Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...!

The announcement that Christian Louboutin will now be customizing shoes for the Indian wedding market seems an appropriate moment to consider the importance of weddings in Indian films, and specifically in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! (1994).

What I find most interesting about the blockbuster hit Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (Who Am I to You) is not the film itself, but how many people actually liked it. I find the film sticky-sweet like too many jalebies at a go, but the film was a run-away success, and the subject of more than one academic essay. What, I wondered, was going on here?

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is the story of two families united by the rituals of arraigned marriage. A celebration of (select, specific, Hindu) Indian wedding traditions from start to finish, the film is more or less one long choreographed party with some great music. Two brothers, two sisters, some good clean fun, a fatal fall down the stairs, and three hours and 14 songs later a happy ending!

Now, there is some really great wedding music here. Madhury Dixit is radiant as the vivacious but ultimately obedient Nisha, and Mohnish Bahl is perfectly adequate as Rajesh. Young Salman Khan as Prem is cute as a button, although guilty of some over-acting. Pooja (Renuka Shahane), the original bride, is lovely, shy, and has at least three more lines than the pet dog. Pooja need not speak- she is a symbol, a model, who displays wealth, as well as morality, tradition, and upper-caste magnanimity to lower-caste servants. 

Aside from the obvious entertainment value of the near-constant music and dancing, the film also has historical significance. The film marks a shift in attitudes towards wealth, consumer goods, and foreign investments, which coincided with India’s adoption of economic liberalization policies and a shift away from Nehruvian policies towards a market economy. Chocolate, cola, cars, and other expensive goods are held up as the desirable norm, and English is the language of heroes rather than villains. Moreover, the film normalizes upper-caste, upper-class Hindu wedding practices, and highlights the benefits of arranged marriages, all of which are equated with “Indian tradition.” This normalization of specific traditions as "Indian" came at the same moment in history when intolerant Hindu-right political movements, which campaigned on economic liberalization, Hindu superiority, and middle-class values, were coming to power. The power of this film in influencing perceptions of “Indian traditions” and “Indian values” in ways which lionize upper-caste, upper-class Hindu practices over everyone elses' traditions and values is difficult to quantify, but should be kept in mind while watching.

So what about those Louboutin- luxury items out of reach for the majority of the world’s women. Certainly shifts in economic policies and social expectations which coincided with the release of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun are what brought Louboutin to India to make couture wedding shoes. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun reassured viewers in a globalizing, politically charged, and rapidly changing world that extravagance and tradition, joy and familial fealty, sacrifice and luxury, social expectations and love are all a part of a great Indian wedding- so what if only the wealthy and privileged are invited to the party? This film tells you to go ahead and buy those really great shoes.

This film is, more than anything else, a disappointment to me. Mumbai has given the world thoughtful and beautiful films about the power of love, the virtues and limitations of fealty, even the joy of celebrations! But this is not one of them. Mumbai has also brought the world progressive films in which messages of hope are intertwined with marriage. After all, many of the minds who gave the world the Progressive Writers Movement ended up in Mumbai (then Bombay) after Independence and drifted into the film industry. This marriage of progressive, optimistic politics, poetry, and a burgeoning national film industry could hardly fail to produce a golden age of lyrical, progressive, thoughtful cinema. Sujata (1959) is a lovely film about caste, marriage, and peoples' ability to grow in a brave new world. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is ultimately just a long, predictable film about learning to shop like everyone else.  

A final note: for a fascinating look at marriage, and changing marriage practices in India, read Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry, by Samita Sen. Clunky title, fantastic and fascinating writing.

Film: Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! (1994)

Director: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Writer: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Language: Hindi
Country: India