While Hum To Mohabbat Karega (2000) sounds very much like
a typical Bobby Deol action/romance/comedy, the back cover proudly
proclaims that it is writer/director Kundan Shah’s first fully
commercial film. Since Shah was responsible for Khabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, which I loved, I had to investigate further. And it turns out that Hum To Mohabbat Karega is a typical Bobby Deal action/romance/comedy, but is also far more interesting than it has any right to be.
Deol plays Raju, a waiter at a hotel managed by his good friend Kutti (Johny Lever.) Raju is obsessed with TV reporter Geeta Kapoor (Karisma Kapoor), and is redeemed from creepiness only by the fact that he isn’t actively stalking her, just obsessively worshipping from a distance. He does join a crowd at the studio to catch a glimpse of her, and has an extended fantasy song and dance sequence which will prove to be surprisingly important later.
Geeta has an obsession of her own; the police have so far failed to catch the ringleaders of a major counterfeiting operation (early in the film, the subtitles refer to 500 million rupees, but it changes to 500 billion by the end) and Geeta has vowed that she will personally bring V. N. Patel, the inside man, to justice. She works for Channel 2001, which is dedicated to The Truth above all, and that is the sort of thing they do.
Patel is, of course, hiding out under an assumed name and assumed face at the hotel where Raju works. He is murdered, and in the course of investigation Geeta notices that Patel had a nearly untouched meal in front of him when he died. She reasons that he must have had the meal delivered just before being killed, and so decides to track down the waiter.
And at this point, wackiness ensues. Raju is stunned when Geeta appears at her doorstep; she quickly determines that he knows nothing useful, and is about to leave, when he stops her by claiming to have witnessed the murder. She’s delighted, and plans to interview him on the air. He realizes what he’s done, and tries to weasel out of the interview, but she plays into his obvious attraction to her long enough to get him on the air. (I’m skipping over a lot of broad comedy here; there’s not much one can say about it other than “that sure is a lot of broad comedy.”)
During the interview itself, Raju suddenly realizes that he’ll need to come up with some details about the killer. he panics, and starts describing an annoying man he met in the elevator on the day of the murder - black clothing, long black hair, moustache, tattoo on the left hand, and a habit of gnashing his teeth. As it turns out, the man he’s describing is Ketu (Shakti Kapoor), a notorious gangster who actually did kill Patel, so the mob decide that Raju needs to be silenced.
After the interview, Geeta continues to play with Raju’s affections in order to manipulate him into, among other things, giving a false description of the alleged killer to the police (because apparently the police don’t have TVs and so didn’t catch the description that Raju just gave on live television.) Because he’s flustered, he gives the police Kutti’s description, which leads to yet more broad comedy. Broad comedy featuring Johny Lever, as God intended.
At about this point, the movie seems to realize that up until now Geeta has been a horrible person and Raju has been a careless, easily manipulated sap, because Geeta gets some much needed backstory. She has a brother who also worked for Channel 2001, and who disappeared six months ago while investigating the counterfeiting story. She declares her intentions to seek the truth, he declares his intention to stand by her until the bitter end, and we are off again, but this time with sympathetic leads.
Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor are not known as especially subtle actors, and they chew a great deal of scenery here. The storyline is far fetched and essentially silly, and there are a couple of enormous plot holes. And yet, at about the two hour mark, I suddenly realized that I was fascinated. There are little touches of something deeper strewn throughout the movie; at one point, Raju and Geeta, on the run from the mob, actually hide out inside Raju’s fantasy from the beginning of the movie.
The theme of Truth is very well applied throughout the film as well. Raju and Geeta lie to one another, Channel 2001 and Geeta’s martyred brother are dedicated to the Truth above all, one character is not at all what he or she appears to be, and even the villainous plot revolves around counterfeiting.
Thematic complexities aside, the music is by Anu Malik, and Farah Khan does some of the choreography. Both were better than expected; the number “Lai Liya” was particularly impressive, since it works on multiple levels at once. On the surface, it’s a bunch of guys at a wedding singing about how “We Wish They All Could Be Hindustani Girls,” but at the same time they’re all chasing after the film’s MacGuffin, while metatextually the song is a virtual tour of the regional dance traditions of India.
Hum To Mohabbat Karega is a strange film. It’s very explicitly and unabashedly a commercial film, but one can still use words like “metatextually” when describing it without falling over laughing.
Deol plays Raju, a waiter at a hotel managed by his good friend Kutti (Johny Lever.) Raju is obsessed with TV reporter Geeta Kapoor (Karisma Kapoor), and is redeemed from creepiness only by the fact that he isn’t actively stalking her, just obsessively worshipping from a distance. He does join a crowd at the studio to catch a glimpse of her, and has an extended fantasy song and dance sequence which will prove to be surprisingly important later.
Geeta has an obsession of her own; the police have so far failed to catch the ringleaders of a major counterfeiting operation (early in the film, the subtitles refer to 500 million rupees, but it changes to 500 billion by the end) and Geeta has vowed that she will personally bring V. N. Patel, the inside man, to justice. She works for Channel 2001, which is dedicated to The Truth above all, and that is the sort of thing they do.
Patel is, of course, hiding out under an assumed name and assumed face at the hotel where Raju works. He is murdered, and in the course of investigation Geeta notices that Patel had a nearly untouched meal in front of him when he died. She reasons that he must have had the meal delivered just before being killed, and so decides to track down the waiter.
And at this point, wackiness ensues. Raju is stunned when Geeta appears at her doorstep; she quickly determines that he knows nothing useful, and is about to leave, when he stops her by claiming to have witnessed the murder. She’s delighted, and plans to interview him on the air. He realizes what he’s done, and tries to weasel out of the interview, but she plays into his obvious attraction to her long enough to get him on the air. (I’m skipping over a lot of broad comedy here; there’s not much one can say about it other than “that sure is a lot of broad comedy.”)
During the interview itself, Raju suddenly realizes that he’ll need to come up with some details about the killer. he panics, and starts describing an annoying man he met in the elevator on the day of the murder - black clothing, long black hair, moustache, tattoo on the left hand, and a habit of gnashing his teeth. As it turns out, the man he’s describing is Ketu (Shakti Kapoor), a notorious gangster who actually did kill Patel, so the mob decide that Raju needs to be silenced.
After the interview, Geeta continues to play with Raju’s affections in order to manipulate him into, among other things, giving a false description of the alleged killer to the police (because apparently the police don’t have TVs and so didn’t catch the description that Raju just gave on live television.) Because he’s flustered, he gives the police Kutti’s description, which leads to yet more broad comedy. Broad comedy featuring Johny Lever, as God intended.
At about this point, the movie seems to realize that up until now Geeta has been a horrible person and Raju has been a careless, easily manipulated sap, because Geeta gets some much needed backstory. She has a brother who also worked for Channel 2001, and who disappeared six months ago while investigating the counterfeiting story. She declares her intentions to seek the truth, he declares his intention to stand by her until the bitter end, and we are off again, but this time with sympathetic leads.
Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor are not known as especially subtle actors, and they chew a great deal of scenery here. The storyline is far fetched and essentially silly, and there are a couple of enormous plot holes. And yet, at about the two hour mark, I suddenly realized that I was fascinated. There are little touches of something deeper strewn throughout the movie; at one point, Raju and Geeta, on the run from the mob, actually hide out inside Raju’s fantasy from the beginning of the movie.
The theme of Truth is very well applied throughout the film as well. Raju and Geeta lie to one another, Channel 2001 and Geeta’s martyred brother are dedicated to the Truth above all, one character is not at all what he or she appears to be, and even the villainous plot revolves around counterfeiting.
Thematic complexities aside, the music is by Anu Malik, and Farah Khan does some of the choreography. Both were better than expected; the number “Lai Liya” was particularly impressive, since it works on multiple levels at once. On the surface, it’s a bunch of guys at a wedding singing about how “We Wish They All Could Be Hindustani Girls,” but at the same time they’re all chasing after the film’s MacGuffin, while metatextually the song is a virtual tour of the regional dance traditions of India.
Hum To Mohabbat Karega is a strange film. It’s very explicitly and unabashedly a commercial film, but one can still use words like “metatextually” when describing it without falling over laughing.
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