Tough love.

 Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998) has a pretty typical setup for a nineties Shah Rukh Khan film, with hero Suraj forced to live with the family of his beloved Muskaan (naturally played by Kajol) in order to win over her uncle and overprotective brother, helping to solve the family's land dispute along the way.  However this is not a Shah Rukh Khan movie, it's a Salman Khan movie, and that makes a big difference.

Muskaan isn't just a love interest, of course.  She's a wealthy orphan, raised by her uncle, Ajay Singh Thakur (Dharmendra) and watched over by her fiercely protective and generally fierce older brother Vishal (Arbaaz Khan, Salman's real life brother).  Muskaan is both beautiful and wealthy, so she's attracted her fair share of gold digging suitors, but Vishal has always seen them off.  Since the suitors have been universally terrible, Muskaan is more amused than anything else.

Muskaan has dreams of her own, though, and after much preparation she finally convinces Vishal to let her leave the village and attend college in the big city.  He escorts her to the campus, glowers at the decadent students around him, lectures the college principal (Tiku Talsania), and then leaves.  And then someone steals Muskaan's bag.

The someone in question is Suraj (Salman Khan), who made a bet with one of his friends that he could get the beautiful new girl to chase him within five minutes.  Suraj makes a lot of bets, plays a lot of pranks, and fails a lot of classes, but he does seem to have a good heart.  Suraj apologizes, and Muskaan is quickly welcomed into his circle of friends, most of whom are broad stereotypes of one sort or another, including a tomboy who I would swear was a satire of Anjali from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, except that this movie came out months before KKHH.

It's possible that love is friendship in this movie as well; Suraj is certainly smitten, and Muskaan seems to be drawn to him as well, especially after learning his tragic backstory.  He confesses his feelings in a song, and she phrases her ambivalence in pretty much the worst way possible, singing that "In my reluctance hides a consent."  So they're sort of dating when Suraj spots her talking to a mysterious man, jumps to the wrong conclusion, and attacks him.  The mysterious man turns out to be Vishal; he beats Suraj soundly, warns him against trying to contact Muskaan again ever, and then drags his sister home.

However, Vishal doesn't notice Suraj riding the top of their bus.  Suraj finds the family compound, introduces himself to Vishal, apologizes for starting the fight, and announces his honorable intentions, then Vishal beats him up again and send him on his way.  As Suraj walks down the road, debating what to do next, he sees an accident and pulls Ajay Singh from the wreckage.  The two men talk, Ajay is impressed, and invites Suraj to stay at his compound.  They arrive during a convenient blackout, and by the time the lights switch back on Vishal has agreed to welcome his uncle's rescuer, while Suraj has agreed to do chores in order to earn his keep.

And at this point we're in very familiar territory.  Ajay Singh Thakur has no idea that Suraj is here to win Muskaan.  Vishal does, but Surj is a guest so he can't just be thrown out.  Suraj has to survive all of Vishal's "tests", win over his potential in-laws, make everyone's lives better, and unite Vishal with Ujala (Anjala Zaveri), the woman who loves him for some odd reason.  Meanwhile, Vshal needs to find a solid reason to kick Suraj out so he can marry her off to Vijay Singh (Nirmal Pandey), a long haired tough guy and nobleman whom he has just met.  

The problem is that this is early Salman Khan, before he had settled comfortably into his action hero persona.  Early Salman is trying to be charming, roguish, and most of all funny, but he expresses that through mugging for the camera, silly voices, and the occasional spontaneous Michael Jackson impression.  Suraj is not so bad when he's still at the college, but once he reaches the village and sets out on his mission to impress Vishal he seems to go out of his way to be as annoying as humanly possible.  I spent most of the movie rooting for the violent and weirdly possessive brother.

As for Kajol, sh's' always good.  She's a very natural actress, and gives her all in every scene I've ever seen her in, but her sparkling enthusiasm cannot cover for the spectacular lack of chemistry between her and Salman.  This was the only movie in which Kajol and Salman were cast as a romantic couple (apart from Salman's extended cameo in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, in which his lack of chemistry with Kajol was a plot point), and I am not surprised.  Shah Rukh's chemistry with Kajol is legendary, but her chemistry with Salman is not.  Turns out the casting makes a big difference.