Hum Saath Saath Hain is 99’s biggest success story

Epoch-making it wasn’t, yet, like it or lump it, the Rajshri movie has been the biggest hit of the year so far...

This Diwali, all eyes were on the lone release of the festive season, the Rajshris’ Hum Saath Saath Hain, and why not? Director Sooraj Barjatya had created box office history with his phenomenally-successful Hum Aapke Hain Koun. So expectations were bound to be high. But honestly the film didn’t match the expectations. Yet, compared to the other releases of 1999, it has still done very good business.

The Barjatyas had opened Hum Aap Ke Hain Koun with just 30 prints, initially, increasing the tally to 600 gradually. But in the case of Hum Saath Saath Hain, they started off with a record number of prints, 405, to better tackle the menace of piracy. Of these 121 were released in the overseas territory alone, and an identical number in Mumbai. Thanks to number of prints, it collected nearly Rs 6 crore in only four weeks in Mumbai territory alone, also a record in movie history. The film has also done roaring business overseas, as in the CP and CI circuit, though it has not lived up to its potential in the northern belt, particularly Delhi-UP.

But despite the success, Hum Saath Saath Hain has been projected as a loser. This is despite the fact that the Barjatyas sold the overseas rights of Hum Saath Saath Hain for a fantastic price, from which alone, they could have recovered the production costs. Add to that the earnings from the audio rights and the Coke sponsorship, and the Barjatyas have certainly made profits on the film, even after cutting the money spent on the prints and publicity.

It doesn’t stand to reason to argue that while the Barjatyas made handsome profits, the exhibitors lost heavily on the film, either. The Barjatyas don’t operate that way. They do take into consideration the average collections per week and the average staff and theatre hire, and if the exhibitors have lost heavily, chances are, they will be compensated, as the Barjatyas are known to do. So, if the exhibitors still have reason to complain, they’re likely to be the ones who spent heavily on the renovation of their cinemas, particularly for the release of Hum Saath Saath Hain. But even that expenditure could well be accounted for as a long term investment.

So Sooraj Barjatya has indeed made history, coming up with yet another hit after the blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Even Mehboob Khan never repeated the success of Mother India, and neither did Ramesh Sippy replicate, let alone surpass Sholay’s success. But Sooraj Barjatya did it with the back-to-back successes of Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun?. Now in Hum Saath Saath Hain, he has a hattrick of hits. Agreed, it hasn’t matched the success of Hum Aapke Hain Koun, but it is still the biggest hit of the year.

In an industry where success has turned out to be so hard to get, perhaps we need to learn to appreciate our success stories more. And like it or lump it, Hum Saath Saath Hain has been quite successful, proving the contention that Sooraj Barjatya has his finger on the audience’s pulse. As the veteran distributor on the Eastern circuit, Lala Damani, puts it, “No one understands the audience’s tastes better than Sooraj Barjatya does. He has already proved himself as the biggest and most successful Indian director ever.” Need we say more?

NP Yadav