The Joy of Watching 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!' and 'Hum Saath - Saath Hain' Every Sunday on Television

My introduction to movies was mainly through television broadcasting and DVD cassettes, which were quite popular during the 2000s decade. Unlike today, the luxury of watching on-demand content was largely a distant dream for many when I was growing up. I vividly remember how I used to spend more time changing channels to find something worthwhile and intriguing than actually consuming content. Often, there were days that tested my patience, as none of the channels had anything fruitful to offer. Those days, I couldn’t help but rant in front of my parents about how my favourite cartoon episodes and movies were not present on television. 

Similarly, with DVD cassettes, it was hardly a surprise when they turned out to be corrupted, where none of the films on the cover happened to be playing. On such occasions, I used to clean the disc multiple times and try to place it differently in the DVD player, praying for some miracle to make it work. Unfortunately, most of the time, these little tricks never worked, which was quite disappointing and frustrating to witness. However, there were a few instances when it did work out, and there was no bound to my happiness. The viewing experience did tend to become a little sweeter for me.

I have many fond memories of this era when I hated attending school or tuition because I wanted to be in front of the screen. It was liberating to watch those unrealistically playful, mischievously charming, cunningly sweet and inevitably hard-to-define larger-than-life characters in cartoons, movies and serials. This phase shaped my imagination as I was always busy thinking of myself in place of the characters. Naturally, some of these memories have stood the test of time and continue to hold a place in my life. 

In this gallery of moments, there is one distinct frame of me watching ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’ and ‘Hum Saath - Saath Hain’ for the first time. As much as I can recall, they mesmerised me and stirred up my love for cinema. These evergreen films, directed and written by Sooraj Barjatya, are rooted in the Indian value system where joint families as an institution stand above and ahead of everything else for its members. They feature a delightful ensemble cast who have completely immersed themselves in this adventure filled with dance, music, romance, family drama and a trail of heartwarming moments like many but like no other. 

For example, in Hum Saath - Saath Hain, there is a 12-minute-long song, ‘Sunoji Dulhan Ek Baat Sunoji’ where Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) and Sapna (Karisma Kapoor) welcome and introduce Sadhana (Tabu) to the entire family after marriage with Vivek (Mohnish Behl) by enacting each of them and revealing their little secrets. I have seen this scene countless times, and it continues to savour the same endearing wholesomeness. It beautifully captures the internal dynamic and camaraderie within a family and presents it forward with a dramatic flair that oozes a peculiar charm you can’t help but surrender.

The Sooraj Barjatya cinema essentially serves as a medium of escape while highlighting the importance of traditional values in Indian households, with music at the centre of this puzzle, driving and stimulating the story forward. Both of these movies have an elaborate album composed by Vijay Patil, better known as Raamlakshman, which ties several sequences together and even acts on behalf of the dialogues. The lyrics written by Ravinder Rawal, Dev Kohli, Mitali Shashank and R. Kiran blend seamlessly with the scene without altering the musicality.

For instance, in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, the banter between Nisha (Madhuri Dixit) and Prem (Salman Khan) during the wedding of Rajesh (Mohnish Behl) and Pooja (Renuka Shahane) has been choreographed into a song ‘Joote De Do Paise Le Lo’ which perfectly encapsulates their childlike energy as they go about stealing and hiding shoes of the groom as part of an Indian wedding ritual. This musical quality uplifts these movies, which share similarities with many others and still manage to stand out for years.

However, from the first time till today, my relationship with both the movies has changed manifolds. As a kid, I used to get confused between the two movies because of the staggering number of similarities they possess. Whether it was the star cast, recurring themes of family and relationship, or the musical storytelling, there were so many overlaps that sometimes I watched one expecting the other. Today, on the contrary, I am a bit more aware of its stereotyping and incessant family worshipping, which does become slightly daunting and overbearing in certain sequences.

Additionally, there was a careful attempt by Sooraj Barjatya to tie the knot between tradition and modernisation, considering how India was evolving and adapting to Globalisation in the 1990s. You will find male characters talking about building factories for the larger good of society and female characters pursuing higher education in their desired fields. However, the bottom line of all these interactions and progressive thoughts succumbs to underlining the values, importance and threshold of family, which has raised some eyebrows among the younger generation.

If one carefully observes, both these movies are not restricted to one location or period. While there are fleeting mentions of people travelling to the US and Bangalore, there is never a clear idea of where these characters reside. In my eyes, this decision plays well with the audience as these fictional families become more of a representation of a larger part of India in the 1990s and resonate with a larger demographic on a holistic level. Simultaneously, the same attempt can be noticed in the diversity of characters and their backgrounds, which delivers the message of unity and foregrounds the idea of an ideal society.

Regardless of this evolved understanding, I am still drawn to watching both films whenever they appear on television, i.e. almost every Sunday on Zee Cinema. I think there are a number of factors that contribute to this relation, like the nostalgia of childhood, its simplicity and the sheer joy these movies manifest in their being. However, I can never watch them on any streaming platform for some reason. Instead, I specifically wait for them to appear on television because it is a whole different feeling when I watch these films with my family sitting around and those advertisements playing in between, which we strategically use to complete household chores. 

Strangely, I have gotten so used to this pattern that on whichever Sunday none of these movies are broadcasting, my entire day is officially ruined, and I am genuinely not able to do anything beyond wondering: “dhik tana dhik tana dhik tana, dhik dhik dhik tana dhik tana.”