, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. This was Lucky Ali's first film that he sang in and the boy did well! He deservedly won awards for his singing and actually went on to become an actor shortly after this film was released; although I wouldn't say his acting would win any awards, his singing voice is pretty good.
The theme song from the film KNPH itself was a hit song and I still hear it played on Indian radio channels regularly to this date. It's a catchy number and the film does have a handful of other songs which make this film an all round enjoyable musical. I've seen the film twice and didn't actively sit there pressing fast forward when the songs come on as I do with many Bollywood films!
WHERE TO GET IT
You can buy the DVD of this film from amazon.co.uk for £16.48 or from musichouseltd.co.uk for £5.50 or try renting from your usual DVD rental source.
OVERALL
Overall I've give KNPH a health 7 out of 10 - even though it's a film that has won numerous awards and I did enjoy it; I have seen many films released after this film which deserve higher ratings in my humble opinion.
KNPH will generally appeal to people looking for a relatively satisfying ending and a bit of romance,suspense and action along the way.
NB: Also posted on ciao.co.uk on the same username...
Summary: Recommended? Yes... A multi-award winning film
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