When Aditya Chopra’s advice to Sooraj Barjatya saved Hum Aapke Hain Koun from being a ‘disaster’: ‘Dhai gaane kaatoge, film nikal jayegi’

Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! starred Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles. Despite eventually becoming a blockbuster, it drew criticism after its premiere.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: February 15, 2023 12:21 PM IST

3 min read

Hum Aapke Hain Koun's story beats are just the same as Nadiya Ke Paar.

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Director Sooraj Barjatya’s romantic musical Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, which was released in 1994, is a generation-defining film. But it did not receive a good response after its premiere. The reaction left Barjatya disheartened, but filmmaker Aditya Chopra was confident that it could be saved if only a few changes were to be made.

In Netflix’s recently released docu-series The Romantics, Sooraj Barjatya recalled that at the premiere of Hum Aapke Hain Koun, he didn’t get a good response. “We had a show (for the industry) at Liberty. That show was a disaster.” But Aditya Chopra called him to tell him how much he liked the movie. He told Barjatya, “Sooraj, it’s a damn good film. Don’t worry.” When the director told him about the audience’s reaction to the film, Aditya suggested, “Cut two and a half songs from the film and it will fly!”

Barjatya adhered to his suggestion and removed the songs “Chocolate Lime Juice” and “Mujhse Juda Ho kar” from Hum Aapke Hai Koun. Over the years, the audience got to watch the songs when the movie premiered on TV.

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Earlier, in an interview with indianexpress.com, Barjatya had spoken about the initial failure of Hum Aapke Hain Koun. The filmmaker recalled the premiere night of the movie and how viewers walked out after every song. Barjatya said he could not understand why the film failed to impress the audience. “I learnt it very early with Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! because I thought I had made the greatest film, but when we had the premiere people were not liking it! I clearly remember the audience walking out with every song! I thought I had made a good but then I started wondering, ‘Ye kya hogaya’ (what has happened),” he said.

Also read | Sooraj Barjatya says youngsters watch his movies only for their nana-nani, recalls how Hum Aapke Hain Koun opened poorly: ‘People walked out after every song’

However, after 5-6 days of the film’s release, it started attracting word-of-mouth attention and eventually went on to become a blockbuster. “Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! taught me that I just have to make movies and present them. You never know what is going to happen on that Friday and you cannot blame the public that they don’t know about cinema. They know everything,” he told indianexpress.com.

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