‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’: Two Weddings, One Funeral, and 14 Songs

For what seemed like an indeterminably long time — a year? — the Ambanis, India’s richest family, forced us to witness them celebrate the wedding of their youngest son, Anant, with Radhika Merchant. Several pre-wedding parties across continents culminated in an overwrought July wedding weekend in Mumbai. Yet, despite the vulgar excess, the Ambanis also fronted traditional values. Anant and Radhika married according to Gujarati Hindu rituals. Mukesh Ambani teared up at his daughter-in-law’s vidaai. The Ambanis posed as the picture-perfect image of upper-class Hindu gentility. 

It’s impossible to divorce the Ambani wedding from the enduring legacy of Sooraj Barjatya’s blockbuster film, Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), or HAHK, which turned 30 on August 5. Starring Madhuri Dixit, Salman Khan, and a host of character actors, HAHK is the mother of Hindi film superhits. Its box office draw was a whopping $80 million against a $1.9 million budget. Many have dismissed the movie as an endless three-hour-plus wedding tape devoid of cinematic conflict, and they aren’t wrong. Harmless, some may argue. But, its seemingly innocuous choices are less accidental than one might think.