The milestones Hum Aapke Hain Koun ! Described by detractors as a wedding video,this Sooraj R.Barjatya follow-up to his 1989 smash debut Maine Pyar Kiya clinched as many as six trophies,including Best Film,Best Director and Best Screenplay (both for Sooraj Barjatya),Best Actress (Madhuri Dixit),Best Playback Singer -Female (Lata Mangeshkar for Maaye ni maaye) and Best Editing (Mukhtar Ahmed). More than that,it became the biggest hit of the year,notching up a 150-week run and also proving one of the three biggest hits of the entire 90s,a rare example of a movie that bagged both critical and commercial acclaim. Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit consolidated their superstar status,while every supporting playerAnupam Kher,Reema Lagoo,Laxmikant Berde,Mohnish Bahl and Renuka Shahane Rana and everyone else made a mark. A chartbusting score by Raamlaxman,dominated by Lata Mangeshkar and S. P. Balasubramaniam,was the icing on this cake. Krantiveer Mehul Kumars hard-hitting social marked the emergence of Nana Patekar as a major star after his Tirangaa in the previous year. Bagging the Best Story and Best Dialogue trophies for the late K. K. Singh,the film also won Nana the first-ever Best Actor trophy awarded by Screen. The golden jubilee spawned an insignificant sequel in 2010,but it is this film and its sequences and dialogues that are still fresh in peoples memory. More powerhouse performances by Dimple Kapadia,Danny Denzongpa and Paresh Rawal added to the overall magic of the film. 1942 - A Love Story Vidhu Vinod Chopras dream project may have done average business at the box-office,but it remains one of our better mainstream films on the freedom struggle,even though it was essentially a love story. Though the film had great performances by Manisha Koirala,Anil Kapoor,Jackie Shroff and Anupam Kher (who won the Screen Best Supporting Actor - Male award),the show was stolen by R. D. Burman,who also won the Screen Best Music award,and the lyrics by Javed Akhtar,including the poetic Ek ladki ko dekha that clinched him as well as Kumar Sanu the Best Lyricist and Best Playback Singer (Male) trophies. The high technical calibre of the film was reflected in its winning the Best Cinematography trophy for Binod Pradhan,the Best Art Direction honour for Nitin Desai and the Best Sound award for Jitendra Chowdhary and Namita Nayak. Mohra Rajiv Rais thriller removed the jinx on the careers of Akshay Kumar,Suniel Shetty and Raveena Tandon and made them hit the big league. Viju Shah-Anand Bakshis music was a rage,and along with 1942-A Love Story,the song Tu cheez badi hai mast mast helped singer Kavita Krishnamurthi (now Subramaniam) break the spurious impression of being just a Laxmikant-Pyarelal campwalli. The song generated controversy for being considered a plagiarised version of a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sufi qawwali,till veteran composer Khayyam exposed the fact that Khans qawwali was itself copied from the Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar duet Angrezi gora chala gaya composed by Ghulam Haider for the 1944 Majboor! Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa Kundan Shahs memorable film on a youngster with a heart of gold trying to find his goal in life was remarkable for Shah Rukh Khans performance as well as Jatin-Lalits outstanding music and Majrooh Sultanpuris memorable lyrics. The honesty of the film struck a chord with young and old and there were good supporting performances by Aanjjan Shrivastava,Satish Shah,Depak Tijori and even Naseeruddin Shah in a cameo. With Juhi Chawla appearing in a cameo at the end after Shah Rukh loses the heroine to someone else,it started a trend of offering hopes of a happily-ever-after ending for the hero. Yeh Dillagi This film continued and consolidated the trend with Karisma Kapoor appearing in a cameo at the end,as a future sweetheart for Saif Ali Khan,who loses Kajol to Akshay Kumar. Uday Chopra made his debutas producer. The film was inspired by the Hollywood rom-com Sabrina. This Yash Chopra presentation was studded with a hit music score by Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen,and Abhijeets Ole ole acquired cult status. Andaz Apna Apna Considered a classic now,this madcap comedy,an average success,brought together Aamir Khan and Salman Khan for the first and so far only time. Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor were the girls,and there was a hilarious cameo by Govinda as himself. Rajkumar Santoshi,known for his gritty films like Ghayal and Damini,spun out a surprise. And at that point of time,no one knew that it would take Santoshi a full 15 years to make his next rom-com,Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. Sardar This was a critics delight and did not do well,but it is arguably Ketan Mehtas finest film to date,with an incredible performance by Paresh Rawal as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The other hits and successes Laadla,Raja Babu,Dilwale and Suhaag were the other hits of the year,while Aatish,Salaami,Tejaswani,The Gentleman,Main Khiladi Tu Anari,Cheetah,Gopi-Kishen,Elaan,Anth and Jai-Kishan did modest business. New blood 1994 ushered in its share of new talent,or gave major breakthroughs to existing ones,like,as we mentioned above,Akshay Kumar,Suniel Shetty and Raveena Tandon. Among those who stepped in were Sonali Bendre (now Behl) who won the Panasonic (the co-sponsors) Award for the Discovery of the Year and Tabu,whose first release as a heroine was Pehla Pehla Pyar,though her breakthrough came with Vijaypath. Sonalis first two films,Aag (which was signed first) and Naaraaz released on the same day. And though Kajol had bagged her first hit in the previous years Baazigar,it took her 1994s substantial and diverse roles in Yeh Dillagi and the tearjerker Udhar Ki Zindagi to be recognised for the first time as a formidable actress. Among new entrants who did not make it big were Heera Rajgopal from the South (The Gentleman,Amaanat),Poonam Jhaver (Mohra),Aamir Khans brother Faisal Khan (Madhosh) and Vindoo Dara Singh (Karan). The year saw the debuts of cinematographer Manmohan Singh as director in Pehla Pehla Pyar,with future whizkid Sanjay Gupta taking off with the modest success of Aatish. Sanjay Leela Bhansali made his debut by choreographing and directing all the songs of 1942-A Love Story,while todays foremost production designer,Nitin Chandrakant Desai,broke through with the same films massive set of Kasauni,built in Mumbai. Naresh Malhotra made a mark with Yeh Dillagi. Tips,the music company,took its first steps into film production by co-producing Khuddar. Trends in music In music too,besides Kavita Krishnamurthi Subramaniams breakthrough,it was also big time for Alisha Chinoy,thanks mainly to Anu Malik,who gave her a deluge of aces like Sexy sexy sexy (Khuddar),My adorable darling (Main Khiladi Tu Anari),Roza roza saying saying re (Naaraaz) and Ruk ruk ruk (Vijaypath). Poornima became the specialist of sleazy songs like Chu chu chu (Cheetah),Sarkailo khatiya (Raja Babu),Chane ke khet mein (Anjaam),Batti na bujha (Gopi-Kishen) and Saiyyan ke saath madhaiya mein (Eena Meena Deeka). Anu Malik himself consolidated his 1993 resurgence and swept past the competition to emerge as the Numero Uno with not only these films but also Naaraaz and Imtihan. The double-entendre wave intensified and raunchiness was the new mantra with the censors stepping in to modify lines in some songs,while many truly offensive numbers like Maalan tere baagh mein (Krantikshetra) went unnoticed,and harmless fun songs like Meri pant bhi sexy (Dulaara,sung by Govinda himself with Alka Yagnik) were tarred by the same brush of infamy. However,the first nail in this coffin of sleaze also came this year with the stupendous success of the music and lyrics of 1942-A Love Story and Hum Aapke Hain Koun !. Nadeem-Shravan (Dilwale,Aatish,Salaami) and Anand-Milind (Raja Babu,Laadla,Suhaag,Gopi-Kishen) continued on a hit-streak. Sameer consolidated his position as the busiest lyricist. The years biggest tragedy was the death of R.D.Burman,weeks before the music release of 1942.,his swan song. And his foremost contemporaries,Laxmikant-Pyarelal,ended their long reign at the top,and for the first time since the mid-60s,had just four releases. Trivia * Two films that were delayed for more than a decade released. The first was Ulfat Ki Nayi Manzilein starring Raaj Kumar,Waheeda Rehman and Sadhana (her last release). The original title had been Ulfat. Sanjeev Kumar,the original choice for Professor Ki Padosan,ended up with just a cameo in the long-delayed film as he had passed away in 1985. Shekhar Suman played his role. * Shah Rukh Khan completed his bad man trilogy with Anjaam. However,the dark film failed to hit the big league like Baazigar and Darr. * The Mithun Chakraborty-T. L.V. Prasad combo that was to spawn more than a dozen films produced from the South over the next decade,had a low-key start with Janta Ki Adalat. * O.P.Nayyar released the last film of his career in Zid.
