How both DILWALE & PREM RATAN DHAN PAYO remind us of Mukul S. Anand's HUM (1991)
18 Nov, 2015 |
Articles on Cinema
Among the two biggies of the year, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has already released scoring ‘big’ in terms of worldwide overall collections, and Dilwale is here this Friday throwing another challenge for sure in terms of box office returns. But interestingly there is one common feature in both these mega ventures led by the two Khans, Salmanand Shah Rukh, and it’s the way they remind us of the dynamic director Mukul S. Anand’s Hum (1991) featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikant, Govinda and Kimi Katkar as its lead characters.
Taking up Dilwale first, its trailer gives us a glimpse of a calm and cool elder brother, who has a shady past with a broken romantic relationship not known to many. And as the story progresses, the demanding circumstances force him to go through an unwanted transformation recalling his forgotten violent days, exactly like the character of Shekhar (Amitabh) of Hum, who gets compelled to visit his dark hidden past of a spirited dockyard worker known as Tiger, in love with his Jumma, played by Kimi Katkar.
Next, coming to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, here too the basic theme of planting an easy-going theater artist in place of a royal prince straight away reminds you of Kader Khan’s double role in Hum, wherein again it’s a funny theater artist who gets picked, trained and then planted in place of the military General ‘Sinha’ as a planned conspiracy. But here the most amazing similarity in both the films is of the trainer, who happens to be the same man Anupam Kher, playing two similar yet completely contrasting characters after a gap of almost 25 years.
Having said that, the other undeniable truth remains that it's quite hard to recreate the magic and enigma of Hum conceived by the visionary director Mukul S. Anand, who unfortunately left us all at an early age. Still taking it positively, hope the present generation gets to rediscover all the worth-watching hits of the past through such uncanny resemblances in these films featuring their loving icons.
Bobby Sing
(This article by Bobby Sing was published at IBNlive.com on 16th November 2015 with the same heading)
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Dilwale, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Hum, DILWALE and HUM, Articles on cinema by Bobby sing, Similarities in Hindi films, remakes of old hit Amitabh films, Shahrukh fascination with Amitabh, Mukul Anand, Mukul S. Anand the maestro.
