Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai


Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic thriller film written and directed by Rakesh Roshan, marking the debuts of his son Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel.
Receiving the highest gross of the year, Kaho Naa.. Pyaar Hai was the most successful Bollywood film of 2000. Following its release, Hrithik, who plays a double role in the film as Rohit and Raj, became an overnight superstar. His successful debut was termed 'Hrithik Mania' by the media, and he has been known as the "Millennial Superstar" ever since.
Kaho Naa.. Pyaar Hai went on to be inducted into the Guinness World Records for being a feature film with the most awards won—a total of 92 awards received in numerous ceremonies and categories. Likewise, the film would be added to the Limca Book of Records for the greatest number of awards won by a Bollywood film. As director and producer, Rakesh Roshan collected his first ever Filmfare Award, while his son became the only actor ever to win both the Filmfare Award for Best Debut and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the same film.
Following the success of Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, the father-son duo have gone on to collaborate in many more films, including Koi... Mil Gaya, Krrish, Kites, Krrish 3, and Kaabil.
The movie was inspired by the 1986 Kannada movie Ratha Sapthami.

Plot

Rohit and his younger brother Amit are orphans living in a rented house with their lovable aunt and uncle, Lily and Anthony, who are the owners of that house. Rohit is an aspiring singer who works as a salesman in a car showroom, run by Malik. One day, he meets Sonia Saxena, the beautiful daughter of Mr. Saxena. Unknown to everyone, including Sonia, her father and Malik are running a drug cartel with the help of two corrupt police officers.
Rohit and Sonia see each other again during Sonia's birthday party on the beach. After Rohit sings for her, he is invited to perform on a cruise. During the celebrations, Rohit and Sonia become drunk and fall into a lifeboat that separates from the ship. Rohit rows to an island, where they are stranded for a couple of days. During this time, they fall in love. They are rescued by Saxena, who does not approve of their love due to their class differences. Rohit convinces Saxena that his intentions are honorable and Saxena agrees that if Rohit can become successful, he will allow him to marry Sonia. Determined to prove himself, Rohit and his friends attempt to procure a record deal for him. Rohit eventually becomes a locally well-known artist and prepares to put on a concert.
On the day of the show, Rohit witnesses the corrupt policemen and Malik shooting and killing the commissioner, who had found out about their drug dealings. They discover his presence and shoot at him, wounding him before pursuing him over a bridge. They knock his bike off track, causing him to fall into the river. Rohit, who doesn't know how to swim, drowns. Amit is traumatized by the news and becomes mute while a devastated Sonia goes into depression.
Mr. Saxena sends Sonia to his brother in New Zealand to help overcome her depression. There, Sonia meets her cousin Neeta's friend, Raj Chopra, who, to her immense shock, strikingly resembles Rohit, though their personalities are slightly different. Raj falls for Sonia but she avoids him, his resemblance to Rohit seems painful for her. On learning her story, Raj accompanies her back to India and gives her hope to keep living, before deciding to let her go, as she doesn't love him. However, at the airport, one of the corrupt officers spots them and opens fire on Raj. After Raj and Sonia escape, Raj realizes that somebody is mistaking him for Rohit, and the two realize that Rohit was murdered.
Raj is welcomed by Rohit's family and friends. His presence brings Amit out of his shell, and Raj learns that Amit witnessed Rohit's murder and saw the culprits. The gang decides to set a trap to expose the killers, with Raj posing as Rohit to lure them. When Sonia asks why he is doing all this, Raj confesses that he loves her. Malik, Saxena, and the officers panic upon learning that "Rohit" is alive. Raj performs a concert in tribute to Rohit, knowing his killers will come. He reveals to the crowd details of the shooting that he learned from Amit. Before he can reveal the names of the people who killed Rohit, one of the officers shoots him. Raj is saved due to wearing a bullet-proof jacket.
To catch who they believe is Rohit, the officers kidnap Sonia. Having found Rohit's killers, Sonia yells to kill them, which Raj does. Malik arrives and is about to reveal Saxena's involvement in the murder, but is fatally shot by Saxena. Amit recognizes Malik as one of Rohit's killers. With his help, Raj learns that Saxena was the man Malik called before killing Rohit. On being confronted, Saxena confesses his crime to Sonia before being arrested.
Sonia tells Raj that she loves him and does not want to lose her love a second time. The couple returns to New Zealand, taking Amit with them, and get married, surrounded by family and friends.

Cast

The film was launched in 1998 with Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor as the lead actors. However, the latter walked out a few days after the launch, following a "misunderstanding" between the director Rakesh Roshan and Kareena's mother Babita. Rakesh, who had known Ameesha Patel's family for a long time, cast her in the role.
The ship scenes were filmed aboard the Star Flyer. The island scenes were filmed in Krabi, Thailand, in the area near Khao Phing Kan.

Reception

Critical reception

The performance of Hrithik was well praised, and the music received positive reviews. Most critics noted the storyline was clichéd. Planet Bollywood's Alok Kumar said "I'm telling you all to go see KNPH, a movie with which I had low expectations. The film ended up being very entertaining." Ajay Chaturvedi of Apunkachoice.com said "The film suffers from a bad script." But he praised the performance and dancing of Hrithik saying, "The highlight... is Hrithik Roshan who has good screen presence, He has acted quite well considering that this is his debut film and he is a brilliant dancer." He praised the music saying "it is a big plus with "Na Tum Jano Na Hum" and "Ek Pal Ka Jeena" being the pick of the lot."
The reviewer for Filmfare rated it three-and-a-half out of five, and wrote, "Rakesh Roshan has come up with a winner. A racy script, excellent product values and taut editing result in a storyline that keeps the audience hooked throughout. The music is also good, especially the title song and numbers such as Ek pal ka jeena and Chand sitare. Hrithik is very good in the action and dance sequences, and proves his acting calibre in his very first film. Amisha too performs well."
Sabiha Kalolwala of The Indian Express wrote, "Rakesh Roshan has been smart enough to make a film which encompasses all the facets of acting — drama, action, romance, comedy and tragedy, all of them enacted pretty well by Hritik Roshan." Of the soundtrack, he wrote, "There is not even one song which is not enjoyable." Anupama Chopra, reviewing the film for India Today wrote, "... Rakesh has taken the routine love story, added a thriller twist and narrated it with style. KNPH isn't about path-breaking craft, it's about blockbuster presentation. Rakesh's sweat and money are apparent in every frame." She concluded writing, "What doesn't work is the tired villain track. Kher, one of Bollywood's finest, hams from frame one. Perhaps the idea of playing disgruntled papa yet again was too tedious. His post-climax repenting is almost comical. The rest of the gang isn't much better. The plot is as stale as the performances." Kanchana Suggu of Rediff.com called the film a "great entertainer" and wrote, "One must say Rakesh Roshan knew what he was doing when he cast Hrithik as the lead. The boy is good. The ease and style with which he dances, emotes, fights, makes one forget this is his debut film. He’s had to essay two different characters, and he’s done justice to both." Also commending the performances of other actors, she wrote praises of other departments in that the "music is good, the songs are catchy, the cinematography is appealing, the direction is unobtrusive and the story is actually 'different'."
The interval twist of the movie - where the hero supposedly dies in an accident - and the second half of the movie - where the heroine is sent out of her hometown to her uncle's place in order to overcome her depression but is shell shocked to find a lookalike in a vehicle nearby and later catches a glimpse of him again in a discotheque dancing merrily - was reported to be based on the 1986 Kannada movie Ratha Sapthami.

Box office

In India, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2000. When adjusted for inflation it was the 11th highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time as of 2011, and the sixth highest-grossing film of the 2000s.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Rajesh Roshan with lyrics by Ibrahim Ashq, Saawan Kumar Tak and Vijay Akela. Most of the songs were sung by Lucky Ali, Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik The dancing sequences were choreographed by Farah Khan.
The songs "Ek Pal Ka Jeena", "Na Tum Jano Na Hum", "Chand Sitaare", and the title song "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" were chartbusters. The film's soundtrack album became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year, selling about 10million units.

Awards