Raja Hindustani

About the film

Raja Hindustani (transl. Indian Raja) is a 1996 Indian Hindi-language romantic action 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, the 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, Best Actors, Best Music 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 ₹5.75 crore, the film went on to gross ₹76.34 crore 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. 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 Karisma 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 was later dubbed in Telugu as Prema Bandham.

Plot

Aarti Sehgal is a beautiful young girl. Her evil stepmother Shalini wants to gain her father Bakshrath's wealth. Aarti arrives in Palankhet for a vacation to discover memories of her late mother and hires the services of available driver, Raja Hindustani. Ultimately, they bond and fall in love after an accidental passionate romantic kiss.

Bakshrath arrives to take Aarti back to Mumbai and rejects Raja as his son-in-law, but they disobey him and marry. He later accepts their love, bringing them to Mumbai.

To gain total control of Bakshrath's assets, Shalini sets a trap that causes Raja and Aarti to get separated. Upon knowing her pregnancy, Aarti decides to inform and reunite with Raja. The doctor advises her not to travel. Shalini is asked to reach Palankhet to inform and convince Raja to come back to Mumbai. However, she misleads him that Aarti wants to divorce him, and then Aarti that Raja now hates her. Thus they get stuck in misunderstandings and separate.

Production

Manisha Koirala was first offered the lead actress role, but she refused. Shah Rukh Khan was also considered for the lead actor role, but it was offered to Aamir Khan who had problems signing in for the role. Juhi Chawla 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

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."

Raja Hindustani earned ₹76.34 crore worldwide, including a domestic gross of ₹73.84 crore. Its domestic nett was ₹43.15 crore, and its adjusted worldwide gross is equivalent to ₹394 crore.

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 (1994) (₹116 crore), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) (₹86.49 crore) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) (₹80.12 crore). 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" (which is uncredited and unofficial translation of the Punjabi song "Kinna Sohna Tenu Rab Ne Banaya" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), "Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein", which had become an immensely popular wedding song, and Sapna Awasthi, 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 Filmfare Award for Best Male 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 (1990) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997).

Key details