30 years of Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke: Aamir Khan felt he looked ‘harassed’ in the film, didn’t understand the character even after film released

Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla starrer Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke released in theaters 30 years ago and became one of the most popular comedies of the time. Directed by Mahesh Bhatt, the film had Aamir playing a reserved man who has now gotten the responsibility of his deceased sister’s kids. When Juhi’s character enters their home, she, along with the kids infuse joy in his life. Juhi got a lot of acclaim for her performance in the film, and even the film got two National Awards – Special Jury Award to director Mahesh Bhatt and Best Female Playback Singer to Alka Yagnik for ‘Ghunghat Ki Aad Se’.

Aamir, for his part, felt that he looked “harassed” in the film and didn’t understand what the character was about even after the film was released. He told Filmfare in 1996, “A performance has to be felt as it is studied. I feel that I got this balance in Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. I didn’t get it in Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. Perhaps it wasn’t required because I had to look worried throughout. Even after the film was released, I didn’t know what the character was all about. I looked so harassed. And Mahesh Bhatt told me, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ You were supposed to be that way.’ So without knowing it, I had contributed to the performance.”

There were many reports suggesting that Aamir and Mahesh had a falling out on the set of the film, and this resulted in Aamir ghost directing the film as Mahesh wasn’t around. Both Aamir and Juhi denied it, but Juhi told the publication that Aamir gave a lot of suggestions on the set, sometimes even after every shot. She shared that the climax also came from Aamir.

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“Bhatt sahab was always around. But Aamir has this habit of giving suggestions about almost evert shot. Sometimes, the suggestions were incorporated into the script, sometimes, they were brusquely dismissed. But the climax was Aamir’s idea. Since the three kids had thrown eggs at Dalip Tahil and Navneet earlier, he thought that we could use that again. And it did raise a lot of laughs,” she shared.

Aamir and Mahesh had previously worked together in 1991’s Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, Bhatt described Khan as “a man who is caught in his idea of life being a document that can be perfected. A sincere boy but a victim of an ailment of the burden of perfection which kind of weighs you and people around you.”