Bollywood star and director Sooraj Barjatya reunite for the
romantic drama ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’
A scene from the movie Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
Director Sooraj Barjatya should
take a bow for presenting the real-life rogue Salman Khan as the lovable Prem.
His 1989 blockbuster Maine Pyar
Kiya (Khan’s breakout role) defined the ideas of romance and courtship —
especially for those who grew up in the ’90s — and his subsequent Khan-starrers
such as Hum Saath Saath Hain and Hum Aapke Hain ... Koun! entrenched Khan as
India’s most suitable boy. In Barjatya’s films, Prem is invariably a stand-up
gentleman with strong moral values and a willingness to sacrifice his personal
happiness for the greater good.
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP),
which releases in the UAE this Thursday, will see Khan step into the shoes of
the do-gooder Prem again.
“Sooraj is someone who can bring
out that simplicity and purity in me ... There’s this huge bonding between us.
We may not see other for months, but we are like brothers. I know he’s there
for me and I will be there for him,” said Khan. It’s been fifteen years since
their release, but Khan, a convicted felon out on bail after his five-year
prison sentence for a 2002 hit-and-run accident that killed one person and
injured four others was suspended, believes that it was worth the wait.
“For us to work together, we
needed a bigger and a better film. I am not talking about business alone, but
the scale and the script had to be big. So here we are,“ said Khan. Some may
call Barjatya’s films cloyingly sweet and utopian, but there’s no denying the
popularity of his works that are filled with good-hearted people in large joint
families.
tabloid! takes a look at some of
the Sooraj-Salman signature touches and the lessons that we have learnt from
them ...
Joint families live happily ever
after
Indian families may be going
nuclear, but director Barjatya is an advocate of keeping things traditional.
The joys of living in extended families and treating your parents, brothers,
elders and even your pets (remember Tuffi, the Pomeranian dog in Hum Aapke Hain
... Koun!) with respect form a good chunk of what his movies stand for.
In the cult romance Maine Pyar
Kiya (1989), Khan played the dashing Prem, who may race with his rich dad in a
red convertible, but not before he touched his dad’s feet as a mark of respect
and blessings before he got behind the wheel.
His Hum Saath Saath Hain — which
had the tagline ‘We Stand United’ — tapped into a loving mother’s (Reema Lagoo)
fear of her three boys fighting over the family wealth. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
(PRDP) is unlikely to stray from his usual family-trumps-all formula. PRDP is a
tale of a good-hearted Prem who falls in love with a princess, Maithili, and
the conflict that arises from it. There’s a chance that Khan plays a double
role in it.
In the trailers, Prem happily espouses family
values and claims that family members may bicker, but they are blessed because
they have a family in the first place.
Salman Khan and his love for Prem
Bollywood star and director
Sooraj Barjatya reunite for the romantic drama ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo Image
Credit: Supplied
A scene from the movie Prem Ratan
Dhan Payo.
Published: 12:06 November 11,
2015 Gulf News
By Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Senior
Reporter
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Director Sooraj Barjatya should
take a bow for presenting the real-life rogue Salman Khan as the lovable Prem.
His 1989 blockbuster Maine Pyar
Kiya (Khan’s breakout role) defined the ideas of romance and courtship —
especially for those who grew up in the ’90s — and his subsequent Khan-starrers
such as Hum Saath Saath Hain and Hum Aapke Hain ... Koun! entrenched Khan as
India’s most suitable boy. In Barjatya’s films, Prem is invariably a stand-up
gentleman with strong moral values and a willingness to sacrifice his personal
happiness for the greater good.
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP),
which releases in the UAE this Thursday, will see Khan step into the shoes of
the do-gooder Prem again.
“Sooraj is someone who can bring
out that simplicity and purity in me ... There’s this huge bonding between us.
We may not see other for months, but we are like brothers. I know he’s there
for me and I will be there for him,” said Khan. It’s been fifteen years since
their release, but Khan, a convicted felon out on bail after his five-year
prison sentence for a 2002 hit-and-run accident that killed one person and
injured four others was suspended, believes that it was worth the wait.
“For us to work together, we
needed a bigger and a better film. I am not talking about business alone, but
the scale and the script had to be big. So here we are,“ said Khan. Some may
call Barjatya’s films cloyingly sweet and utopian, but there’s no denying the
popularity of his works that are filled with good-hearted people in large joint
families.
tabloid! takes a look at some of
the Sooraj-Salman signature touches and the lessons that we have learnt from
them ...
Joint families live happily ever
after
Indian families may be going
nuclear, but director Barjatya is an advocate of keeping things traditional.
The joys of living in extended families and treating your parents, brothers,
elders and even your pets (remember Tuffi, the Pomeranian dog in Hum Aapke Hain
... Koun!) with respect form a good chunk of what his movies stand for.
In the cult romance Maine Pyar
Kiya (1989), Khan played the dashing Prem, who may race with his rich dad in a
red convertible, but not before he touched his dad’s feet as a mark of respect
and blessings before he got behind the wheel.
His Hum Saath Saath Hain — which
had the tagline ‘We Stand United’ — tapped into a loving mother’s (Reema Lagoo)
fear of her three boys fighting over the family wealth. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
(PRDP) is unlikely to stray from his usual family-trumps-all formula. PRDP is a
tale of a good-hearted Prem who falls in love with a princess, Maithili, and
the conflict that arises from it. There’s a chance that Khan plays a double
role in it.
In the trailers, Prem happily
espouses family values and claims that family members may bicker, but they are
blessed because they have a family in the first place.
“It’s Diwali, whether you watch
the film or not, go to your villages and meet those whom you haven’t met in
years. That’s the whole spirit,” said Barjatya at a recent press meet in
Mumbai.
What’s in a name?
Everything, if you ask director
Barjatya. He has directed six films in his career and all the heroes in them
are called Prem (which means love).
“But our Prem has evolved from
what you saw in Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain ... Koun! or Hum Saath Saath
Hain. He’s always morally and ethically correct. He’s the kind of guy that you
want to marry,” said Khan. In real life, Khan is a troubled star.
“I know there’s a Prem deep down
in me somewhere. But you have to dig very deep,” joked Khan.
“I make sure that it never comes
up,” he added. However, Khan claims that playing such a good-hearted character
made him want to be a better person.
“This Prem is the best Prem ever.
Every time I see this film, I want to be Prem,” said Khan, who has been called
Prem in fifteen of his movies.
Celebrate all things Indian: Be
it women in ornate ghagra-cholis (skirt and blouse), jalebis, gulab jamuns,
Indian villages ...
In real life, actress Sonam
Kapoor may know her Moschino from her Manish Malhotra, but in PRDP she’s
embracing all things Indian. Maithili is no haughty princess. She’s
kind-hearted and blushes on cue. She even manages to look shy when thinking
about her lover. But do these women actually exist in today’s times and is this
romance relevant?
“People like that should ideally
exist. Perhaps, that’s why Soorajji [‘ji’ added to a name indicates respect]
made his women so beautiful. When you hear Hindu mythology, there are so many
characters whom we can look up to. In the same, the ideal idea of what men and
women should be is shown beautifully in Soorajji’s films. This is how couples
should ideally exist. Even if they don’t exist, his characters are highly aspirational.
We need to learn from them about love and how to communicate to each other,”
According to Khan, the viewers should imbibe the collective virtue shown in
Barjatya’s films.
“We should follow them. Even if
you don’t worship them — just follow them,” said Khan. In Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum
Aapke Hain ... Koun! and Hum Saath Saath Hain, Prem’s ethical radar was strong.
Another standout in Barjatya’s
films is his tenacious grip on celebrating Indian cultural norms. In PRDP,
there’s a song, Aaj Unse Milna Hai Humein, in which Khan’s character is
wondering what he should get his lady. Should he get Indian sweets, or some
colourful Indian bangles? In the background, there’re a dozen dancers singing
out his confusion.
Hum Aapke Hain ... Koun!,
starring Madhuri Dixit and Khan, was a film that chronicled a big, fat Indian
wedding with all its rituals intact. In Maine Pyar Kiya, there’s even a scene
in which the heroine is making jalebis (crisp spiral Indian sweets dunked in
sugar syrup) before she gets ready for a date in a park with her boyfriend,
Prem. That’s the best part of Barjatya’s films: his women are lethally
good-looking, but they are knockouts in the kitchens too.
Conflict resolution guaranteed
It’s clear that Barjatya doesn’t
do morose films. His movies are squeaky-clean, wholesome entertainers, with
charming heroes and hapless waifs. The conflicts are omnipresent, but they are
not lethal enough to obliterate the human race. He keeps conflict simple and
resolution swift. In Vivaah, starring Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao, the evil
member of the family was Rao’s stepmother, who hated Rao for her beauty and
luck at finding a wealthy suitor. It was decidedly Cinderella-esque, and the
ending had the snarky mother come to her senses. It was a huge hit. In Main
Prem Ki Deewani Hoon (2003), featuring Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, the
tale revolved around mistaken identities and a mother’s aspiration to marry her
beautiful daughter Sanjana, played by Kapoor, into a wealthy family. But her
greed clears up by the end of three hours.
In PRDP, good versus evil is also
explored in depth.
“It’s a romance, but we also show
how family, humour, sensitivity, patience and tolerance is important in life,”
said Khan. He adds that Barjatya is one of the few directors who can spin a
virtuous tale out of the most violent, garish storyline. Khan asked a
journalist in the room to name a disastrous film and when the answer went: Ram
Gopal Verma Ki Aag ...“Even if the script is bakhwaas [nonsense], he’s one of
the filmmakers who can transform the worst film into a beautiful movie like Hum
Aapke Hain Kaun. Even in bad stuff, he digs out the good,” said Khan.
It’s all song and dance for
Barjatya
In Maine Pyar Kiya, there were
eleven songs and in Hum Aapke Hai ... Koun! there were 14 songs. PRDP stands at
a respectable 10 songs. So it’s clear that Barjatya uses razzle-dazzle to push
his stories forward. In Hum Aapke Hain ... Koun!, there were songs about every
ritual surrounding an Indian wedding. A teary bride setting off to her groom’s
home, the bride falling pregnant, the bride’s sister falling in love, the
families playing a friendly cricket match.
Don’t miss it
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo releases in the UAE on
September 12.
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