The good ol' days. Hum hai rahi pyaar ke.

How should I say this.. The title of the post is not me looking down on modern cinema, wistful for a time period in the past. It's just that Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke reminds me of the sad fact that thanks to the years that separate present day and early 1990's, when the film was released, it's unlikely we'll see another Aamir Khan-Juhi Chawla collaboration as delightful as this one. (The reasons are probably known to most Bollywood lovers but in short; there was an argument between them and even though they later made up, their relationship has not been the warmest since, though I'm sure both respect each other.)

But I suppose I shouldn't dwell on the negatives. Regardless of whether we'll ever see Juhi-Aamir jodi again, HHRPK is one of my absolute favourite 90's romcoms. In fact, I rate it above the first and very popular Juhi-Aamir film, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. QSQT is not a bad film, by any means, but HHRPK is more my thing; innocent, fun fluff that also has its emotional moments.

The story is simple; Aamir plays a man whose brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident. Besides the family business, he now has to look after his two nephews and a niece, who can be quite a handful. Juhi, on the other hand, is a Tamil girl whose strict father is forcing her into a marriage that she opposes (with a groom who dances Bharatanatyam - the South-Indian presentation some may find disagreeable in the film, I personally do not mind, however). She runs off and ends up meeting the kids Aamir is looking after at a fair. They play tricks together and she ends up telling the kids her unfortunate situation; no place to go spend the night. The kids agree to let her stay over at their house, and Aamir discovers a new housemate the next morning..

Just writing about the film makes me want to rewatch it! Typically, child actors and child characters in light-hearted movies like this one, particularly when they play a huge role in the story, can be rather grating for me. Not in here! Juhi and Aamir naturally have excellent chemistry (and some cute kissing scenes!), and Juhi especially portrays her character well - I believe she won a Filmfare award for this one. Her comic timing is suberb, too.

The comedy in the movie is much of the silly slapstick variety, which may not go down with everybody, but I don't have any complaints. I've certainly seen worse, and the few comedy scenes that didn't hit the right mark, I can shrug off considering the overall quality of the film.

A stand-out song sequence was definitely Ghoongat ki aadh se.


(I've mostly been posting very positive reviews as of late. I can't help it. Every time I sit down to type something down, I feel myself drawn to write about some lovely movie I adore and want to recommend to others. Maybe next time I'll most something more critical.)