It was a moment of national stupor. bollywood movie say no…i love you Released on 14 January 2000. At the beginning of the new millennium, it sent the country into a frenzy. Driven by an aggressive publicity campaign, word had already spread about its extraterrestrial star. She had brown eyes and a silver smile. His Stallone-like physique betrayed a schoolboy charm. He was 27 years old. And, it was rumored that he could dance.
It’s been 25 years since Hrithik Roshan made his star-making debut in his father’s musical. Families hoarded theaters. ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ played on loop. Young boys and girls had found their new pin-up god. Some people, with embarrassing mileage, shook the palm horizontally, imitating Hrithik’s handshake. Manoj Desai, executive director of the ZEE7 multiplex (then Gaiety Galaxy) in Mumbai, remembers packed shows running round the clock. “The film ran non-stop for 25 weeks in my theatre. From children to adults, everyone became crazy about Hrithik’s dance. When he returns in a new avatar after the interval cetis (The whistles) were unlimited.”
The discussion was equally strong in foreign countries also. By the mid-1990s, India had one of the world’s largest expatriate populations, concentrated in North America, Britain, the Gulf countries, and Australia-New Zealand. The boundaries of Bollywood, which had widened due to liberalisation, started reaching them. like movies Those with heart will take the bride, the heart is crazy And foreigner Successfully rode the wave of globalization. The movement reached its apogee say no…i love youIts star-crossed lovers dancing on cruise ships, stuck in the sands of Krabi, Thailand. Hrithik and his co-star Ameesha Patel took a hot air balloon ride in Christchurch, New Zealand. Everything about the film was calibrated to sing an international tune. Its dual-hero story was a clear allegory of free-market aspirations: after Rohit, a money-starved car salesman turned popstar, dies, his NRI doppelganger Raj drives around in BMWs and Honda Hurricanes.
Hrithik Roshan in a scene from ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai’
The film’s origins were a strange one. Hrithik’s father, director Rakesh Roshan, had initially intended to make it for the uncrowned king of Hindi diaspora film, Shah Rukh Khan. The 90s were a wild era of remakes and remakes; french kissMeg Ryan’s comedy about a lost diamond necklace was remade in Hindi as love was bound to happen (1998). A year before that, James Cameron’s titanic Set the standard for the sweeping romantic epic. Cruise ships, aquatic deaths, ill-fated lovers of various classes… tell me you love me was like titanic Filtered through loan (1980). Another frequently cited inspiration is Kannada film. Rath Saptami (1986), remade in Tamil love birds (1996). In both, the hero dies in an accident, the heroine takes a healing trip to somewhere far away and beautiful, and the lovers are fortunately reunited (the dirty discotheque number is repeated in all versions).
world-view
,So why laugh, make the world laugh (Smile, so that you can make the world smile),” Hrithik sings in the film. This became the motto of that time. The language of globalization is everywhere Say no…it is love. There is a poster of Backstreet Boys on the wall of Rohit’s bedroom. Although he wears casual clothes, he still wears a shirt and tie at work, which is the dress code of the IT generation. There are product placements for Lexus, Mercedes, Ferrari, Yokohama Tire and Coca-Cola. Dance at a multi-ethnic, tropical-themed nightclub called Raj Nritya Club Indiana. He reads Cosmopolitan magazine on the flight. a year before peter jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingThe film promoted tourism and migration interests in New Zealand, highlighting attractions such as Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables ski resort outside Queenstown. In 2004, former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark wrote to Rakesh Roshan: “Your film captured the imagination of Indian audiences and presented a rich and vibrant image of New Zealand.”
Diaspora films reflect the duality of immigrant life, with characters torn between tradition and modernity. But Raj in the mesh vest and sunglasses – the epitome of gentle power allure – looked absolutely at home in the wider world. tell me you love me On the contrary, it is not a story of rebirth loanAnd poor Rohit, searching for ‘simplicity’ (simplicity) in the capitalist world, meets a dark end. Written by Honey Irani and Ravi Kapoor, the screenplay contains silly tricks that most audiences happily ignored at the time, but which don’t hold up on repeat viewings. Rohit’s younger brother has become silent due to his demise. Sonia’s fashion sense changes every 15 minutes. A lovely Raj happily left his aging parents and came back to Mumbai (NRI returnees were a fiscal asset, and were given tax benefits).
Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel in a scene from ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai’
However a parade of beautiful people in beautiful places – Krabi also features in Danny Boyle’s Parade beach In the same year, became a major tourist attraction – say no…i love you This is also a film of sounds. There are lines, sometimes mere words, that get permanently stuck in our minds: Tannaz Irani’s nasal “Sonias…”, for example, or Raj tooting, “This is called coincidence. Coincidence number 3.Hrithik’s uncle Rajesh Roshan composed the film’s songs using tunes by Greek composer Vangelis – not the first time. The cultural legacy of a film is inextricably linked with its soundtrack. Lucky Ali blessed it with his vocals, singing two diametrically opposite hits, the electronic headrush of ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ was tempered by ‘Na Tum Jaano Na Hum’ with its cool guitar playing and sad outro.
offshoring
tell me you love me It was the antithesis of all the radical energies shaping Hindi cinema at that time. Ram Gopal Varma’s Truth and John Matthew Mathen Sarfarosh had pushed Bollywood in serious, challenging directions. But Roshan brought it back on track by boarding a bigger boat with his escapist blockbuster sets. The main author of is Anurag Kashyap TruthMocked this apparent regression in a line of dialogue Hero: Real HeroReleased the following year. Reluctant to join politics and change the direction of his country, Anil Kapoor’s character comments, “I want to live an easy life…watch” tell me you love me On Sunday.”
There was a surprising thing, Truth-like coda tell me you love me Wave. On 21 January 2000, a week after the film’s release, Rakesh Roshan was shot by two unidentified gunmen outside his office. Bleeding, he went to the Santa Cruz police station, fearing more for his son’s life than his own. It emerged that the shooters belonged to Mumbai’s Budesh gang, who had tried to extort money from the director for the film’s overseas earnings. Bollywood was corporatizing and bringing in big bucks, and the underworld, which had been its uneasy ally since the 90s, wanted a piece of the pie.
Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel in a scene from ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai’
In the last 25 years, tell me you love me Has surfaced in popular culture in amusing ways. neither you know nor we A full-length film starring Hrithik, Saif Ali Khan and Esha Deol was made. Raj flipping through photos of his dead lookalike is a meme. During the initial weeks of COVID-19, someone registered the title of the film ‘Corona Pyaar Hai’, inviting Rakesh Roshan’s wrath. Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh made Hailey Bieber dance to the film’s title track, and, in 2021, while campaigning for the Trinamool Congress in Asansol, West Bengal, Ameesha Patel sang a few lines of the same song – a take on Babul Supriyo. There was clear sarcasm. Singer in the film, who was fielded by BJP in the assembly elections.
Hindi blockbuster films have gone beyond nothingness today Say no…it is love. They have become more frank and bold. The interesting thing is that even his internationalism now seems narrow. Hrithik’s most recent bombshell was WarriorA politically motivated action actor from 2024, inspired by top Gun Franchise. In a depressing scene, Hrithik’s fighter pilot, while beating a terrorist, shouts the words ‘India-occupied Pakistan’ – the kind of triumphal coinage that has become depressingly common. It makes one yearn for those simpler Sundays, when life was less hectic and hectic and we all watched say no…i love you,
published – January 14, 2025 10:15 am IST
