Raja Hindustani


Raja Hindustani is a 1996 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Dharmesh Darshan. It tells the story of a cab driver from a small town who falls in love with a rich young woman. Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor play the lead roles. Released on 15 November 1996, this film's plot was inspired from the 1965 film Jab Jab Phool Khile, starring Shashi Kapoor and Nanda. The film's music was composed by Nadeem-Shravan, with lyrics by Sameer. It went on to win five Filmfare Awards, including the awards for Best film and Best Actors, and seven Screen Awards.
Raja Hindustani was the third most commercially successful Hindi film of the 1990s in terms of net gross. Made on a budget of 57.5 million, the film went on to gross 763.4 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year, and the fourth highest-grossing film in India of the 1990s behind Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The film's music became popular and was successful, especially in the central and eastern states of India. Karisma Kapoor was complimented for her looks and performance as Aarti: a rich, beautiful, sensitive, young woman full of dreams and desires. It is Kapoor's biggest commercial success till date and is regarded as one of her best performances; it was a major turning point in her career. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role. The chemistry between the lead pair of Aamir Khan and Karishma Kapoor was praised and there was a much talked about kissing scene. The film was remade in Kannada as Naanu Naane in 2002, starring Upendra and Sakshi Shivanand in lead roles and in Odia as Priya Mo Priya in 2005.

Plot

Aarti Sehgal is a wealthy young girl who is the only child of her father, Mr. Sehgal and stepmother Shalini, who wishes to acquire all the wealth of her husband.
Aarti decides to go for a vacation to Palankhet, to discover the memories of her deceased mother. Upon arrival, she finds out she has no transportation from the airport to Palankhet, and so she hires the services of the only available driver, Raja Hindustani.
During her stay in Palankhet, Aarti and Raja bond and ultimately fall in love after they accidentally kissed each other. One day, to Aarti's surprise, her father arrives in Palankhet and intends to take her home with him. Aarti tells her father about Raja, but Mr. Sehgal says that he will only accept the marriage on the condition that Raja goes to Mumbai and learns to become a respectable member of society. Raja refuses and forces Aarti to make a decision. Aarti chooses Raja but begs for her father's blessings. Her father refuses to offer his blessings and leaves for Mumbai.
After some time, Mr. Sehgal forgives his daughter and visits her in Palankhet. While there, he gives his daughter and son-in-law a new house. Raja refuses to live in the house because he does not see it as a gift, but rather as a charity since he is poor. Shalini, her brother, Swaraj, and her nephew Jai seek to exploit this conflict to gain total control of Mr. Sehgal's assets. Under the pretext of a birthday party, they bring Raja and Aarti to Mumbai and set in motion events that cause Aarti and Raja to separate.
Aarti realizes that she is pregnant, but, due to health problems, the doctor advises her not to travel. Instead, her stepmother is asked to go to Palankhet to inform Raja about his baby and to request him to come to Mumbai. However, Aarti's stepmother tells Raja that Aarti wants to divorce him. Raja refuses. After some time, Raja learns that Aarti has had a baby and is under the impression that she intends to keep him away from the child. Fearing that he will never be allowed to see his baby, he decides to kidnap the child. Distraught, Aarti goes to see Raja and begs him to let her have their child back. Ultimately, the lies and deception of Aarti's stepmother are revealed, and Aarti and Raja reunite.

Cast

was first offered the lead actress role, but she refused. Pooja Bhatt and Aishwarya Rai were also among those actresses who were considered for the role. Palankhet was a fictional location created for the film, and is a portmanteau of two real hill stations' names: Palampur and Ranikhet.

Reception

Critical Response

Film critic Anupama Chopra, while reviewing Raja Hindustani for India Today wrote, "the film is disappointingly dated but Darshan scores with his music-catchy Pardesi, pardesi — and with his leading lady, Karisma." She went on to praise Kapoor's performance saying, "Karisma looks stunning and acts surprisingly well. She is the lifeblood of this otherwise banal film."

Box office

Raja Hindustani earned 763.4 million worldwide, including a domestic gross of 738.4million. Its domestic nett was 431.5million, and its adjusted worldwide gross is equivalent to 3.94billion.
Box Office India declared it an "All time blockbuster". Domestically, it was the fourth highest-grossing film of the 1990s, after Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Adjusted for inflation, Raja Hindustani is the fifth highest-grossing film of India since the 1990s.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Nadeem-Shravan. Planet Bollywood ranks the film's soundtrack at 56 in its all-time top 100 greatest Bollywood soundtracks.
It consisted of tracks like "Kitna Pyara Tujhe Rab Ne", "Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein", which had become an immensely popular wedding song, and Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik's "Pardesi Pardesi", which was a major chartbuster at the time and which also led to the film's success. Udit Narayan won his 3rd Film Fare Best Playback Singer for this song. The album became the best selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year by a wide margin.
Aniket Joshi of Planet Bollywood gave the album a rating of 9.5 out of 10 stating, "Raja Hindustani is a must for lovers of good ever lasting melody." The soundtrack album sold 11 million copies and is one of the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack albums of all time. It was the third best selling album of the 1990s after Aashiqui and Dil To Pagal Hai.
Alka Yagnik considers "Poochho Zara Poocho" as one of the best songs she ever rendered. The song has been copied by many a composer since. Anand-Milind lifted the tune in the "Tumse Dil Lagane Ki Sazaa Hai" part of the song and used it in the song "Mausam Ki Tarah Tum Bhi Badal To Na Jaaoge" from Jaanwar. Both songs were picturized on Karisma Kapoor and had in common, singer and lyricist: Alka Yagnik and Sameer. The director of the later movie is Suneel Darshan, who is an elder sibling to Dharmesh Darshan.
Again, the same portion of the song was copied by Himesh Reshammiya in the "Tujhe Apna Dil Dene Ka Hai Mazaa" part of the song "Pyaar Kar" from the movie Humraaz.
The song, Saala Main To Sahab Ban Gaya, from the 1974 film Sagina, was briefly used in the movie. The song was picturised on Aamir Khan. In Sagina, the song was filmed on Dilip Kumar and sung by Kishore Kumar. In this film, Kishore Kumar's original vocals were retained.

Track list

Awards

AwardCategoryNomineeResult
Filmfare AwardsBest FilmCineyug
Filmfare AwardsBest ActorAamir Khan
Filmfare AwardsBest ActressKarisma Kapoor
Filmfare AwardsBest Music DirectorNadeem-Shravan
Filmfare AwardsBest Male Playback SingerUdit Narayan for "Pardesi Pardesi"
Filmfare AwardsBest DirectorDharmesh Darshan
Filmfare AwardsBest Supporting ActressArchana Puran Singh
Filmfare AwardsBest Performance in a Comic RoleJohnny Lever
Filmfare AwardsBest Performance in a Comic RoleNavneet Nishan
Filmfare AwardsBest LyricistSameer for "Pardesi Pardesi"
Filmfare AwardsBest Female Playback SingerAlka Yagnik for "Pardesi Pardesi"
Screen AwardsBest FilmCineyug
Screen AwardsBest DirectorDharmesh Darshan
Screen AwardsBest ActorAamir Khan
Screen AwardsBest ComedianJohnny Lever
Screen AwardsBest Music DirectorNadeem-Shravan
Screen AwardsBest Male Playback SingerUdit Narayan for "Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein"
Screen AwardsBest ScreenplayRobin Bhatt