Apr 25, 2006 12:09 PM
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(Updated Apr 25, 2006 12:09 PM)
Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999)
Acting: Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, Mohnish Behl, Reema Lagoo, Alok Nath, … and many more familiar ‘Rajshri’ characters
Director: Sooraj Bharjatya
Watch this traditional Indian joint-family saga at your own risk. There is possibility of two side-effects, namely, either you’re going to get a stomach-ache from ‘rolling on the floor laughing’ or you’re going to get a ‘promising’ head-ache, more like a migraine which will remind you of the blunder you committed, just by opting to watch this flick. Well me? I experienced the first kind of side effect…and for that, I am thankful to God Almighty.
The above mentioned is my justification for recommending HSSH. Therefore, if you think you have a sensitive nervous system and cannot laugh at this horrid attempt at “family entertainment”…please stay away and you can thank me later. So once again…why am I recommending this movie, despite giving it only one star? Because - my otherwise boring evening was suddenly made colorful, thanks to the ridiculous script and the even more bizarre execution of a ghisa-pita theme, ‘door reh kar bhi hum saath saath hain’. The icing on the cake for me was to see some good actors (like Tabu, Saif Ali, Karisma Kapoor etc.) waste themselves on a crazy dialogues and overly dramatized scenes. In short, they seemed funny and instead of fooling us, the audience…they ended up looking foolish themselves. So if you want to see Karisma Kapoor fluttering her eyelids unnecessarily, looking quite like a retard…watch this film! If you want to see Salman Khan, being the oh-so-shy guy (read gay) with a constant sheepish grin on his face, watch this film! If you want to see the otherwise suave and chic Saif, pretending to be this guy straight out of school with a twisted romantic sense…watch this film!
The theme of HSSH is about being together in a traditional joint-family set up and sticking together through thick and thin. Yes, the theme is good. But do we really need to see money being blown up on lavish sets, baseless song-dance sequences, gaudy costumes and an outdated script? Rajshri Productions could have done better, and they have in the past, with movies like Hum Aapke Hain kaun.
The story in one short paragraph:
This is one big family with three sons and a daughter. They are extremely happy and share each other’s sorrows and joy. Life is one big picnic – so much so, that they even go for the honeymoon trip of the eldest son of the family together in a mini-bus (I’m not exaggerating one bit). A few children are thrown in for the sake of balanced age composition. All they do is clap and cheer throughout the movie. So the three sons are inseparable and the eldest one is actually the stepson of the mother. Some problems related to property share happen and the eldest is made to move out by the mother. There is a lot of drama but the end is happy. The family re-unites as it is eventually about being “saath saath”.
The Pros:
you can have a good laugh
you get to see many actors in one movie…saves you a lot of trouble
you get to think about the Indian movie scene and seriously consider if we’re making something worth the audiences
you can show off your strong family values and cherish what it means to be together (since we did have a joint family system and we are supposed to be a close-knit community)
The Cons:
you will not be able to listen to any of the songs – they are loud, tuneless and unnecessary
the script is indigestible
the acting is very poor. Karisma Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan can never beat these performances in terms of how rotten they were. Tabu and Sonali Bendre were tolerable
Sooraj Bharjatya is unoriginal and there are no layers in the script. It is a one-track plot and the movie is too long for something so trivial.
If this is what we call wholesome, family entertainment – I am simply not entertained. But I am still laughing…in a sad, helpless, fooled sort of a way.
