“Akele Hum Akele Tum” released in 1995 is an emotional family drama based on Hollywood Classic “Kramer vs Kramer” (starring Dustin Hoffman & Meryl Streep and winner of 5 Oscars, including one for Best Picture). Aamir Khan reprises the role of Dustin Hoffman, that of a struggling working father. Manisha Koirala slips into the role played by Meryl Steep, that of a woman who leaves her family to follow her singing career and eventually becomes a film star. The director has not only copied scenes but sometimes entire dialogues too, of course tinged with our usual ‘Indian’ melodrama. The court scenes were quite subtly handled in Kramer vs Kramer, but in AHAT, you know what to expect.
AHAT has a good supporting cast of Adil Rizvi, Devan Verma, Tanvi Azmi, Rohini Hattangadi, Paresh Rawal, Satish Shah.
Anu Malik, the King of Rippers, yes I call him that because everyone knows how conveniently he does ‘CtrlC-CtrlV’, never admits to copying and never gives credit to the original producers of content. All Anu The Ripper says is that he got inspired. There’s LOTs to come on him from Out Of The Bag in future, do watch out. But for now…
… Coming back to AHAT – besides the movie being copied, most the songs from this film are copied too. Yes! This soundtrack has songs copied from a kid’s classic to a cult classic movie theme, from most iconic pop ballad to a rock masterpiece. Don’t believe me? I am not kidding.
“Akele Hum Akele Tum” sung by Udit Narayan & Aditya Narayan is copied from Jim Reeves’s “But You Love Me Daddy”.
“Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar” sung by Udit Narayan & Alka Yagnik is copied from the “Love Theme” from The Godfather by Nino Rita and “Do Not Forsake Me, My Darling” from High Noon by Tex Ritter, but Frankie Laine’s version became more popular.
“Dil Mera Churaya Kyun” sung by Kumar Sanu and the Ripper himself is copied from “Last Christmas” by Wham!
“Aisa Zakham Diya Hai” sung by Udit Narayan, Shankar Mahadevan & Aamir Khan is lifted from “Child in Time” by Deep Purple.
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge! It’s time for some trivia:
- Jennifer Winget(popular TV show actress) plays the role of a young girl in the movie. Did you spot her?
- Shah Rukh Khanand Govinda were first offered the lead role for AHAT. SRK refused because he thought the film was too emotional and moreover he wanted to do only romantic films at the time. Govinda could not give dates because of his hectic schedule.
- This was Aamir’s third consecutive flop in ‘95 (the first 2 being “Baazi” and “Aathank Hi Aathank” ). “Baazi” laid the foundation for Aamir to play tough cop later in “Sarfarosh”, whereas “Aatahank Hi Aathank” was a copy of “The Godfather”.
- Director Mansoor Khanand Aamir Khan have also worked together in “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” & “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar” which were huge hits at the box office.
- Deep Purple’s “Child in Time” is a10+ mins track and is actually a protest song against US for their war in Vietnam. It’s also one of Lars Ulrich’s (of Metallica) favorite song. In one of his interviews to Rolling Stone magazine, he shared that at age 9 his dad took him to a Deep Purple show and from there on his life changed. He says, “This is their most iconic moment… I’ve heard it 92,000 times and it never sounds anything less than great”.
Though AHAT was a good attempt by Mansoor Khan in portraying a simple realistic subject of a disintegrating marriage and child custody battles, the Indian audience wasn’t ready for it then. In 2002 “Rishtey” bombed at the BO, same subject broached after 7 years.
The soundtrack of the film did very well commercially and is one of the most hummable soundtracks of the 90s.
I give this OST 4/5 and Film 3/5.
Leaving you with beautiful renditions of The Godfather Theme:
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Out Of The Bag 