Rom coms, Three Crying Handkerchiefs, 2003 relationship drama Dotted.
But the film that really made a difference in our midst was Tigmanshu Dhulia’s debut feature film titled Haasil, in which NSD colleague and dear friend Irrfan Khan was cast as Allahabad ka Sakht Lunda: The film had been in the making for a long time, and when it finally released, both Irrfan and Dhulia had – finally and delightfully – found their footing in Hindi cinema. Onka aa gaya time.
Nikhil Advani directed Kal Ho Na Ho, with Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee, circling each other in New York, singing emotional songs, giving Shah Rukh Khan a guaranteed threesome on his deathbed, and the infamous Kanta bin gag scene in which the character’s homophobia is played as a joke, something that producer Karan Johar tried to fix in 2008’s Dostana.
Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in Kal Ho Na Ho. (Quick archive photo)
After KNPH, Rakesh Roshan has lucked out again with Koi Mil Gaya, where Ms. Rekha is a mother to Hrithik’s developmentally challenged little boy/man, Preity Zinta is a simpatico girl friend, and there is a jealous classmate played by Rajat Bedi, yes, the same one who resurfaced in The Ba***ds Of Bollywood. In all of this, the cute alien Jadoo, our alien, steals the show.
25 years of Indian cinema | 2002 was the year of Devdas and Company: Bhansali baroque vs RGV’s grit
Chalte Chalte, played by Aziz Mirza, has ordinary truck company owner Shah Rukh Khan and poor little rich girl Rani having fun in sun-soaked Greece. And then, in an unusual stroke for a mainstream Hindi film, their on-screen marriage is severely tested, generating heat and tension: a major departure from most Hindi films that end with mandalas and mangalsutras, because then, as most married couples know, lies the danger.
In Ravi Chopra’s film ‘Baghbaan’, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini play parents to a group of ungrateful adult children, who are thrown out of their home and forced to find love with others. The melodrama was high, but the veteran lead pair carried the film, with Salman making a surprisingly poignant cameo, proving once again that when the latter enters a film late, just as he did in KKHH, he often leaves a greater impact than when he plays the full hero.
Story continues below this ad
Rajkumar Hirani’s debut Munna Bhai MBBS, with Sanjay Dutt as Munna and Arshad Warsi as Circuit, gave us one of the most feel-good films of the year. The kind-hearted man, supported by his loyal friend, pitted against the cold and cruel representative of the medical community, played by Boman Irani, made us laugh and cry, proving that Hirani is the rightful guardian of middle-of-the-road cinema that has disappeared from our screens.
Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi in Munna Bhaiyebis. (Quick archive photo)
But 2003 belonged to Haasil, Tigmanshu Dullia’s long-running international debut, with the glamor of the once prestigious Allahabad University becoming the event’s prime location, reconnecting Hindi cinema with youthful unrest fomented by local politicians and goons, which was more successful than the parallel love story between Jimmy Shergill and Hrishita Bhatt.
25 years of Indian cinema 2001 was the year when Lagaan, Gaadar, Dil Chahta Hai quickly became iconic.
This was the film that gave Dhulia a foothold in Bollywood, and Irrfan Khan (at the time, he still spelled his name with one R) had the role of a lifetime. The latter Rannvijay Singh is considered a ‘negative’ character, but it is his positive traits that make us fall in love with him – Irrfan has almost given up on Hindi cinema, and had he not been able to finally part ways with Haasil, we would have been deprived of watching one of the most dazzling actors Hindi cinema has ever produced. His sudden departure remains a wrench.
(Tags for translation) Irrfan Khan
