‘Hum’ turns 33

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth, Govinda, Kimi Katkar, Deepa Sahi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Kader Khan Thirty-th...

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth, Govinda, Kimi Katkar, Deepa Sahi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Kader Khan

Thirty-three years ago Mukul Anand’s Hum hit the screens on February 1 ending up as that year’s second highest-grossing Indian film raking in Rs 144 crores at the BO. It was also the most successful film among Anand’s trilogy, including Agneepath and Khuda Gawah. Unfortunately, it was also the weakest where the storyline and script were concerned. Despite the Big B’s towering presence, it was certainly not among the mega star’s best performances despite him bagging the Best Actor award at the 37^th Filmfare Awards.

The story was rather run-of-the-mill stuff, set in 1975. Gangster Bhaktawar (Danny) rules the Mumbai docks treating all his workers like slaves. Among them is Tiger (Amitabh) who rises up against the gangster’s tyranny and vows to avenge the deaths of his best friend Gonsalves (Romesh Sharma) and later of his parents. He runs away with his half-brothers Kumar (Rajnikanth) and Vjay (Govinda) to start a new life in Ooty. However, 15 years down the line despite becoming Shekhar a respectable timber merchant, Tiger’s past catches up with him.

His love interest, Jumma (Kimi Katkar) looks young enough to be his daughter, the film being her swan song before she retired from Bollywood for marriage and kids. Deepa Sahi and Shilpa Shirodkar, the other two heroines, didn't contribute much to the proceedings either. Kader Khan as Shilpa's Army general father who wants her to marry a military officer and goes to extremes to part her from Govinda was impressive.

Amitabh looked old and haggard and hammed through the nearly three-hour snooze-fest featuring a 'sure cure for insomniacs' drunken scene between Big B and Romesh Sharma. Also, the joke of the day was, that with the Big B around Rajnikanth and Govinda might as well have been part of the scenery.

The film’s highlights were the hummable songs like "Kagaz kalam", "Ek doosre se karte", "Sanam mere sanam", and of course the controversy-ridden "Jumma Chumma" chartbuster thanks to its risqué lyrics and Big B’s suggestive pelvic thrusts and its resemblance to the 1990 released Thanedaar’s "Tamma Tamma Loge”. Both songs eventually turned out to be rip-offs of Guinese singer Mory Kante’s hit track “Tama”.