Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rakesh Roshan
Produced by	Rakesh Roshan
Screenplay by	Ravi Kapoor Honey Irani
Story by	Rakesh Roshan
Starring	Hrithik Roshan Ameesha Patel Dalip Tahil Anupam Kher
Music by	Rajesh Roshan
Cinematography	Kabir Lal
Edited by	Sanjay Verma
Production company	Filmkraft Productions (I) Pvt. Ltd.
Release dates	14 January 2000 (2000-01-14)
Running time	178 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	est.₹10 crore[1]
Box office	est.₹60 crore[1]

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (translation: Say...You Love Me) or (translation: "Say... You're in love") is a 2000 Indian romantic film written and directed by Rakesh Roshan. It marks the debuts of his son Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel. The film featured Hrithik in a double role as characters Rohit and Raj.

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai was the most successful Bollywood film of 2000. It was subsequently added to the Limca Book of Records for the greatest number of awards won by a Bollywood film (102).^[2] Rakesh Roshan collected his first ever Filmfare Award, which he won as producer and as director. Hrithik, who received praise for his acting,^[3] became the only actor to win both, the Filmfare Award for Best Debut with the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the same film.

Following the success of Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, the father-son duo went on collaborate on subsequent films such as Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Krrish (2006), Kites (2010), Krrish 3 (2013) and Kaabil (2017).

Plot

Rohit (Hrithik Roshan) and his younger brother Amit are orphans living with a Christian couple Lily (Farida Jalal) and Anthony (Satish Shah). Rohit is an aspiring singer who works in a car showroom run by Malik (Dalip Tahil). One day he meets Sonia Saxena (Ameesha Patel), daughter of Mr. Saxena (Anupam Kher), when he goes to deliver a car to her home as her birthday present. Unknown to everybody, Saxena and Malik are running a drug cartel with help of two corrupt police officers (Mohnish Behl and Ashish Vidyarthi). Saxena is called "Sir Ji" (Sir) by the trio.

Rohit & Sonia see each other later that night when Sonia and her friends are having a party on the beach. After Rohit sings for her, Atul (Rajesh Tandon), Malik's son & Sonia's friend, invites him on a cruise to perform. Eventually, Rohit and Sonia fall for each other when they become drunk and fall into a lifeboat which separates from the ship and floats to an island. They are rescued by Saxena who immediately realizes their love for each other. He demands Malik sack Rohit but despite Sonia's inability to make her father see how good Rohit is, her failure does not stop her from still loving Rohit and seeing him. Later Saxena softens up a bit and tells Rohit to do something big so that he can marry his love. Determined to prove himself, Rohit and his friends attempt to procure a record deal for him. Rohit eventually becomes famous and prepares to put on a huge concert.

On the evening of the show, Rohit goes to pick up Amit from school to take him up to the show. Rohit witnesses the corrupt policemen and Malik shooting down a commissioner (Ram Mohan) who has found out about their drug dealings. They discover Rohit's presence and shoot at him wounding him a few times. Although Rohit gets away, they pursue him over a bridge on the highway and knock his bike off track from the bridge causing him to fall into the river below. Rohit, who doesn't know how to swim, drowns. Sonia and everyone think that he died in an accident that evening.

Sonia goes into depression so her father sends her to New Zealand to live with his brother. Her cousin Neeta (Tanaaz Currim) tries to help Sonia get over Rohit. There she meets Neeta's friend Raj Chopra (also Hrithik Roshan). His face resembles Rohit and he is also a good singer. Raj falls for Sonia, but his face reminds her of Rohit making her more depressed. On learning her story, Raj decides to follow her back to India. After arriving in India, one of the corrupt officers spots them and opens fire on Raj. When Raj and Sonia escape the firing, Raj realizes that somebody is mistaking him for Rohit. With this incident Raj and Sonia realize that Rohit was murdered.

Raj is sheltered by Rohit's well wishers. There, he unexpectedly learns that Amit witnessed Rohit's murder. Raj decides to set the trap for nabbing the killers, posing as Rohit. Only Sonia and Rohit's acquaintances know the truth. Raj proposes his love to Sonia. Even though Sonia likes Raj, she is still heartbroken about Rohit's death. The villains panic on learning that "Rohit" is alive. Malik and the corrupt officers turn up in disguise at the concert where Raj is performing the post-concert of Rohit,which was supposed to happen on the day he died. Here, Saxena learns the truth from Sonia. He warns Malik. But when Raj tells details about the day that only Rohit would have known, Malik assumes that Saxena is playing a double game. Before Raj can reveal the names of the people who killed Rohit, he is shot at again by one of the corrupt officers but is saved due to wearing a protective bullet-proof jacket.

Later the corrupt officers kidnap Sonia. Raj succeeds in killing them as well as their henchmen and rescues Sonia. Malik soon arrives on the scene, revealing his motive for mercilessly pursuing Sonia and Raj. Just when Malik is about to reveal the truth about Saxena, the latter shoots the former, feigning anger. Upon arriving with his adoptive parents, Amit recognizes the dead Malik and tells Raj that he was talking to someone named Sirji over the phone. Raj finds Sirji's number in Malik's cell phone and makes a call. When Saxena's phone rings, Raj understands everything. On being confronted, Saxena confesses everything in front of Sonia and Raj before being arrested.

Sonia and Raj return to New Zealand, taking Amit with them. They get engaged with the blessings of their families and friends.

Cast

• Hrithik Roshan as Rohit / Raj Chopra
• Ameesha Patel as Sonia Saxena (Mona Ghosh Shetty as the dubbing voice)
• Anupam Kher as Mr. Saxena / Sirjee
• Dalip Tahil as Shakti Malik
• Mohnish Behl as Inspector Kadam
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Inspector Shinde
• Satish Shah as Anthony Rodriques Uncle (Rohit's landlord)
• Farida Jalal as Lily Anthony Rodriques Aunty (Rohit's landlady)
• Rajesh Tandon as Atul Malik (Shakti Malik's son and Sonia's friend)
• Asha Patel as Mrs. Chopra (Raj's mother)
• Tanaaz Currim as Neeta Saxena
• Vrajesh Hirjee as Tony (Rohit's friend)
• Abhishek Sharma as Amit (Rohit's younger brother)
• Johnny Lever as Inspector Parab
• Kamya Punjabi as Shobha, a girl on cruise ship

Production

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.^[4] Rakesh, who had known Ameesha Patel's family for long then, cast her in the role.^[5]

The ship scenes were filmed aboard the Star Flyer.^[6] The island scenes were filmed in Krabi, Thailand in the area near James Bond Island.^[7]

Reception

Critical reception

Upon theatrical release, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai received highly positive reviews from the critics and was declared a "All-Time Blockbuster". The performance of Hrithik was well praised, and the music received positive reviews.^[8] 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."^[9] 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."^[10] The reviewer for Filmfare rated the film 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."^[11]

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."^[12] 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."^[13]

Box office

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai was the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2000.^[14] When adjusted for inflation it is the 11th highest grossing Bollywood film of all time^[15] and the sixth highest-grossing film of the 2000s.^[16]

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Rajesh Roshan. Lyrics were by Ibrahim Ashq, Saawan Kumar Tak and Vijay Akela. The songs "Ek paal ka jeena", "Na tum jano na hum", "Chand Sitaare" and the Title song were Chartbuster. The rest of songs were also very popular. The album became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year.^[17]

Awards

References

External links

• Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai at the Internet Movie Database