Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain

About the film

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain (transl. I Live in Your Heart) is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Satish Kaushik and produced by D. Ramanaidu for his production company Suresh Productions. It stars Anil Kapoor and Kajol, with Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor and Parmeet Sethi in supporting roles. Written by Jainendra Jain, the film tells the story of Megha (Kajol), who enters into a one-year contract marriage with industrialist Vijay (Anil Kapoor).

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain serves as a remake of Telugu-language film Pavitra Bandham (1996). With a budget of ₹6.25 crore (equivalent to ₹27 crore or US$2.8 million in 2023), principal photography took place in India and Switzerland and finished in December 1998. Kabir Lal served as the cinematographer, while E.M. Madhavan, Chaitanya Tanna and Marthand K. Venkatesh edited the film. The music was composed by Anu Malik and the lyrics were written by Sameer.

Plot

Vishwanath is a multi-millionaire industrialist, living with his only son, Vijay. After Vijay completed his education in the United States, Vishwanath forces him to get married but Vijay refuses to, saying that he still wants to be single. Disappointed, Vishwanath (who is suffering from diabetes) tries to convince his son with sweets; it makes Vijay immediately agrees to his demand. Megha, a hardworking girl struggling to support her family, is Vishwanath's personal assistant in his office. Vishwanath asks Megha to quit her job and marry his son, but she refuses when she hears Vijay wants the marriage to be on a contract basis for a year and, if he does not fall in love with his wife in that duration, the marriage will be annulled and Megha will get money as a return. However, Megha's family is in dire financial straits and, so, she has to reconsider this offer.

Vijay and Megha are married. After the marriage, they become friendly with each other and Megha goes out of her way to look after Vijay after he is in a car accident. At the end of the year, however, Vijay decides to annul the marriage, as had been agreed upon, and he regards her as a friend. Megha leaves Vijay and returns home. After the separation, Vijay seems to be enjoying himself; but slowly and eventually, he starts to feel regret after he found the facts that she gets social sanctions for the contract.

In order to support herself, Megha starts a job in a new company; to her surprise, when the company's managing director arrives, he turns out to be Vijay. He later confesses to her that he is a changed person and wants her back. But, even after repeated persuasion, she disagrees because her faith in him has been shattered. Vijay continues to pursue her. Later, Megha finds out that she is pregnant with Vijay's child. Near the completion of her pregnancy, she along with her family then hold a ceremony for the well-being of her to-be-born child. In the ceremony, which Vishwanath and Vijay attends, Megha reveals that the latter to be her husband and tells all the guests about the marriage-contract. An argument follows; Vijay and his father walk out, followed by all the guests.

Production

The film is a remake of Muthyala Subbaiah's 1996 Telugu-language film Pavitra Bandham, and it marks the producer D. Ramanaidu's return to Hindi cinema after a long hiatus; he had last produced Taqdeerwala in 1995. In an interview with Rediff.com, Ramanaidu said that his involvement in the project was a way to prove his mettle as a producer in the Hindi film industry: "As far as Telugu films are concerned, I have achieved whatever I wanted to. I want to hit the jackpot in Bollywood with this film." Anil Kapoor was cast as the antagonist Vijay and Anupam Kher as his father, Vishwanath. According to Kapoor, the role had changed his screen image, and he later stated that he took the part to avoid typecasting. Meanwhile, Kajol was cast as the film's protagonist Megha, her first such role. Interviewed by The Telegraph, she stated that her role "seemed like a great character on paper, but [it] didn't translate well on screen".

Satish Kaushik was suggested by Kapoor, who has collaborated with him in several films, including Mr. India (1987), Joshilaay (1989) and Ram Lakhan (1989), to direct this film. Kaushik compared it with his previous directorial ventures—Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993) and Prem (1995)—and found Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain "very different", explaining that it "emphasised feelings and that the accent here was on treatment"; for instance, the former was dominant with costume and the latter was based on reincarnation. He said, "I do not resort to any gimmicks in [Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain]. I'm not playing with camera angles or juggling shots. You will not find 50 dances here... My film has been set against a contemporary backdrop." Jainendra Jain and Bhupati Raja wrote the dialogue and story, respectively.

Principal photography started in Hyderabad and handed by Kabir Lal]. Saroj Khan and Chinni Prakash were the choreographers, while Raja was the action director. Its production design was completed by Sharmishta Roy. Some songs were recorded at the Hotel de Rougemont in Switzerland. After filming finished around December 1998, it was edited by E.M. Madhava, Chaitanya Tanna and Marthand K. Venkatesh.

Key details