Dulhe Raja

About the film

Dulhe Raja (transl. Groom king) is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film starring Govinda, Raveena Tandon, Kader Khan, Johnny Lever, Prem Chopra and Asrani.

Plot

K. K. Singhania, a business tycoon, buys an expensive five-star hotel "Maharaja International" from P. K. Diwani. Later on, Singhania finds that a dhaba inside the hotel complex run by a petty guy Raja acts as a hitch to the earnings of the hotel. Singhania uses multiple ploys to dislodge Raja's dhaba but is outwitted every time.

Singhania's daughter Kiran is in love with a man named Rahul. Rahul is financially aided by a confederate, Bishambar Nath. However, Singhania knows that Rahul is a rogue whose pursuit is to lure young women and later abandon them after exploiting their wealth. He warns Kiran not to marry Rahul. He says that Kiran is allowed to marry any man, be he a destitute or Singhania's enemy, without his refusal, except Rahul.

At the same time, Raja develops a fascination for Kiran. Raja, who is already a thorn in Singhania's side, proclaims his love for Kiran before Singhania. He persistently begs Singhania for Kiran's hand in marriage only to be refused by Singhania. Kiran finds out that Singhania considers Raja his biggest enemy. She starts a mendacious love affair with Raja, gaining the latter's affection.

Music

Songs of the film were scored by Anand–Milind who presented some remarkably striking numbers for the album. The frisky "Suno Sasurjee Ab Zidd Chhodo" became significantly popular, followed by "Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare", picturised on Govinda and Raveena Tandon, which is pretty identical to the perky romantic songs sought-after at that period, like "Ole Ole" (Yeh Dillagi) and "Husn Hai Suhaana" (Coolie No. 1). In the few years that followed 1998, the film was relayed on some Indian TV channels on which a snippet of the song "Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare" was shown as a trailer of the film. Other songs of the film are pleasant to the ears, but the aforesaid two went on to become the most popular songs of the album. Mention may be made that an instrumental version of the song "Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare" synchronises the credit display at the beginning of the film. The lyrics were created by Sameer.

A song from the movie - "Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare", would later become the inspiration for a film of the same name by director Harmesh Maholtra.

Controversy

One song from the movie, "Kahan Raja Bhoj, Kahan Gangu Teli", provoked protests from a Nagpur-based organisation, the Vidarbha Teli Samaj Mahasangh, because it offended the members of their community; they wrote a letter of protest to then-Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, condemning the approval given by the state government to the song and calling for it to be banned.

Remake

It was the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year. The movie was remade in Kannada as Shukradeshe in 2001.

Key details